A signature element of United Airlines’ business class service on transcon and longhaul flights is ice cream sundaes. But if you have flown United this week you may have noticed sherbet served in a paper container rather than the usual sundae.
As part of the new Polaris rollout, United has new ice cream dishes. Shaped like the United logo, they are very attractive.
But apparently they are cracking, sending chards of glass into the ice cream. Ice cream is pre-apportioned and the ice cream + bowl are stored in a dry-ice-cooled container. The glass is thin and apparently cracking after repeated use or wash cycles.
We have been given no timeline on a fix. Whether United still has its old sundae dishes in storage is not clear, but most longhaul flights this week have featured the same ice cream served to economy class passengers.
Which is not always a bad thing…
I must admit, out of Europe this ice cream is usually better than the bulk vanilla ice cream used in Polaris Business and First Class. Many other carriers (especially in Asia) also serve ice cream to premium class passengers in plastic or paper. It is more sanitary and space efficient. Still, since ice cream sundaes are a signature part of the Polaris service, I hope United doesn’t wait too long to find a solution.
I believe a fix won’t happen soon. This is the last thing United is worried about these days.
Talk about life problems. I certainly hope that they fix this ice cream issue so that you do not need to endure it much longer.
I’m not even complaining. I like the coach ice cream better!
Got packaged honey and stem ginger ice cream last night returning from France, and it was delicious. Flight attendants thought it had been catered in error, but I was pleased. Seems a lot easier for staff and for storage, not to mention weight, as long as they continue to use very good ice cream.
United has been serving sundaes long before they switched to the dimpled Polaris bowl. I bet there is a warehouse full of old sundae dishes begging to be put back into service! Catch a clue United, don’t fail us again!