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Old May 21, 2024, 3:05 pm
  #1  
pmv
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Talking United food puzzlement...

How does United get the food in the Polaris Lounges so right and the food in Polaris onboard so wrong? asking for a friend
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Old May 21, 2024, 3:16 pm
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Originally Posted by pmv
How does United get the food in the Polaris Lounges so right and the food in Polaris onboard so wrong? asking for a friend
Practice?
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Old May 21, 2024, 3:22 pm
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Theyre hoping you eat before boarding and skip the meal onboard
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Old May 21, 2024, 3:53 pm
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It was terrible last week on SFO-LHR.

The cheese melt snack was way better than the main course
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Old May 21, 2024, 3:55 pm
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Originally Posted by pmv
How does United get the food in the Polaris Lounges so right and the food in Polaris onboard so wrong? asking for a friend
One vendor has a vested interest in keeping the catering contract and manages both the preparation and delivery. The other is a "eh, you can replace us, but with who?" on the preparation and "here for your safety, not your gluttony" on the delivery.

Preparing and serving food is a lot easier when none of the parts are moving, let alone at several hundred MPH a few miles above the earth
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Old May 21, 2024, 4:36 pm
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Depending on which PL you attend, you might not think that the food there is anywhere approaching "so right" quality levels (ahem, SFO).
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Old May 21, 2024, 5:03 pm
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35,000 ft: no kitchen, no chefs, not the primary job, lower staff ratio, not cooked to order, taste buds work different, ..
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Old May 21, 2024, 5:42 pm
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Inflight food is prepared on the ground and just reheated onboard. It's like comparing a restaurant meal with a frozen TV dinner.
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Old May 21, 2024, 6:15 pm
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They've certainly convinced me to eat pre-flight in the PL where I can have a pretty good meal seated in a proper chair at a proper table. In-flight dessert, if I'm awake.
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Old May 21, 2024, 6:27 pm
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Originally Posted by mahasamatman
Inflight food is prepared on the ground and just reheated onboard. It's like comparing a restaurant meal with a frozen TV dinner.
100% Agree -- but as many of us here have experienced first hand -- other airlines deliver a FAR superior food experience in flight. I can only offer one reason -- UA is too cheap to pay for quality / figures that a solid hard product is enough.... My NH and JL flights to Tokyo absolutely destroy UA for food -- for the same price.... It's just a cost saving maneuver by UA -- plain and simple...
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Old May 21, 2024, 10:57 pm
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United needs to hire Do & Co Catering like DL, Qatar, Turkish. . .
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Old May 22, 2024, 12:09 am
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Originally Posted by bmwe92fan
My NH and JL flights to Tokyo absolutely destroy UA for food -- for the same price.... It's just a cost saving maneuver by UA -- plain and simple...
Agreed. My most spectacular airline meal was on a JL NRTLAX flight. It (the Japanese menu) started with an appetizer course of nine beautiful hors doeuvres served in little colored glass bowls, followed by the main course in a lacquered bento box, and then dessert with Blue Mountain coffee. And who would skip the curry rice midflight?

By contrast, my only expectation with UA inflight catering is to not get sick from it so that I can get the day going right from arrival.
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Old May 22, 2024, 3:01 am
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
35,000 ft: no kitchen, no chefs, not the primary job, lower staff ratio, not cooked to order, taste buds work different, ..
I did not realize that all these things are not the case for Asian carriers ......
Originally Posted by mahasamatman
Inflight food is prepared on the ground and just reheated onboard. It's like comparing a restaurant meal with a frozen TV dinner.
And how do SQ or JL do it?
Originally Posted by globetraveler
United needs to hire Do & Co Catering like DL, Qatar, Turkish. . .
Even AC does a better job. In coach AA is equally miserable but in C, I find them fairly superior.
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Old May 22, 2024, 3:32 am
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As an explanation, rather than an excuse, I suspect it's to do with the choice that is available on the ground and with significantly greater numbers eating. I'm not sure that UA has much of a clue when it comes to menu construction (either on the ground or in the air) - but on the ground you can pick and choose and make yourself a satisfactory meal. In the air you don't have that luxury and so you are stuck with the bizarre offerings that UA provides. And, when you don't really want what's on the menu it's never going to be satisfying.
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Old May 22, 2024, 7:22 am
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The thing that is irksome is that Polaris food was rather acceptable when the service was first rolled out. But it was also ripe for cost-cutting. I, for one, hope that the pendulum has swung as far as it will go in that direction, and shortly UA and the rest of the majors will start trying to out-do each other to win the dwindling paid business-class passengers. Oh, ok, scratch hope and replace with dream !
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