After a multi-month hiatus, United Airlines has restored a number of beverage options to its cabins.
United Restores Ice, Alcohol, Coffee, Tea…On Select Flights
Effective July 3, United once again offers a number of additional beverages onboard.
Systemwide
- Complimentary liquor minis in premium cabins – flight attendants will place a stir stick in cold cup with ice and present a sealed liquor mini and sealed mixer to the customer.
- Ice to all customers – flight attendants will ask if you would like a cup and ice with your beverage (versus just handing you a sealed can with no option of ice or cup)
- Coffee and tea options on select flights – coffee or tea will be offered on:
- domestic flights departing before 09:45AM
- all Premium Transcontinental flights
- international flights
Here’s how United has instructed its flight attendants to serve coffee and tea safely:
- Use the safe-pour lid on coffee pots anytime they are brought into the aisle
- If customers request creamer, pour it in the hot cup first then add coffee/tea
- Place sugar, sugar substitute and stir stick, if requested, in a blue cold cup and provide to customer with their coffee, this way they can place all used items back in the cold cup for pickup
- Turn off coffee pot warmers :30 minutes prior to landing.
- Discard cooled coffee and tea in galley trash container, if coffee/tea is still hot, pour in double-bagged trash bags and discard in galley trash container.
- Do not discard coffee in lavatories (coffee pots are used on multiple segments and we don’t want pots reused after being in the lavatories)
Other changes include:
Domestic
- Proactively offer sealed beverages to United First customers – flight attendant have been instructed to proactively offer United First customers sealed beverages (and coffee or tea on morning flights) throughout the flight
- Reintroduce sealed beverages in domestic United Economy served from carts in the aisle:
- Flights between one hour and 2:20 – sealed beverages (and coffee or tea on morning flights) only from carts in the aisle
- Flights 2:20 or more – offer All-in-One snack bag including water bottle with a serviette from the cart, follow with a beverage cart, offering additional sealed beverages (and coffee or tea on morning flights)
International
- Complimentary beer and individual bottled wine in economy cabins on international flights – all beverages will be served sealed
- Specialty teas and hot chocolate will be available in select cabins and markets:
- Green and Oolong Tea: Both cabins on select Asia markets
- Stash tea and hot chocolate: United Polaris cabin
- Return of mid-flight beverages – at the halfway point of the flight, flight attendants will offer sealed beverages from a beverage cart plus a snack, where applicable.
CONCLUSION
I cannot celebrate what never should have been taken away in the first place, but this is good news in the sense that United is starting to re-introduce beverage services removed due to COVID-19 and kept removed due to cost-cutting masquerading as hygiene theatre. Hopefully United (and Delta and Alaska and JetBlue) will next begin re-introducing meals in domestic first class.
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image: United
All of the food and drink cost-cutting was absurd. We now know that the virus basically never transmits via surfaces or food — there’s no evidence of transmission this way — so it’s fine for airlines to safely serve food and drink. The only problem is that this will encourage more people to remove their masks during flight, which could be a problem if someone is sick.
Yes, I just had the pleasure, while on a full flight, of having the passenger next to me sneeze multiple times while he had his mask removed to drink his beverage. He apologized but I doubt that removed the droplets from the air. I was on a 3 hour flight and would have been fine if no food or beverages would have been served.
A better question is when they are going to restore some (doesn’t even have to be the proper multi-course) meal service on TCONs…the box o’ carbs is not acceptable.
I actually understand the decision then and now. It was made based on information available at the time. We now understand the virus better and will continue to do so in the future.
This wasn’t just about surface transmission, but about encouraging continual mask use by eliminating opportunities to remove them temporarily, which helps keep cabin crew and other passengers safer as they pass through the cabin.
Sorry if the answer is obvious, but why such strict measures to discard old coffee in bags?
We still don’t know everything about this virus. If masks are the savior, then why serve drinks when that requires people to remove their masks to drink.