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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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Last edit by: WineCountryUA
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 Jan 12, 2022, 9:04 pm
  #106  
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Originally Posted by rch4u
https://careers.united.com/job/14691...washington-va/

The documented job responsibilities of an in-flight supervisor give is a pretty good idea ...

- Deliver best in class customer service
- Deliver a high-quality onboard experience to drive improvement in our Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Ensure daily company goals, policy, and procedure compliance are met

I'm confident playing on your personal device for the entire duration of a flight do not support any of these three.
What's also odd is I don't see "be there primarily for safety" listed in the job description
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 9:11 pm
  #107  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
What's also odd is I don't see "be there primarily for safety" listed in the job description
They literally announce it to the passengers every flight. It's also present in numerous FAA regulations.

In contrast to United's employment standards, which are a concern only of the airline and its employees.

​​​​​
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 9:29 pm
  #108  
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Originally Posted by dilanesp
They literally announce it to the passengers every flight. It's also present in numerous FAA regulations.

In contrast to United's employment standards, which are a concern only of the airline and its employees.

​​​​​
You know what else United announce to passengers? "Service is our passion"
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 9:33 pm
  #109  
 
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Originally Posted by Unitedloyalflyer
The photos show a very good meal... for PREMIUM PLUS
When NH flies from HNL to the mainland or US domestic I look forward to it.
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 9:34 pm
  #110  
 
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
You know what else United announce to passengers? "Service is our passion"
"While service is our passion, safety is our priority". Seems like they casually decided the first 5 words don't exist anymore.
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 9:57 pm
  #111  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
When NH flies from HNL to the mainland or US domestic I look forward to it.
Instead doing the bare minimum (inflight services), if that, United should embrace and aspire to top players in the industry (and those in other industries as well); learn what they do well, and avoid pitfalls others have experienced - all business 101 stuff.

Just because [insert airline] doesn't fly on a certain route, it nevertheless is an opportunity. UA keeps wanting to be average or worse, have at it.
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 9:59 pm
  #112  
 
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
Instead doing the bare minimum (inflight services), United should embrace and aspire to top players in the industry (and those in other industries as well); learn what they do well, and avoid pitfalls others have experienced - all business 101 stuff.

Just because [insert airline] doesn't fly on a certain route, it nevertheless is an opportunity. UA keeps wanting to be average or worse, have at it.
​​​​​​If that were Business 101, Ryanair would have failed.
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 10:08 pm
  #113  
 
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
Instead doing the bare minimum (inflight services), if that, United should embrace and aspire to top players in the industry (and those in other industries as well); learn what they do well, and avoid pitfalls others have experienced - all business 101 stuff.

Just because [insert airline] doesn't fly on a certain route, it nevertheless is an opportunity. UA keeps wanting to be average or worse, have at it.
Why? If none of their competitors within the domestic market have some glorious service (gosh - how does southwest stay alive) I mean this seriously. Why do people think UA is some outlier?
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 10:39 pm
  #114  
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I find it fascinating that on flights where the cabin staff is largely hiding in the galley or their jump seats as described above they manage to find time to hawk credit cards to us over the PA. Culd it have anything to do with spiffs they receive from getting people to sign up?
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 10:44 pm
  #115  
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Originally Posted by dilanesp
​​​​​​If that were Business 101, Ryanair would have failed.
As I am sure you know, Ryanair is a completely different business model. There is enough straw in this thread to feed the Kentucky Derby contenders.

Ryanair excels at being Ryanair, just like Southwest excels at being Southwest and Singapore Airlines excels at being Singapore.

The problem with United is the constant claims of being the best in class similar to Singapore, yet delivering an experience more akin to Ryanair because the company is too lazy to enforce the service standards and product quality which it claims are central to its marketing identity.
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Old Jan 13, 2022, 12:42 am
  #116  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
As I am sure you know, Ryanair is a completely different business model. There is enough straw in this thread to feed the Kentucky Derby contenders.

Ryanair excels at being Ryanair, just like Southwest excels at being Southwest and Singapore Airlines excels at being Singapore.

The problem with United is the constant claims of being the best in class similar to Singapore, yet delivering an experience more akin to Ryanair because the company is too lazy to enforce the service standards and product quality which it claims are central to its marketing identity.
Nailed it.
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Old Jan 13, 2022, 4:45 am
  #117  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
The problem with United is the constant claims of being the best in class similar to Singapore, yet delivering an experience more akin to Ryanair because the company is too lazy to enforce the service standards and product quality which it claims are central to its marketing identity.
Yes! Yes! Yes!

It's also interesting to me that some argue it's not okay (apples and oranges) to compare Austrian Airlines (for example) to United...but are happy to compare Ryanair to United. That's logic that I do not understand...

The sad thing to me is also that UA has so much potential in terms of soft product and those who actually fly on UA regularly and have over the years see that UA can do great things when it tries, which is precisely what made us loyal. It wasn't simply network or price. Not for me, at least. And I know I'm not alone.
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Old Jan 13, 2022, 7:26 am
  #118  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
As I am sure you know, Ryanair is a completely different business model. There is enough straw in this thread to feed the Kentucky Derby contenders.

Ryanair excels at being Ryanair, just like Southwest excels at being Southwest and Singapore Airlines excels at being Singapore.

The problem with United is the constant claims of being the best in class similar to Singapore, yet delivering an experience more akin to Ryanair because the company is too lazy to enforce the service standards and product quality which it claims are central to its marketing identity.
Every purveyor of everything says it is the best product. Consumers don't believe that stuff and it isn't fraud. It's called "puffery".

​​​​​And the post I was referring to argued high service models were "business 101". They aren't. Business 101 is you do the thing that makes you the most money, which can be high service, medium service, or low service.

​​​​​​
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Old Jan 13, 2022, 7:43 am
  #119  
 
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Originally Posted by chrisny2
I think the previous poster's point is that while United obviously won't serve a breakfast like that, they had no excuse not to offer First Class a round of drinks.
yes, not looking for eggs Benedict here. Just a coffee and water….
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Old Jan 13, 2022, 7:46 am
  #120  
 
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
When NH flies from HNL to the mainland or US domestic I look forward to it.
My post was in direct reference to a POLARIS flight (SFO-ICN), which NH also flies with a Japan stop

Don't think that came across since the post was moved to the service thread from the Polaris meal thread
Unitedloyalflyer is offline  


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