My trip from Philadelphia to Los Angeles via Chicago on United this week demonstrates how limited meal service windows can leave passengers very hungry, even in first class.
I needed a late flight out of Philadelphia because I had a busy day planned beforehand…and it was indeed packed. I skipped lunch and by the time I arrived at the airport I was famished.
This was my itinerary:
A 7:32pm flight blocked at 2 hour and 22 minutes followed by a quick 35 minute connection in Chicago O’Hare, and a 4 hour, 26 minute flight to Los Angeles.
United did not offer a meal in first class on either flight. Both of these flights used to be meal flights, but it has been quite some time since United both scaled back on meal service hours while increasing minimum distance required for meal. Under the current policy, both flights only offer a snack basket in first class.
That’s a flight duration of over eight hours including the layover. By the time I pulled up to my gate in Chicago, my connection to LAX was already boarding and I had to switch from the C Concourse to B Concourse. Even if airport concessions had been open (they were closed already…), I would not have had time to eat.
The problem is not exclusive to United. Had I taken the same combo of flights on American Airlines, I would have run into the same issue: snack basket on both flights.
And that leaves me with this question: for someone who has to work all day and flies first class on a 2-hour flight leaving 7:32p (standard dinner time for me) followed by a 4-hour flight, is it really too much to offer a meal?
I think the fact this is a first class issue is particularly egregious, but economy passengers experience the same issue: there are only light snacks or snack boxes available for purchase. As much as I love the tapas snack box, that is not a meal.
CONCLUSION
Good thing I knew this going in — I rushed to PHL to have a bite to eat in the American Express Centurion Lounge before my flight. I was still starving by the time I reached LAX. You can probably guess where I headed…
I’m a little surprised you had a connecting flight instead of a non-stop from PHL to LAX. I’m used to having connecting flights every time I fly out of Ithaca, but that’s Ithaca! PHL is one of my usual connection spots, and it’s very rare that it’s not just one more direct flight from there. My three-leg trips tend to be to secondary cities like Lubbock, not L.A.!
I wanted to fly on United.
@ Matthew — I don’t know what to say…. 🙂
Loyalty has its price.
Matthew.. good article and I’ve gotta agree, but it has been a result of UA “penny pinching” that has occurred. Remember back in the day when every jet way at every CO airport had the posters about “Meals at Mealtime.”
As a premium flyer, I’ve lost track of the “ever changing” details (you can bet the airlines want you to lose track), but how about a Matthew summary reference article on the current AA/DL/UA exact meal policies and time windows — and exception markets – so we can compare? Thanks.. tk
939pm from ORD-LAX was never a meal flight. And PHL maybe years ago. Either way. Why not just stop and get a sandwich, much much better than the garbage they serve. ORD has a million places to pick up a sandwich from. Even subway is better than First Class garbage. And the stuff United serves is mostly very unhealthy.
Everything closed at 9pm at ORD. I didn’t see any options. And I tend to like United’s food (or at least find it not bad).
I refuse to fly flights that would have meals during “dining hours” but leave 5, 15 or 30 minutes past 8pm, and therefore just the snack basket comes out. They don’t even have a piece of fruit past 11am it seems. The fares are usually the same or more, so why would I subject myself to a meal of chips, nuts and candy? It’s cheap and ridiculous.
Matthew seems to have this weird expectation or fixation on airlines serving him food well outside normal meal hours, just because of his travel patterns. I think he knows it, which is why he doesn’t mention that his 2nd flight left at 9:30pm from ORD. What typical traveler would make a big deal that an airline should serve dinner so late?
He also wanted that on his 11:30pm flight from Fiji. Maybe he should just have an arrangement with United for them to charge him $25 extra to give him a takeout order from a concourse restaurant.
I just don’t understand why all airlines outside the USA would serve a meal on a flight at that hour but not not on the big three in the USA. Heck, most foreign airlines will serve also serve a meal in coach no matter what time the flight departs. Different markets…I get it. But you saw my tight schedule. Where was there time for a meal?
All you can expect of airlines is that they serve the meal for the flight in question, not your entire itinerary. You’re a little unreasonable. If food is that important to you, you should’ve booked a nonstop.
Flying out of DEN I seem to get mostly “snack” flights so my expectations are low, but recently I’ve been pleased to get the chicken salad as a snack option and not just the snack tray. I know it’s not a meal but it’s healthy and enough to keep me held over until I’m off e plane.
Snack flights aren’t too bad, especially for breakfast. I would have welcomed a chicken salad or even the infamous protein plate.
I just flew first class domestic between Newark and Boston with United. In economy, they give passengers a small bag of pretzel. In First (domestic, B737), only one scone. The different between economy and first class each way for this route usually is $150 – $200. Who would want to fly First, pay extra $200 for one scone? Terrible. United should have at least some kind of sandwich/wrap for First.
