United Airlines will bring back its bread basket on Polaris business class flights from Europe.
Bread Basket Returns To Polaris Business Class On United Airlines
Currently, United’s Polaris Business Class passengers receive their meal trays with two pieces of bread pre-plated, typically a piece of garlic bread and a pretzel roll. Prior to the pandemic, passengers would be offered a choice of bread from a basket with refills.
In a memo to flight attendants shared with Live And Let’s Fly, United shares that it will add a third bread choice and bring back the basket starting next month, but only on flights from Europe…for now:
Starting October 1, we’re introducing three different bread choices on all international Europe to U.S. flights. The three types of bread will be bulk-boarded and provisioned in ovens for the main meal service in Polaris. The service procedure will be as follows:
- Heat the bulk-boarded bread in the oven
- During the main meal tray delivery, place choices of bread in the silver basket, linen lined and covered to keep warm.
- Deliver tray set-up with heated and plated entrée, salad/side dish, beverage of choice and rollup with condiments (salt, pepper and butter) one at a time to customer.
- After delivering first two rows, offer a bread-basket with choice of bread to customers
- Exception: If bread choices are less than three, place warm bread on the bread plate prior and deliver the tray set-up to customers with all components
It is not clear why this is only impacting flights from Europe to the USA, but it yet another mark of making the meal service better, not worse.
One thing that can be said for United Airlines is that there is always enough food in business class (that’s a big step forward from the bowels of the pandemic). The quality of the offerings will be debated, but you will not go hungry.
Why write about something as minor as adding another bread choice and bringing a basket back? First, to chart the trajectory of United’s catering. Second, to hold it accountable. The memo was shared with me, but will we see the basket return onboard? Finally, it is somewhat comical that overnight United decimated its meal service and it has taken more than three years for something as simple as a bread basket to return. That’s lamentable, even though it comes in the context of good news here.
Speaking of bread, United has also swapped its pre-arrival yogurt and biscotti for a hot breakfast sandwich on flights from the USA to Europe. We’ll have to taste it to see whether that is an upgrade or downgrade.
CONCLUSION
A small change, but you will have an extra bread choice as well as service from a basket if traveling in Polaris Business class from Europe starting in October. Hopefully, this will spread systemwide…we are still waiting for the return of the cinnamon roll on both domestic and international flights, which could be the ulterior motive of this story…hint, hint.
(yes, the picture is from Lufthansa, but I did not have a United bread basket picture…it has been a long time)
My god, UA service and catering is so disastrous, that we celebrate the reintroduction of a bread basket… Lol
Somebody must’ve given Kirby a good hard slap to even pry this much out of him. Take any improvements you can get under his management. Yes, I’d prefer leadership to management too but be grateful for positive changes.
As long as it is full of pretzel rolls no problem!
DL diamonds be like, “You know, that’s not looking too bad right now” lmao
I think on some long haul flights Delta cut the appetizer from the meal? Now you just get a soup and salad.
That’s still better than United imo, which I fly far too often though I’ve been moving some business to DL.
Exception: If bread choices are less than three, place warm bread on the bread plate prior and deliver the tray set-up to customers with all components
I think this will be the rule more than the exception, easy for lazy FA’s to say they weren’t stocked with three choices or too simply say they don’t have time. The days of decent service, bread baskets included are over, they don’t even offer drink refills. Obviously United doesn’t help with current reduced staffing levels to prior than 2019. But I also believe even if they added back the extra FA service wouldn’t measurably improve, New hires don’t even know what this old service was. Also the lucrative pilot contract has a negative effect on FA’s who aren’t going to get anything close in percentage gains if an when they sign a new contract.
Or for that matter, FAs reporting that most of the bread went to waste as passengers only selected one piece of bread when in reality they did the famous Continental “OnePass” service where they only offered the bread basket once and had lots of leftovers.
Did you really mean ‘bowels of the pandemic’ … or would that be ‘bowls?’ Great pun if it’s the former.
I meant bowels!
I hope one of the 3 types is gluten free. For those of us with gluten sensitivity it would be much appreciated.
Absolutely! As a gluten-intolerant person, I am always left out of the bread (and much of the dessert) options
This is a good thing..thanks for letting us know.
Will there be garlic bread and Laugenbrötchen? I enjoy a good Laugenbrötchen with my meal.
Yes, both are typically available.
Important change, but a lot more to go – what happened to the soft product announcement and what did people who went to the Studio Ellen event in Chicago say
United needs to go a long way to deliver a proper business class meal product. They started to cut as soon as they merged with Continental. Currently their business class meal is less than what Continental’s domestic First Class meal was. It’s pitiful especially what they charge for their Polaris tickets. Sad that they’re only offering a few more bread crumbs.
So, more bread options in Polaris … served on plastic dishes,..and pouring mineral water into ersatz glass glasses—on a €4000 flight from Paris to the US. Seems now an exercise in futility in hoping Polaris return to what it once do proudly claimed to offer.
Returned yesterday from Zurich to San Antonio. Overall Polaris fish was acceptable on ZRH-IAD segment though my seatmate found his dish barely edible. IAD-SAT first was a disgrace: unappealing mushy, sloppy burger, served tepid. Sent back without comment. I fly UA because of their schedules and wide selection of overseas destinations. The food, while it should be an important factor, can’t be considered into th calculus as it is uniformly poor.
It is always strange to me when an airline or any company puts out a press release glorifying something so silly. THIS JUST IN: UNITED AIRLINES IS SERVING BREAD FROM A BASKET AGAIN!
to be fair, this wasn’t a press release, this was someone inside United sharing an internal memo with Matt.
Correct.
Wow, it takes them almost 4 years. The Vacuum man is so so professional and not cheap at all.
So, more bread options in Polaris … served on plastic dishes,..and pouring mineral water into ersatz glass glasses—on a €4000 flight from Paris to the US. Seems now an exercise in futility in hoping Polaris return to what it once so proudly claimed to offer.
Yes FA, I’ll take the entire full basket, as in the photograph, and 2 dozen butter packets, here are 5 nice newish $10USD bills for your troubles.
Is this Polaris 2.0? Bring back the bread basket?
What happened to the announcement?
Flew LHR-ORD yesterday Oct 1, no bread basket, no garlic bread, just pretzel roll. And ofc no drink refills until after the meal.