United Airlines is pulling back on meal service in domestic first class. Starting January 1, United Airlines will only serve meals up front on flights of 900 miles or longer, as first reported by Live and Let’s Fly. According to internal United communications,
Starting January 1, 2024, complimentary meals will be offered at 900+ miles. This is a change from the previous 800+ miles. On flights 301-900 miles, United First customers can expect a premium snack basket and under 300 miles will receive a complimentary drink.
Both American and Delta currently serve meals only on flights over 900 miles. United had been serving meals on flights that were 800 miles.
Alaska Airlines, in contrast, serves fruit plates, yogurt, and cheeseburgers even on flights of 670 miles or more (along with a dessert course at lunch and dinner). Their meal service overall, more robust on longer flights, outshines what other U.S. carriers offer.
Of course, United’s move brings to mind Woody Allen,
There’s an old joke – um… two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of ’em says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other one says, “Yeah, I know; and such small portions.” Well, that’s essentially how I feel about life – full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it’s all over much too quickly.
@united – the meals on your flights are really “something….” #disappointed pic.twitter.com/1HBy1EqmUu
— N.W. Lai (@NWLai) November 16, 2023
United first and business class meals aren’t very good. But with this change, as Live and Let’s Fly points out, meals will no longer be served on routes like Denver – Los Angeles, Denver – Chicago, and Denver – Houston. And with the high level of passengers connecting through United’s banked Denver hub, many of these first class passengers will be coming off of flights without meal service and with limited time (if any) to pick up food in transit.
Before the pandemic United was uniquely ungenerous on domestic first class meals. They tried to cut them on all flights under four hours, but were embarrassed under the scrutiny and restored them to three hour flights.
Meals between 800 and 900 miles was an area where United offered greater value than competitors to premium customers. But it comes as an expense. I have a hard time trying to understand how premium United wants to be given that they seem to be a bit schizophrenic in their approach to premium passengers.
I mean it’s so much more refreshing to bring a sammie from home. And buy a couple snacks from the airport.
Yet there’s no shortage of fools paying for First Class now….
Unless corporations pay for the tickets, who would fly domestic First class with almost nothing and still pay a lot? Better seating, not so much. Priority boarding, all is group 1 due to credit card holder. Priority baggage, everyone is Gold so your luggage might arrive last. Just fly economy and save lot of cash. And no need to stick with United either. I tried a domestic Delta flight, and I was given some peanuts without any status.
Why bother flying United, when you can fly the world’s #1 PREMIUM airline?
The PREMIUM snack basket!
Let me guess, “customer feedback” necessitated this “enhancement.” Such a sad race to the bottom. And it always seems the premium product is the first thing they cut.
Of course, those first class flights will be cheaper now, right??
I was surprised to get a full meal ORD-BOS last week. I also really appreciated it, thought it was a differentiator for UA. Now it’s going away ha!
Eliminating this on so many hub-hub flights is a huge blow for elites, but I expect the 1k’s will still be lining up, UA is great at realizing what they really want: some element of ‘status’, regardless of what they actually get out of it. Honestly it’s brilliant.
Who flies domestic FC? We do, to our international jump off point.
International underwater photographers who like the baggage allowance and the often tie in with international airlines.
The snack basket is a joke and the overpriced airport food a bigger joke. Been on plenty of international domestic FC flights, many under 2 hours where they put a hot meal in front of you.
US airlines are the joke.
Do customers on UA cook premium meals in the lavatory’s sink like they do on Delta?
What does a meal cost the carrier? $6 ? So we’re talking $120 of cost removed per flight? This just lowered the incentive for a passenger to pay for an upgrade. Plenty of people enjoy meal service without getting hung up over the quality.
US anti trust focuses on consumer benefit which means lower costs which translates to scale and oligopolies. The airline biz is now putting bums in seats. Expect the situation to get worse before it gets much worse. Opening for the innovators of private like JSX
@Joe if the FA picked up a frozen Banquet dinner at wal-mart on the way to the airport and warmed it in the galley, you’d have an equivalent meal for $6. But I’m sure once you deal with all the airport sourcing rules, drive it to the tarmac, load it on one of those little lift thingys and add in markup for the contractor it probably ends up being more like a $50 frozen dinner.
I think this may have to do with a bunch of the hub-to-hub routes being between 800 and 900 miles. LAX-DEN, DEN-ORD, and DEN-IAH are all between 800 and 900 miles, so this will make a huge difference on their catering fees out of Denver. But that’s also one more reason to jump ship to Southwest if you’re Denver based.
Will anyone notice?
@ Gary — I would prefer they not bother if the food is just going to be horrible. The only domestic airline that serves good food is Alaska.
@ Upgrade — Why is one a fool to pay for First Class? Presumalby peope are paying for the space, not the “food”. I never want to be stuck in Economy again, so that makes me a fool?
