Dump the cheeseburger!
Jul 16, 2001, 11:38 am
#16
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 685
I just had two transcons this week, and cheeseburger was a choice on each. I had it on the way out. I made a point of mentioning to the FA that I had had it before and they left the buns in the oven way too long and they were totally stale. She promised not to do that, and it was perfectly done. I really like it!
However, on the way home, I had the menu that the original person had: chicken or scallops. I ordered the chicken. There was this old lady in the bulkhead who was obviously at the bottom of the barrel of status and all they had left when they got to her was hamburger. Well she made a huge deal about it. So, I took the FA aside and told her to offer my chicken to the lady. Well it turns out the lady just wanted something to complain about (in Yiddish, we call this woman an "alter cocqer" - I may have the gender wrong and I've spelled it funny to try to get around the ***s but you get the idea), and she didn't even take my chicken - she took chicken from coach, just so she could have a story about United First that she could tell her bridge friends, no doubt.
I ended up keeping the chicken, it was OK, but I probably would have enjoyed the hamburger more (if this FA had done the buns right, which I do not know).
The moral of the story: I like the hamburger, but I kind of get tired of it, so perhaps the problem here is not that it's bad, but that it shows up on so many service level 1/3 menus that so many 1Ks are tired of it and elect to get something else, so that non-1Ks never get to try the more interesting choices.
However, on the way home, I had the menu that the original person had: chicken or scallops. I ordered the chicken. There was this old lady in the bulkhead who was obviously at the bottom of the barrel of status and all they had left when they got to her was hamburger. Well she made a huge deal about it. So, I took the FA aside and told her to offer my chicken to the lady. Well it turns out the lady just wanted something to complain about (in Yiddish, we call this woman an "alter cocqer" - I may have the gender wrong and I've spelled it funny to try to get around the ***s but you get the idea), and she didn't even take my chicken - she took chicken from coach, just so she could have a story about United First that she could tell her bridge friends, no doubt.
I ended up keeping the chicken, it was OK, but I probably would have enjoyed the hamburger more (if this FA had done the buns right, which I do not know).
The moral of the story: I like the hamburger, but I kind of get tired of it, so perhaps the problem here is not that it's bad, but that it shows up on so many service level 1/3 menus that so many 1Ks are tired of it and elect to get something else, so that non-1Ks never get to try the more interesting choices.
Jul 16, 2001, 11:44 am
#17
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Reno, NV (RNO)
Programs: AA Platinum, AS, UA, DL, HHonors Gold, Marriott LTP, Hyatt, IHG Platinum
Posts: 4,707
I've had the cheeseburger once and it was actually quite tasty. Wouldn't want it every flight, but it is something worth keeping.
Jul 16, 2001, 2:04 pm
#18
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Programs: AA ExecPlat; AF Gold; UA GS; Hyatt L. Globalist; Marriott Plat; Hilton Diamond; National EE
Posts: 6,167
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ORD_UA1K:
AA does -- Chicago Deep Dish style -- for dinner, though I've never had them on UA.</font>
AA does -- Chicago Deep Dish style -- for dinner, though I've never had them on UA.</font>
Jul 16, 2001, 5:50 pm
#19
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Sacramento, Ca USA
Programs: United 1K MM - 1.7M actually, Marriott Platinum Premier, Hertz Gold
Posts: 1,231
Let's go back to the Jacques Pepin menu -- much better!
Oh, no, anything but Jacques Pepin. I have eaten his version of Turkey Dinner way too many times now -- turkey pounded and breaded and serves with weird spices...NOOOOO... that's not how turkey should be served.
:-)
Oh, no, anything but Jacques Pepin. I have eaten his version of Turkey Dinner way too many times now -- turkey pounded and breaded and serves with weird spices...NOOOOO... that's not how turkey should be served.
