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General discussion of UA's inflight service (Domestic / Int’l, all cabins) {Archive}

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Old May 11, 2022, 1:38 pm
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This us an archive thread, the active thread is General discussion of UA's inflight service (Domestic / International, all cabins)
previous thread: COVID Era UA inflight service changes


Thread is for general discussion of the state of UA in-flight service / catering, comparison to other carriers, past UA offerings and concerns with management decisions.

For a specific post about a recent in-flight food, use the appropriate Let's Eat .... thread.

The current Onboard Service descriptions by UA.com

Long-haul international premium cabin dining
North America, Caribbean and Latin America premium cabin dining
United Economy dining

Since the UA website is extremely vague, I'm looking for a few volunteers to submit data, and I will summarize to complete the wiki. kind regards, phkc070408

Domestic Under 300 Miles

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 2
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 3
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 4
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 5
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?


Domestic Over 300 Miles Under 800 Miles

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 2
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 3
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 4
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 5
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Domestic Over 800 Miles

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon or Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 2
Route? Morning or Afternoon or Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 3
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening/. or Late Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 4
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Late Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 5
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Late Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

P-Tcon

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 2
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 3
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 4
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 5
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

Polaris USA - Europe

​​​​​​​Sample 1
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 2
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 3
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 4
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 5
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

Related thread: How bad does onboard catering need to get before UA invests in improving it?
​​​​​​​

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General discussion of UA's inflight service (Domestic / Int’l, all cabins) {Archive}

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Old Jun 6, 2022, 6:41 pm
  #1036  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: MM / UA 1K
Posts: 473
Originally Posted by greenpau
You were on my flight ... you must have been in A Zone with me, as the nuts were placed on the tray versus served in advance. My spouse was seated in B Zone, and they got a cocktail and nuts, then the dinner separately. Yes, the service was not buttoned up in A Zone - very junior FAs from ORD. Slow to get started for no reason, single tray service, not proactive with refills. On top of that it was 2.5h late.

The pre-arrival snack was also humorous ... a package of nuts.
I was on UA2096 - originally scheduled to depart @ 2PM and then delayed twice ultimately going out a bit after 4PM apparently due to "crew scheduling disruption".
And yeah, the staff at the front seemed relatively young for UA. They weren't unpleasant or rude just not very proactive or engaged IMHO.

I didn't see any snack set out but I was given two packaged cookies on an plate about 2/3 into the flight - it was those Diamond Bakery shortbread cookies - one coffee and the other guava.

Hot tip - if the crew don't put snacks out, check under your seat! There was a bag of Cheez-It's plus something else from a tapas box down there...

FWIW, I also notice I haven't gotten any post flight surveys for the last several flights.
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 6:25 am
  #1037  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Houston
Programs: UA GS 2.6MM & Lifetime UC, Qantas Platinum, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Bonvoy Platinum, HawaiianMiles
Posts: 8,694
Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
Wow, if that happened to me (Whether I was on a paid fare or upgrade) that FA would get a comment to WHQ (and probably a blog post ).
(Bolding mine) Thanks for that, Matthew.
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 6:40 am
  #1038  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 1,620
Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
Wow, if that happened to me (Whether I was on a paid fare or upgrade) that FA would get a comment to WHQ (and probably a blog post ).
See that is the benefit of running a blog, I cannot tell you over my years travelling the abysmal service I have received on UA (and other airlines) and the only recourse I had/have is to complain here when relevant which nets me nothing except a place to vent.

I have also had some amazing service on UA, one of the best UA experiences of my life was when UNITED P.S. launched on their 757s and I happened to fly on the third day of its operation, the crew was so excited for a new product that they really tried hard to impress and it showed.
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 7:00 am
  #1039  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: United Premier 1K 1MM; AA Plat Pro; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Platinum; Avis President's Club
Posts: 2,529
Here I was hoping United would up their game. The food looks worse. Amazing.....I think there is a very concerted effort to force Polaris customers to use the lounge ahead of time and eat there so they worry less about on-board catering.
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 7:34 am
  #1040  
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Programs: JAL Global Club & oneworld Sapphire, ANA SFC & Star Alliance Gold
Posts: 3,746
Originally Posted by mh3265a
Here I was hoping United would up their game. The food looks worse. Amazing.....
Indeed. It's becoming apparent that UA management was never serious about restoring a semblance of pre-COVID service standards. The current meal quality is here to stay.

I wonder how UA's JV partners feel about this. In the TPAC market, the gulf between UA and NH is vast...
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 7:45 am
  #1041  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: EWR
Programs: UA 1K, DL DM
Posts: 255
Originally Posted by kmersh
See that is the benefit of running a blog, I cannot tell you over my years travelling the abysmal service I have received on UA (and other airlines) and the only recourse I had/have is to complain here when relevant which nets me nothing except a place to vent.

