In the last year or so, some travelers flying via United Airlines have shared their frustrations over one aspect of the airline’s flight experience. It had nothing to do with the seats, the cabins or the check-in experience; instead, these travelers were unimpressed with the meal quality on their flights.
A September 2022 article at the Independent chronicled a host of Reddit threads venting at United for the quality of their food. An report published at around the same time at Yahoo! chronicled the experience of one man who found insects in his salad. More recently, a post at View From the Wing bore the revealing title “A Theory On Why United Airlines Food Is So Bad.” (The theory involves freshly-made meals being preferable to frozen ones.)
Frustrated travelers can take some solace in knowing that United’s leadership is aware of their anger. Writing at The Points Guy, Meghna Maharishi has details on comments made by United’s chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella at this year’s Skift Aviation Forum.
Calling food “one of those things that we didn’t bounce back as well with,” Nocella stated that improvements would be coming — but it might take a while. “I do think if you fly United today, the food experience is dramatically better than where it was a year ago,” he said.
United Airlines CEO Predicts a “Shakeout” in Domestic Air Travel
Is turbulence ahead for budget airlines?Nocella also pointed to the reception given new Polaris menus for service from London as indicative of better days ahead for in-flight dining. “[W]e’ve changed the wines, and we’re about to change the bread, all the new entrees,” he said.
It’s not the only United meal change coming — as Live and Let Fly recently reported, travelers flying in Polaris between San Francisco and Singapore will have some tapas options to choose from. Spoiler alert: they sound pretty delicious.
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