United Airlines is updating its “Bistro on Board” fresh menu in August, offering economy class passengers several new options for purchase onboard.
New “Bistro on Board” Choices On United Airlines
While United does not serve complimentary food on most domestic routes, fresh meals are available for purchase on flights that are 1,500 miles or longer departing during meal service windows.
Effective August 1st, United is refreshing its onboard menu, with new selections available for purchase onboard. Some passenger favorites, like the breakfast sandwich and cheeseburger, will remain.
For flights of 1,500 miles or more departing between 5:00am and 9:59pm, the following options will be available for $8 each:
- Blueberry banana overnight oats
- Banana flavored overnight oats served over a layer of blueberry fruit puree.
- Asiago bagel sandwich
- Egg patty, cheddar cheese and bacon on an Asiago bagel
For flights of 1,500 miles or more departing between 10:00am and 8:59pm, the following options will be available for $10 each:
- Southwest chicken salad shaker
- Layered salad shaker with brown rice, black beans, chili lime diced chicken, roasted corn, red bell peppers, red onion, pepper jack cheese, and cilantro.
- Brioche burger with bistro sauce
- Beef patty topped with cheddar cheese, pickles, and bistro sauce on a buttery brioche bun
- Fresh cheese & fruit tray
- Sharp Cheddar cheese, Fontiago cheese, Grand Cru cheese, Partners crackers, red seedless grapes, Bonne Maman fig preserves, Frango mint chocolate
Cash and credit cards are not accepted onboard; your credit card must be stored in advance on united.com or on the United mobile app.
There is still no word on whether United will restore complimentary meals to the EconomyPlus cabin on premium transcontinental routes, as was true before the pandemic.
CONCLUSION
I’ve tried the brioche burger and asiago bagel sandwich and find them both to be satisfying. Personally, I look forward to trying the Southwest chicken salad shaker, which sounds quite delicious.
This looks better than any of the crap they serve in Polaris. I wish these were options when flying international J. I’d even buy them as sad as that sounds. The “new” menus are not fit for human consumption.
I get the sarcasm, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a few of those as options for mid flight snacks in Polaris instead of crap that belongs in a vending machine?
I wasn’t being sarcastic. My last three Polaris flights had me taking a bite and spitting it out or rejecting the meal altogether (and being glad I did when I saw what other passengers were being served). Better meals are served in prisons.
I appreciate the economics of trying to sell food on shorter flights but as someone based in the middle of the country my flights are never long enough to have anything but the snack boxes offered. I wish they would expand the flights BoB is offered.
Agree – wish this would expand to all flights over 800 miles, but I know it can be difficult.
Difficult? It’s done across the world. It was done in the past. Difficult for United FA’s that is!
I have the same problem based in SAN. 90% of my travel is in the western and southeast US. I have to connect in DEN or (preferably) IAH and neither makes the mileage cut.
I’ve been on board a couple of recent UA fights where the bistro boxes were sold… quick, easy, and good enough to conquer hunger on a longer flight. I think this is a good solution to in-flight food for economy pax. Just increase rotate choices often to keep clients happier.
Yeah last time I asked for a burger the FA said let me go check they only load 2 on per flight (granted this was a 737 from FLL to DEN maybe a 777 from LAX to EWR has more).
They need to load more supply.
Does anyone the days when they had multiple pages of menus in the Hemispheres magazine? Tons of different snacks and tons of warm meals, such as the burger, pasta, salads, and a bunch of sandwiches.
Why can’t we get back to that? Why can we only have 4 snacks and 3 meal options?
So much for vegan options. Cheese allergies are really quite common.
Glad to see UA making investments here. Would love to see AA bring back onboard meals for purchase on routes over 900 miles (I can’t recall if this was the cutoff or not before the pandemic). They at least still serve complementary meals in economy on their premium transcon routes (A321T only)- I had a really good chicken curry sandwich earlier this year on a flight seated in main cabin extra that departed at 11:00pm!
Bring your own food. If you are subjected to economy there is no reason to eat this crap. And chances are they won’t have what you want left anyway. In fact, if you are subjected to domestic F, there is no reason to eat that crap either they serve. Ok, actually, if you are subjected to Intl J there is always no reason to eat that crap. My favorite intl J pre-landing garbage served last week was the cheeseburger paired with….ready…a muffin. Who actually comes up with this? It’s like catering is being planned by a 14 year old.
I usually bring a tin of sardines and some crackers to enjoy on longer flights. Good eats!
At least they didn’t concoct something like “dehydrated tofu and sea kelp drizzled with a hummus açaí berry dressing sprinkled with keto chickpea and quinoa crunchies.” p.s. if this appears on the next menu update, don’t blame me :-). How about adding
A good ole chopped BBQ brisket sandwich with some mesquite flavored kettle chips?
Barbecue on a flight? On a sandwich? Entirely too messy if done right. But sounds good!
I had it earlier this week. It was messy and pretty ugly, but delicious.
Any idea what “bistro sauce” is for the burger? Seems rather vague…
If I come from an international flight with a domestic transfer on same ticket would I have to pay for a buy on board meal ?
In economy class, the answer is yes – you are only provided complimentary meals on longhaul international flights or on longer domestic flights to Hawaii (from Denver, Houston, Chicago, Newark, and Washington).
I finally was on a flight in economy where they had the Mediterranean grain bowl on board and was able to try it on Wednesday DEN-BOS and absolutely loved it. So I’m kind of sad that probably the best tasting, healthiest thing I’ve seen from United is going to be taken off the menu- but the southwest chicken salad doesn’t sound bad at all.
My thoughts with the Grain bowl is if they’re able to offer something that healthy and fresh tasting, why can they not step it up a bit in first. I’d gladly take the overnight oats over some of the stuff they’ve served for breakfast, like the diabetes waffle