Unless UA would allow FC twenty different diet options, like EK economy class, then any UA duo choice of refined pasta congealed in sodium, sugar, fat, and unpronounceable chemicals or mystery meat congealed likewise is guaranteed to disappoint seasoned flyers and college intern flyers both. I have no idea how UA FC can resurrect the Golden Age of fine dining in the air on domestic flights.
UA FC is all about legroom, hip room, and reduced risk of fellow passengers spilling over into your limited seat space (h3ll is other people.) And some passenger just aren’t interested in the alternative of Private Jet.
On a positive note, my experiences with UA FAs in FC for flights out of DEN have been great the last few years.
United is clearly in a tailspin.
United is clearly in a tailspin.
Signed,
The Real Tim Dunn
I’m flying to egypt on united. Just like everywhere else I fly, I’ll bring something along to eat.
@T – clearly a made-up post, unless your last flight on DL was in the early 2000s – it does not serve peanuts. Also, UA serves a pretzel mix, chocolate quinoa crisp, or fruit bar in economy.
Credit card holders board in Group 2.
I saw a vending machine in Haneda Airport selling the ANA inflight meals to take home and enjoy. That would be an idea…..have a vending machine at Denver, buy your airline meal and bring it on board and ask if they’d warm it for you. .
Dave says:
December 14, 2023 at 1:04 pm
I mean it’s so much more refreshing to bring a sammie from home. And buy a couple snacks from the airport.
I TOTALLY agree with this and, in fact, do it all the time. Yes, I fly in the rear, no problem for me.
How long is 900 miles?
What a useless metric. Should be in number of minutes, which is really what matters (i.e. anything over 60 minutes is long enough for a meal, even less if in Asia).
I find commenters on these blogs to be way over emotional. They act like United is a horrible airline for cutting back to the same mileage threshold to serve a FC meal that American and Delta are already at – 900 miles. And no, Tim Dunn, that doesn’t make Delta more premium. It makes United the same amount of non-premium Delta already is. The only fact based reaction I have to this is that where I normally chose United to fly FC on routes between 800-900 miles I no longer will. I will choose the airline based on other factors. To all the people making all these ridiculous comments that no one cares about the food on a plane, I call BS. Of course you do. If you could take a flight catered with dinner on one airline or take a flight on another airline at a similar time and at a similar price, but with no dinner, you’re going to choose the dinner flight every time. Airplane food DOES MATTER. Get over yourselves!
@ Tim — I seriously doubt that United, with its vastly superior premium fleet and brilliant PassPlus program, is in a tailspin. I am looking forward to my fairly DL-free future. I am so glad DL is letting us out with two years of Diamond and Lifetime Platinum. It will make it much more pleasant to burn the rest of our SkyMiles during our long buh-bye! from DL.
UA food is very embarrassing to United. Scott Kirby does not care.
I believe UA is throwing in the towel, they simply CANNOT get catering right. They figure serving nothing is better than the garbage they plate up today. They are destroying the first class experience, I expect to see economy style seating up front next.
I flew Qantas domestic between Sydney and Melbourne a few days ago and got a full meal – hot and delicious lamb – comparable to what AA would serve between JFK and LHR. On a one hour flight.
Who pays for FC anymore? All the status holders get free upgrades. I tried to use miles to upgrade last minute and I was 27 on the list behind all the free upgrades.
Gene,
don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
how is a fleet that is more than 2 years older than anyone else, less seatback AVOD, slower Wifi, and burns 6.5% more fuel more premium or superior?
@ Tim — I don’t care if they burn 100% more fuel. Not my problem. Let’s see, which is premium, Polaris on United or garbarge 767-300 J on Delta?
So now you’ll have to actually read your confirmation to see if a meal is served on your flight. And scrutinize your connection details. You might have to … OMG … pack a piece of fruit and a snack in your carryon. Oh, the horror of it all. United’s never hidden their disdain for feeding us up front, so what’s the big deal? I fly up front for the wiggle room, nothing else.
The quality of the meals in First Class today are way below the often joked about meals of economy in the 1970s/1980s. I remember actual carved roast beef, at your seat, on Pan Am in the late 1980’s. Yes, international flight (NYC to Frankfort and Frankfort to India or Pakistan).
On United, Boise to Denver we get a drink and a bag of pretzels/popcorn. Denver to Houston today is a hamburger or chicken meatballs in red sauce. Houston to San Francisco I think I received yogurt with granola.
Geez, the United “snack box” is a better meal than some of the meals being served. Except they stopped giving the “good” snack box.
People are really too emotionally invested in an airline’s in flight meals. The message given loud and clear is that they don’t care. They really don’t. They prove it over & over.
Remember that airline that went bankrupt because of catering costs?
Yeah. Me either.
Sigh! What do I miss by no longer flying in the States? Nothing!
Living in Malta, we fly to Helsinki four time a year, via Frankfurt. The Helsinki leg is 2 hours forty minutes. In LH business class. On our Monday flight, the appetizer was smoked salmon and warm German bread. The main course was roasted goose, dumplings and red cabbage.