I’d say most still pay extra for the seat and priority boarding, but agree that a light meal (like Air Canada manages even on short flights) would be appreciated.
What a joke. I can get that maybe a snack basket is enough on flights departing after midnight or flights shorter than 90 minutes, but they really should offer a meal in First on all other flights. I fly A LOT in short to medium haul business class in Europe and Asia but almost never in the US and would be chocked if I didnt receive a meal on a 2+ hours domestic First flight. Asian airlines manage to do so on 60-90 minute flights in Economy.
I thought after 8pm or 9pm, there’s limited meal service anyway? Or was that never the case?
There is, but even a salad or sandwich would have been appreciated.
@ Matthew — Hop on the next United flight to ATL (connection required from LA) with one of those IN-N-OUT burgers, please… I am now officially hungry.
And I can assure you, it was worth the wait!
In-N-Out had to have been well worth waiting for. Love that place!
It’s a travesty with US carriers – the snack basket scourge we can thank Delta for about 10 years ago – dressed up as choice in reality a huge downgrade
So much of what’s wrong about premium domestic first class service comes from Delta post the NW merger, taking their penny pinching Northworst ways and dressing them up as ‘enhancements’
You booked a 35-minute connection through ORD at this time of year?! Whoa. I wanna roll with you in Las Vegas, Nevada, gambling man! 😉
And, yes, I have complained to United about the lack of a meal service on ORD-LAX. Four hours is just too long. If you’re on a quick turnaround and your body clock is still on Pacific time, you’re basically going through prime dinnertime without food. But at least you had a great option waiting for you on the other end!
US domestic carriers aversion to meals in F remains a joke.
I hope in the next downturn one of them tries adding back meal service on shorter and later flights as a difference maker.
If I could only franchise an In-N-Out…lol – I’d be a very happy RETAIL_SLUT, even with a $14.25 minimum wage – and $15.00 as of July 1, 2020!
In years past – I would break apart my IAD-LAX flights for either IAD-ORD-LAX, or IAD-DEN-LAX, and on usually one of the segments, a meal would be provided in first. After CO acquired UAL, the meal service turned into a dumpster fire in first. However, for the acquiring CO folks, their mentality of a “meal” was serving you a Subway sandwich- so to have any meal service outside the very limited and narrow time frames that didn’t match with CO’s first class meal philosophy, and we’re lucky to even have the snack basket!
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
Delta would have offered you a meal on that first flight, as meal service goes until 8 PM.
But isn’t it too short for a meal? If Alaska served that route there certainly would have been a meal.
Likely, you would’ve had to connect in MSP. That flight clocks in over 900 miles, meaning yes, you’d get a meal.
Even if he connects in Atlanta, he gets a snack on that flight, but all long flights have a meal service, so he would get a meal on ATL to LAX. SLC also is an option for a connection that results in a meal on at least the first flight.
As usual, bloggers’ aversion to flying Delta results in them with a worse experience (Delta would have given you meals on both of the flights I believe)
8pm is a stupidly early cutoff for meal service. If you are in meetings all day and leave after meetings to get to the airport when do you have time to grab dinner?
Plus there’s the issue Matthew raised about connecting flights. I purchased a $1,150 DL FC walk up ticket one way MOB-ATL-LAX (because AA canceled my flight and economy on DL was sold out)’. No good food in MOB and no time to grab anything in ATL as it was a really tight connection. I was really surprised to find out that there was unlimited alcohol but no food and I had to purchase a snack box for $7.99. They wouldn’t even give that to me.
I don’t get it as business travelers would probably prefer to eat on the plane rather than waste valuable time at the destination when they should be in meetings.
Actually I believe AA would have given you nuts and a cookie at least on ORD-LAX
If I understand the article correctly, United offers a snack basket on both flights which is essentially the same thing.
@James: Would AA have offered warmed nuts and a hot cookie? Just curious.
“ *Full meals are served on departures between 5 a.m. -1:30 p.m. and 4:01 p.m. – 8 p.m. Warmed mixed nuts and Lite Bites are served on departures between 1:31 p.m. – 4 p.m. and after 8:01 p.m.”
Also, they serve full meals on the premium transcon flights no matter what the time in both directions.
https://www.aa.com.br/i18n/travelInformation/duringFlight/dining/premium-cabin.jsp?locale=en_JP
A good and economical way to combat this would be to have all meals on flights before/after a certain cutoff time in the morning/evening be pre-order only. For everyone else, there’s the snack basket of sadness – or maybe some quasi-non-perishable snack boxes that can be transferred to the next flight. Of course this means anyone put on the flight within 24 hours or who are operational upgrades are SOL, but at least those of us who planned to be on that flight in F can have an actual meal while still allowing the airlines minimize waste.
(I can already hear the FAs whining about having to do a meal service, though.)