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

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Old Aug 13, 2022, 11:10 pm
  #1366  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
Plastic utensils on a domestic flight in F today from EWR to PHX.
Same here yesterday from EWR to LAS. Is this an EWR thing?
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Old Aug 14, 2022, 12:44 am
  #1367  
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Originally Posted by iluv2fly
Same here yesterday from EWR to LAS. Is this an EWR thing?
Perhaps EWR catering is on the cutting edge.

David
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Old Aug 14, 2022, 2:32 pm
  #1368  
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Originally Posted by iluv2fly
Same here yesterday from EWR to LAS. Is this an EWR thing?
Looks that way. ex-PHX had real utensils.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 12:23 pm
  #1369  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
What you really have there is a narrow-body domestic F meal, likely found on a IAH-SEA flight, for example. Definitely not Polaris or anything that ever resembled it.
I don't defend UA's meal service when DL and AA have improved so much, but the entree is the same Polaris entrees we've seen since the start of Polaris. The difference now is that it served on the same tray as the salad and bread with no appetizer to start. But we've never seen a domestic entree like that (especially not plated so nicely).
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 12:29 pm
  #1370  
 
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
I don't defend UA's meal service when DL and AA have improved so much, but the entree is the same Polaris entrees we've seen since the start of Polaris. The difference now is that it served on the same tray as the salad and bread with no appetizer to start. But we've never seen a domestic entree like that (especially not plated so nicely).
There is no defense. It is all cost cutting. I had a much nicer meal on an Aegean flight that was two hours long. The quality and quantity that UA offers in Polaris is a joke. UA clearly does not seem to care except for the FAs that are embarrassed to serve it. The meal choices are odd. Terms used don稚 fit (they池e added to make them sound premium or fancy). I don稚 think we値l ever see the return of hot towels, appetizers, a cheese cart, a sundae cart or hot midflight snacks. The reason is 100% cost.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 12:51 pm
  #1371  
 
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Originally Posted by EWRFlyerAL
There is no defense. It is all cost cutting.
It is cost cutting from the soft product and putting that money in the hard product. Time will tell if that bet pays off - they are betting Polaris lounges and the hard product outweigh the poor soft product.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 12:57 pm
  #1372  
 
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
It is cost cutting from the soft product and putting that money in the hard product. Time will tell if that bet pays off - they are betting Polaris lounges and the hard product outweigh the poor soft product.
The Polaris lounges are good at best. I would not say they provide an experience that is much better than a Centurion Lounge (except for the crowding). The seats are already falling behind competitors. I guess the new amenity kit is an upgrade.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 1:20 pm
  #1373  
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
I don't defend UA's meal service when DL and AA have improved so much, but the entree is the same Polaris entrees we've seen since the start of Polaris. The difference now is that it served on the same tray as the salad and bread with no appetizer to start. But we've never seen a domestic entree like that (especially not plated so nicely).
The meal in the photo is pretty much the identical presentation I used to have on my frequent IAH-SEA runs in domestic F, except the plate was a flatter rectangle shape. Otherwise, it looks pretty much the same.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 1:25 pm
  #1374  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
The meal in the photo is pretty much the identical presentation I used to have on my frequent IAH-SEA runs in domestic F, except the plate was a flatter rectangle shape. Otherwise, it looks pretty much the same.
I don't ever recall salmon in domestic F. Am I missing something?
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 1:57 pm
  #1375  
 
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Originally Posted by EWRFlyerAL
The Polaris lounges are good at best. I would not say they provide an experience that is much better than a Centurion Lounge (except for the crowding). The seats are already falling behind competitors. I guess the new amenity kit is an upgrade.
Agreed. You can definitely see the cost cutting in the lounges as well.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 1:58 pm
  #1376  
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
I don't defend UA's meal service when DL and AA have improved so much, but the entree is the same Polaris entrees we've seen since the start of Polaris. The difference now is that it served on the same tray as the salad and bread with no appetizer to start. But we've never seen a domestic entree like that (especially not plated so nicely).
Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
I don't ever recall salmon in domestic F. Am I missing something?
Once upon a time, UA did their domestic catering right. Three choices, three course service and everything: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27539411-post866.html
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 2:42 pm
  #1377  
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Originally Posted by findark
Once upon a time, UA did their domestic catering right. Three choices, three course service and everything: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27539411-post866.html
I stand corrected!
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 3:21 pm
  #1378  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
What you really have there is a narrow-body domestic F meal, likely found on a IAH-SEA flight, for example. Definitely not Polaris or anything that ever resembled it.
I totally get where you're coming from, but at least for me and my food prefs this is basically the same amount/type of food that I ate in Polaris from SFO-SIN in January 2020. The only diff is the missing appetizer.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 6:33 pm
  #1379  
 
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
I don't ever recall salmon in domestic F. Am I missing something?
This may be a bit before your time, but back when ORD-PHL was a "business one" flight, they served salmon as a dinner entree. This was when B757s were used on the route.
The business one tag meant that full meals were served during meal times, newspapers were provided, and if flights were more than 15 minutes late, you got 500 miles deposited into your account. The gates used at ORD for these flights were also some of the first outfitted with power outlets.
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Old Aug 18, 2022, 7:05 pm
  #1380  
 
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Originally Posted by mrbiggs223
IAH-NRT in June.
FA came around and asked me for my order. I asked what are the choices and he handed me his instructions sheet .

Unrelated, the same FA initially said I was in the wrong seat. He was only reading the latter half of the name e.g. if my name was William, he said "are you Liam?". After clearing it up, he proceeded to call me the wrong name the rest of the flight .

Had the short rib. Forgot to take a picture because it was mediocre. The meal on the next flight on TG Royal Silk was 10x better.


Trust me -- that Thai spiced chicken is WAY better than anything in Polaris -- and I've done it many times -- I've even taken coach meals in place of the travesty that is Polaris food.... Every time I've asked -- they say the same thing -- "You've eaten here before..."
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