:-)
Jul 16, 2001, 5:54 pm
#20
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Sacramento, Ca USA
Programs: United 1K MM - 1.7M actually, Marriott Platinum Premier, Hertz Gold
Posts: 1,231
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Buster CT1K:
I once had a very tasty Chicago-style deepdish on UA, ORD-EWR in F, a few years ago.
</font>
I once had a very tasty Chicago-style deepdish on UA, ORD-EWR in F, a few years ago.
</font>
Gary (another food post ...due to way too many segments)
Jul 16, 2001, 6:56 pm
#21
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: melbourne, australia
Programs: American Executive Platinum / 1MM; Delta Platinum Medallion
Posts: 266
Cheeseburger cheeseburger cheeseburger...I agree, not too good. Plus, adding insult to injury, mine wasn't even served fully cooked or warm!
Jul 17, 2001, 11:42 am
#22
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Programs: United, Hilton
Posts: 691
Can I order the cheeseburger as a special meal? On my flight yesterday from SFO-ORD in C the meal choices were Spinach Ravioli and Crab Cakes with spicy topping. YUCK! The coach meal of chicken and rice was good as always but the cheeseburger would have been nice for a change.
Jul 17, 2001, 2:12 pm
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: DCA
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I think there are a few points we can draw from this thread.
People have different tastes. Accomodating them all is very difficult. This is one reason why hotel restaurants are so often lacking -- so many varied tastes stay at a hotel, and they try to cater to most all of them. Try doing that under aircraft galley conditions!
The hamburger in particular is a weird one. It doesn't fit the perception of what a "first class" meal ought to be, but some folks actually seem to really like it -- especially as a respite from the standard fare.
It strikes me as a good occasional choice, but probably not a very good frequent choice.
I would say it strikes me as a good second or third choice, but in fact folks in several related threads have said they were disappointed when it was gone!
One way around this is to simply board more meals... so that folks can choose what they want to eat. Of course, this increases costs -- and United's direction has been quite the opposite lately.
My own sense is that high-yield customers are worth most any extra expense. That's certainly the experience I've had in my own industry. However, a long-shot in the near term for sure.
The other thing that would be nice is better preparation of meals. The example of the overdone bun (certainly true when I had a cheeseburger during an IAD-SFO flight) is only one of many where meals just seem not to be cooked for the right amount of time (nearly always overdone -- an especially frequent problem with salmon).
I don't know how we get there b/c I don't know the source of the problem.
Is it better F/A training?
Is it better cooking equipment?
Or is the equipment fine and the training/instructions fine -- but the F/A is simply trying to do to much in servicing first, and can't accomplish proper timing of meals as a result?
Just some thoughts...
People have different tastes. Accomodating them all is very difficult. This is one reason why hotel restaurants are so often lacking -- so many varied tastes stay at a hotel, and they try to cater to most all of them. Try doing that under aircraft galley conditions!
The hamburger in particular is a weird one. It doesn't fit the perception of what a "first class" meal ought to be, but some folks actually seem to really like it -- especially as a respite from the standard fare.
It strikes me as a good occasional choice, but probably not a very good frequent choice.
I would say it strikes me as a good second or third choice, but in fact folks in several related threads have said they were disappointed when it was gone!
One way around this is to simply board more meals... so that folks can choose what they want to eat. Of course, this increases costs -- and United's direction has been quite the opposite lately.
My own sense is that high-yield customers are worth most any extra expense. That's certainly the experience I've had in my own industry. However, a long-shot in the near term for sure.
The other thing that would be nice is better preparation of meals. The example of the overdone bun (certainly true when I had a cheeseburger during an IAD-SFO flight) is only one of many where meals just seem not to be cooked for the right amount of time (nearly always overdone -- an especially frequent problem with salmon).
I don't know how we get there b/c I don't know the source of the problem.
Is it better F/A training?
Is it better cooking equipment?
Or is the equipment fine and the training/instructions fine -- but the F/A is simply trying to do to much in servicing first, and can't accomplish proper timing of meals as a result?
Just some thoughts...