jfdnyc1981

I have resisted jumping ship from United through all of their other BS. But this is just such a hugh slap in the face to those of us who pay more and go out of way to fly UA. (I primarily fly them on ps and internationally.) UAL is really becoming a joke and I have no trouble liquidating my miles and leaving them now. As many have noted, I can't wait for CO to get fully integrated into *A, and at this point, I am looking forward to flying VA between NYC and LAX. And for my international flying, I will now be flying with whatever European carrier can get me there non-stop from JFK without going through ORD or IAD (we all know it's another story how UAL gave away JFK!!)

dcsnowwake

im sorry, even getting rid of meals in 3class is a joke.
yes they may be upgraders BUT there your most loyal customers!!! im sorry but i try to fly more united just for that extra e500's for the iad-den flight, yeah i could spend moeny on other airlines, but i want that upgrade.

so if i give united 300 bucks more over a couple of flights, im pretty sure they can give me a 10 dollar meal to keep me happy and on united.

I already hit 2p for the year, wont hit 1p. so might as well take my flights to another airline the rest of the year and see how they are.

I was already upset about no free booze in Y, but i could live with that, now 10 hour flights with no free food? booooooooooo

ps, 99% of my flying is leasure, so its my own hard earned money, and i can choose how to spend it!!!!!

jfhscott

I do not suggest that the elimination of food service will directly lead to a drop in prices - nor do I even believe it will. It may, however, delay or reduce price increases, or, perhaps keep UA out of bankruptcy altogether. (I respect that UA, and all airlines, prefer to remain viable business entities).

And you are correct, truly long flights may require fuller service, lest pax starve.

notquiteaff

Well, given that UA is apparently losing money on most flights, who's doing the ripping off?

Well, I pretty much agree with you.

The wonderful, ahem, economy meal has never been the reason for me to choose UA on transatlantic flights. It's all about E+ and schedule convenience. If they stop offering those (and the loss of UA 926/927 is a step in that direction), I'll have to find alternatives. But I can easily deal with feeding myself prior, during and after the flight.

For those wondering about KWI and Europe, a lot of companies think of regions such as EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) instead of continents, so I suspect that's what drove this weird phrasing. What it highlighted to me was that UA really only has one destination in EMEA that isn't actually in Europe.

snic

OK, but even 6 hours without food is a long time - especially if your prior flight sat on the tarmac for an hour waiting for a gate to open up, so you had to dash to catch this one, with no time to grab a bite in the terminal.

I wouldn't really mind so much paying $5 for a BOB sandwich, even on TATL, because the BOB fresh food tends to be much better than the awful warm meals. But $9 is absurd. And there are situations where one can't avoid paying it. That, to me, makes it extortion.

DogHead

It will. Not for long though.

luxair

It is just sad to see that many US Carriers including UA, US and AA are moving in the wrong direction. Don't they realize that many premium customers are not willing to stand flying an US Airline anymore especially domestic. They should try and win back customers that moved to Jet Charters with a more personalized service however exactly the opposite is happening driving even more high yielding passengers away.

Alphaguy

And that'd scary!

DogHead

"We benchmark our international competitors to determine what our customers should expect from us for both product and service.
We recognize our customers, like our investors, have increasing choices, and we want them to choose United.
We begin with getting the basics right; comparing performance to the best airlines and looking for best practice beyond our industry."

(Glenn Tilton)

as219

No offense, but I don't think UA will miss you too much...

jfhscott

I don't have the data (and if someone does, it would be interesting to hear about), but I'm not certain that a $9 BOB sandwich, while expensive by my standards, would be a profit center for UA. I appreciate that the cost of delivery increases greatly in the air. Anyone have data or other insights as to factors impacting costs?

as219

That gave me a laugh.

Boghopper

I think if you read between the lines the PS C service will have a second hot meal eliminated, but not the main one. I think the 3-class domestic changes apply only to non PS.

Or maybe PS C will get complimentary BOB, which would be stunning.

blort

I haven't noticed that, probably because I don't take a tally of the eating habits of my fellow passengers.

Personally, I always had the second snack on p.s. breakfast flights, since I generally don't go to lunch from the airport. That leaves quite a gap between breakfast on east coast time and dinner on west coast time.

I bought my last roundtrip in Z instead of D since they announced the cuts to p.s. F. The Z fare was $3225. Let's say UA bumped the fare to $3275 but kept the second snack. Would anybody suddenly say "whoa, I'm not paying that much!" and walk away?

as219

I understand the logic of selling meals to Y pax on LST fares. What I simply cannot understand is the logic of selling meals to pax on YBMH fares. Is UA kidding? The person paying many hundreds if not thousands more for their seat will be asked to fork over cash for dinner?!? Does UA really think that all pax in Y are "el cheapos"?

I have to imagine there's some way to include a meal voucher when pax pay substantial sums for Y seats. Otherwise they really are going to stick it to some top-paying customers.