Keep talking about who has worst snack box. You all make my day.
Business Greed!! Greedy Businesses always take more from people and give people less. Chrony capitalism!!
The MBA’s running these airlines are there for one reason- to make the stockholders richer. Period. The business schools train them absolutely zero about regard for product quality, or about any thought or regard for the customers or the product.
And regarding Alaska Airlines… sorry, your information is false. We are flying Alaska First Class from Los Angeles to Seattle…and the “meal” is an insult– it is a cold, micro-sized portion of an alleged chicken or turkey salad. Garbage. Alaska is just as bad if not worse than United.
I have been wondering why airlines use distance vs duration to determine whether a flight gets meals or not. IAD-MCO is slightly under 800, and IAD-TPA is slightly over 800, yet there are some IAD-MCO flights scheduled for longer duration than some IAD-TPA flights. Even if it is based on estimated time above 10,000 ft which is more likely tied to distance than duration, some routes have notoriously longer approach times where the FAs need to be seated than others.
I flew Alaska first class boston to seattle and there food was gross flew back sea bos coach it was the same food
Dont kid yourself, Domestic BC is just a big seat and a free drink…and an overhead bin. Don’t set yourself up with high expectations, as the food sucks, even as an Exec Platinum.
They should eliminate all food. Its an airplane, not a restaurant. And it’s probably unhealthy anyway, being mostly processed food.
As if having the lowest pilot qualifications of any major airline, the ridiculous DEI component of their AVIATE program, and the oldest fleet with the most beat up seats wasn’t enough, now they’ll nickel and dime the flying public during a time when they record record profits. No way will I ever set foot onboard a United flight again. I’ll walk to my destination
before thst happens.
What the average flyer does not want to hear is that the AIrlines are in Transportation and not food service. You cannot have it both ways. The flyers expect UPGRADES and are reluctant to actually Pay (as in Revenue) to sit in a Premium Cabin and this is where there is a disconnect between AIrline and Customer. What the AIrlines need to do is reduce the size of the FC Cabin and then redesign the Service, not enlarge the Cabins like they have done to allow Upgrades and set up unreasonable expectations for these customers. PAY as in actual dollars, not some token fee to get a bigger seat and that type of BS…..Charge them but then the AIrline better deliver. The ISSUE is the Sytem…upgrades and entitlement and the wallet rarely comes out. UPGRADING should be limited to Premium Economy/Main Cabin Extra/Comfort Class or whatever they want to call it.
Just did a UA first class flight from PHL-IAH yesterday (Dec 15).
For context, I am AA Exec Platinum.
As others pointed out, pre boarding is a mess.
Despite having plenty of time, the only pre-flight beverage option was water. When I asked to have a beer if possible, I was greeted with a rude, “we don’t offer that before take off).
Once in the air, the service was SLOW.
Dinner was a steamed cheeseburger with a hard crusted and inedible top bun…. The dessert (some kind of crumb cake) was quite tasty though.
Subsequent drink service on the 3.5 hour flight was just ONCE! AA checks in all of the time.
Overall, very sad FC experience on United, but they had the better flight time. Going back to PHL on AA tomorrow.
How can I determine how many miles it is between SMF-DEN on UA? Depending upon which source I use I get either 897 miles (no meals) using Expert Flyer or 909 (meal) using all other air mileage calculators.
I will say as a UA Flight Attendant, serving meals in J on the DEN-ORD segment is quite the production. Typically leaving DEN, the Captain wants us to stay seated until ~20,000 feet and if there’s any approach turbulence into ORD, we typically get told to be seated earlier (more so before the recent changes). Regardless, top of descent for ORD is typically 40 min out, which adds complexity. If anything else goes wrong (plane ovens suck sometimes), you’re running out of time and it can look like a shitshow. It’s a more frequent issue on 757/wb fleets as compared to the segments on narrowbodys, though.
*disclaimer so I don’t get attacked: I enjoy my job and the service I provide. I’m sorry if you’ve had other experiences, particularly on the route I mentioned, but it is a tough route in J with anywhere from 18-28 passengers*
So many people commenting and yet how many of these people fly first class on united? Domestic first class has at least 3 preorder options cheeseburger, cheese plate, vegetarian option and 3 additional onboard options. As far as the quality i still eat the food and I’ve been a flight attendant for 26 years. I think the change may be cost saving, but also has to do with a new turbulence policy which has us be seated earlier resulting in less time to do a full service. See you in the skies!
Well, not sure how many others commenting actually fly first class on United but I fly first on UA 80% of the time. I hope they don’t go through with it as I truly appreciate having a meal (especially during breakfast and dinner hours) as it’s one less thing to do before or after the flight. It might be an unpopular opinion but I’ve actually have enjoyed a lot of the meals I’ve had on United. So fingers crossed meal service continues on these flights.