United Airlines has promised more meal service upgrades in 2025. Could one change be the introduction of true a la carte dining in Polaris Business Class? Competitively, it would be a game-changing move, but it also would require staffing adjustments to pull it off well.
True A La Carte Dining Coming To United Polaris?
Jenny Jackson, United’s Director of Food & Beverage Programs, recently teased on LinkedIn:
As we close out 2024 here at the United Airlines F&B team, we reflect on our accomplishments this year and look forward to all that’s to come in 2025…delivering a Food & Beverage Program that our Flight Attendants are proud to serve, and our Guests love to eat!!
In another post:
Flying United Polaris? Indulge in so many exclusive quality wine partnerships it will make your head spin- check out Freemark Abbey, Shafer, Heitz Celler and Laurent Perrier…..and that’s just the beginning!!!!
The implication is that more food improvements are coming and this has been hinted at in internal memos as well.
United also allows you now view menus for your flight several months in advance, and one Flyertalker noticed that for trips from April 2025 and beyond, the following message is included on top of the menu:
In United Polaris, you can order from an a la carte menu designed by chefs who blend global inspirations with seasonal ingredients, ensuring every dish is a refined experience tailored to the altitude.
Does that suggest a move to true a la carte dining? Maybe, maybe not.
It is a change… a new language that was not present before and is not found currently on the Polaris page of the United website.
But one could also argue that a la carte, loosely defined, already exists. Even now, you choose an app, then a main course, then a dessert amongst several options.
And it could also be that the a la carte language is just a placeholder until the final menu is determined. Even PremiumPlus uses this language for flights next summer…I just cannot see United ever offering anything truly a la carte in premium economy class.
Why United Cannot Pull Off A La Carte Right Now (Well)
Here’s the thing: there’s a reason why carriers like Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airways are able to pull off a la carte dining on-demand so well: just count the flight attendants.
United Airlines eliminated a flight attendant position during the pandemic and never brought it back, even as it restored service to pre-pandemic levels.
To offer a la carte service (a wider menu with on-demand dining), you need staff to make it happen. When passengers eat at different times versus all at once, it takes more resources and more people.
Is it possible now? Of course. But I would expect service to be so slow that it would become aggravating.
United needs to add at least one flight attendant to pull this off well and that’s why I suspect it will not happen.
CONCLUSION
United is at least hinting that a la carte dining is coming to Polaris. Offering an on-demand a la carte menu would be a game-changer for US carriers, but is impractical unless United increases staffing onboard to make such a high level of service possible. I’d love to see it, but I’m not holding my breath. In the meantime, United should focus on offering simple food with high-quality ingredients…it’s not rocket science, it’s just budget.
image: United Airlines
Thank you, thank you, thank you for pointing out the obvious flaw in the potential new service: Satffing!!! Yes, more staffing would need to be added plus additional ovens etc. As it stands now, with our current staffing levels, it still takes some time to deliver a professional service that is acceptable to customers. Dining whenever just fouls up the already perilous flow.
UA can deliver a great improvement with the existing staffing. Sure more staff would be welcome as a passenger, but it’s not a show stopper.
It already can sometimes take over 3hrs after takeoff to get done with the meal. If they FA needs to stay seated, it could take another hour or two. This was preCOVID. That’s a big percentage of time on some shorter TATL
If rather they focus on improving the QUALITY of the food and the execution
I think it’s better to just say Dine-On-Demand.
Also, they still need to improve the quality of the food above all else.
Putting the cart before the horse much? Fix your FAs first with the simple things like drink services and such.
Also Matthew your particular ads on this page is autoplaying videos and it’s irritating as shit. What is this, early 2000s geocities?
They are not supposed to autoplay…
They do.
Adjust your browser settings.
Let’s give United credit for setting goals to raise their bar of service and for trying some new things to improve. They know their weaknesses and are moving in the right direction
Agreed.
If they could pull this off, it would catapult them into the top when it comes to service…
I don’t recall SQ ever doing ala Carte or dine on demand except for first.
My SIN-LAX flight was on-demand.
I don’t think SQ usually does dine on demand in business but some of the ultra long flights to/from the US are exceptions for at least some of the meals. In the inflight menu https://inflightmenu.singaporeair.com/home this seems to be appear as Midflight onwards (e.g. SQ 23, 24, 37). More flights have a limited refreshment menu that is dine on demand.
Where does one find the menus online? I don’t see it anywhere.
Under Flight Status > Amenities
United might consider giving their flight attendants an industry-leading contract before considering any changes to Polaris onboard service.
I agree, John, this is fundamental!!
I don’t think anyone flying UA is clamoring for al la carte meals. The common refrain I hear most is better quality.
I truly believe United can pull this off. First, they need to do what John said “give their flight attendants an industry-leading contract” Second, add TWO more flight attendants. During my nearly 45yrs working for Western/Continental/United I worked a few years as an Inflight Quality Assurance Agent (ghost rider). I personally know quite a few United flight attendants . Most said they would love to see A La Carte dining happen. If only they could change to a “white coat” for dinner service, like Continental did in BusinessFirst. Now is their chance to make it right. Both quality food and great service.
Everything on google explains a la carte simply means an offering that can be ordered from separate items, and not a set menu. Nowhere says the meaning implies separate times. Think this one may be a stretch…
Well, I don’t fully disagree, but in airline parlance, a la carte typically means dine-on-demand.
Original staffing on 777-200 was 14. Now it’s 9.
Let’s first get the flight attendants a contract. As a GS I see these flight attendants all the time working hard and for them not to be paid a living wage affects my customer experience. This will never happen because not only does United not want to pay their flight attendants you really expect them to add more cost to wages. It will not happen…
maybe ditch the union that steals from new hires by paying them so little and not paying them for boarding pay, just so the geezers who have the long hauls can make more
You don’t know that the union doesn’t pay the flight attendants? Well, here you go; United pays their flight attendants. United is the one that needs to step up and stop dragging their feet and bargaining in bad faith.
BS!
Bimbos like Sarah Nelson need to stop making seniority the ONLY thing that affects salary and route bidding. If a new FA is a high performing FA, he/she should receive big raises and be allowed to bid on the premium long haul routes. Not merely grandmas
Funny, I get the A La Carte message now for a scheduled F domestic flight of about 3 hours in March. Not holding my breath.mm
United can’t even now guarantee you both your choice of appetizer and main course in Polaris. Yes, I know you can preorder but if you get an upgrade under 24 hours prior, preorder is not an option. And I’ve been told my appetizer choice was no longer available. Then the cabin crew staffing is already woeful and harried. They used to set up a beautiful dessert cart and now it’s not the elegant, fun presentation it used to be. United first needs to improve their staffing in order to improve their service.
re FA staffing being down one, what am I missing? on the 77W for example, internationally, each of the two galleys are staffed with a FA. Then the A Zone and B Zone Polaris Cabins have one FA on each aisle (total four). In flights I can think of back to when Polaris was launched in 2016, this was always the staffing complement for the 772 and 77W, or at least I thought it was. Im a pre merger CO customer and can think back to the 772s in BusinessFirst and this was also the staffing complement. So where was the extra FA working?
Even if the current onboard staffing were enhanced by a single position, it would PALE in comparison with the staffing at Singapore, Etihad, Emirates and the like, who have true enhanced staffing allowing these airlines to operate as they do. Just like all factors in business, you get what you pay for. If companies choose to run bare bones operations with minimum onboard staffing, I can’t see how they expect anything but bare bones service. No business can expect to pay for a Honda Civic but expect it to run like a Porsche.