I have also had some amazing service on UA, one of the best UA experiences of my life was when UNITED P.S. launched on their 757s and I happened to fly on the third day of its operation, the crew was so excited for a new product that they really tried hard to impress and it showed.
When you have a great experience, make sure you use 1kvoice and/or some other outlet to acknowledge the FAs’ service and effort!!
threecap is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2022, 8:21 am
  #1042  
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Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 60,174
Originally Posted by Unimatrix One
I wonder how UA's JV partners feel about this. In the TPAC market, the gulf between UA and NH is vast...
UA packs the planes and NH takes 50%. Why would they care?
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 8:23 am
  #1043  
 
Join Date: Oct 2021
Posts: 15
And here I was, looking forward to my first-ever Polaris flight (SFO-SYD) in a couple days....

I guess I know not to get my hopes up. Unfortunately my connection is too short to sit down and dine in the Polaris SFO lounge.
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 1:50 pm
  #1044  
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Posts: 42,199
If only the Polaris inflight meal service quality, quantity and presentation even remotely resembled what was made available in the Polaris Lounge (or even some UCs), the product would certainly have a better reputation.
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 2:51 pm
  #1045  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SFO / LHR
Programs: UA GS 2.2MM / UC / AS Gold 75K / Bonvoy Plat / Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,028
Originally Posted by bocastephen
If only the Polaris inflight meal service quality, quantity and presentation even remotely resembled what was made available in the Polaris Lounge (or even some UCs), the product would certainly have a better reputation.
Originally Posted by victoremsemper
And here I was, looking forward to my first-ever Polaris flight (SFO-SYD) in a couple days....
I guess I know not to get my hopes up. Unfortunately my connection is too short to sit down and dine in the Polaris SFO lounge.
Originally Posted by mh3265a
Here I was hoping United would up their game. The food looks worse. Amazing.....I think there is a very concerted effort to force Polaris customers to use the lounge ahead of time and eat there so they worry less about on-board catering.
The challenge on this concept here in SFO in particular is the number of late night departures, and the fact that the Polaris Lounge sit-down dining closes at 8pm, and the external full hot buffet cleared away at 8:45pm. This makes zero sense with SYD, SIN, MEL, and AKL all departing late. The first three have a Boarding Time of 10:00pm/10:05pm/10:10pm. They need to keep the sit down dining open until 9:30pm and the buffet fully open until the Lounge closes at 10:30pm if this is the overall Catering strategy.
greenpau is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2022, 2:54 pm
  #1046  
dw
 
Join Date: Jun 1999
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Programs: DL Plat, AA Plat Pro, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond Amb
Posts: 7,486
Originally Posted by bocastephen
If only the Polaris inflight meal service quality, quantity and presentation even remotely resembled what was made available in the Polaris Lounge (or even some UCs), the product would certainly have a better reputation.
Its interesting because we’re at a place now where international J catering amongst the US 3 is probably:
DL
AA
UA

Whereas the international J lounges are clearly:
UA Polaris
AA Flagship
DL SkyClubs

Surely there is some thinking behind the correlation?
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 6:03 pm
  #1047  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NYC / TYO / Up in the Air
Programs: UA GS 1.7MM, AA 2.1MM, EK, BA, SQ, CX, Marriot LT, Accor P
Posts: 6,310
Originally Posted by dw
It’s amazing how far a bit of presentation goes
Yes - that 10 or so extra seconds really does make it look so much nicer.... If this was a UA flight there would be ZERO service - no food, no drink, no nothing....
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Old Jun 7, 2022, 9:24 pm
  #1048  
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: UA*Lifetime GS, Hyatt* Lifetime Globalist
Posts: 12,331
Originally Posted by greenpau
The challenge on this concept here in SFO in particular is the number of late night departures, and the fact that the Polaris Lounge sit-down dining closes at 8pm, and the external full hot buffet cleared away at 8:45pm. This makes zero sense with SYD, SIN, MEL, and AKL all departing late. The first three have a Boarding Time of 10:00pm/10:05pm/10:10pm. They need to keep the sit down dining open until 9:30pm and the buffet fully open until the Lounge closes at 10:30pm if this is the overall Catering strategy.
Totally agree that United should extend the hours of sit-down dinning and hot buffet options. I have done multiple flights to SYD/SIN out of SFO this year and could not get any decent food after 8:30 pm in the Polaris lounge and I am not use to eating a big meals after midnight onboard.
UA_Flyer is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2022, 10:29 pm
  #1049  
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Programs: JAL Global Club & oneworld Sapphire, ANA SFC & Star Alliance Gold
Posts: 3,746
Originally Posted by greenpau
The challenge on this concept here in SFO in particular is the number of late night departures, and the fact that the Polaris Lounge sit-down dining closes at 8pm, and the external full hot buffet cleared away at 8:45pm. This makes zero sense with SYD, SIN, MEL, and AKL all departing late. The first three have a Boarding Time of 10:00pm/10:05pm/10:10pm. They need to keep the sit down dining open until 9:30pm and the buffet fully open until the Lounge closes at 10:30pm if this is the overall Catering strategy.
That is crazy and unthinkable at any other major airline. I once had a 2am connection at HKG and the CX lounge was open (with food) until boarding.
Unimatrix One is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2022, 10:32 pm
  #1050  
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA GS, AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Mlife NOIR
Posts: 320
I refuse to fly United long haul until they restore the meal service to what it was pre-covid. Even after the recent "improvements", the meal service looks akin to a premium economy meal.
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UAflyer93 is offline  


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