My Meal of the Week feature examines an airline meal from my travels over the years. This may be a meal from earlier in the week or it may be a meal served over a decade ago.
United is currently offering sandwiches or snack boxes in place of meals in first class on most routes over two hours. I’ve reviewed the two lunch/dinner sandwiches before and today will review the two breakfast sandwiches.
The “Breakfast” First Class Sandwiches On United Airlines
United offers the following two sandwiches in first class on flights over two hours departing before 9:45am:
- Everything bagel baguette with veggie cream cheese
- Turkey Monte Cristo with raspberry jam
Everything Bagel Baguette
First, we’ll look at the vegetarian “everything” sandwich, featuring:
- Everything ciabatta
- sesame seeds
- garlic
- poppy seed
- green onions
- salt
- paprika
- black pepper
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- Swiss cheese
- Cream cheese
- Carrots
- Chives
- Scallions
- Red peppers
It was served hot and the cheese was nicely melted. The red peppers with paprika, black pepper, onion powder, chives, and garlic better gave it a bold and somewhat spicy taste.
It hit the spot. But do note the nutrition facts. The sandwich contained 25 grams of fat (including 13 grams of saturated fat), 60mg of cholesterol, 1360mg of sodium (!!!), 70 grams of carbs, and 18 grams of protein. Yeah, not for the dieter…
Turkey Monte Cristo
For my next trip, I ordered the turkey monte sandwich with jam. If featured:
- Vanilla brioche
- Swiss cheese
- Turkey bacon
- Raspberry jam
I must admit, it was very tasty and I liked the salty bacon juxtaposed to the sweet raspberry sauce. Heating this up is essential.
This sandwich is absolutely loaded with sodium, featuring 1050mg. It also has 19 grams of fat (including nine grams of saturated fat), 62 grams of carbs, 80mg of cholesterol, and 21 grams of protein.
Note that starting in February 2021, United will rotate out the turkey sandwich on mainline flights and instead offer a French Twist croissant sandwich, which includes a spiral croissant with an egg patty, Canadian bacon, and hollandaise sauce. The Turkey Monte Cristo will still be offered (cold) on United Express flights .
With the Polaris pre-arrival meal now upgraded, I suspect there is a surplus of these sandwiches.
CONCLUSION
I know, I know. Too much fat. Too many refined carbohydrates. But I have to admit, these hit the spot early in the morning when you are trying to wake up.
Both sandwiches were tasty and I would rotate them going forward, though I still hope United will bring back heartier breakfasts sooner rather than later.
Have you tried the United Airlines breakfast sandwiches? Which one is your favorite?
Looking like first class.
As a diabetic those sandwiches are death sentences waiting to happen. 70 and then 62 gram of carbs ! I have made it routine to ask for a diabetic food selection. This proves my point. Extremely unhealthy for almost everyone.
I’ll stick to a mediocre Starbucks breakfast sandwich I bring on board. Those look truly horrid.
I can’t believe the executive’s in charge of catering at the Big Three, when seeing what other airlines overseas offer (at what is probably a similar cost), actually believe this is even remotely a premium offering. I mean, my god, do THEY actually eat this stuff? It doesn’t have to be a full meal. But at least be creative with snack offerings that are not like a $1.50 frozen hot pocket from 7-11. Or a sandwich dispenser in a hospital waiting room.
McDonald’s is better.
I’ll take the snack box
‘With the Polaris pre-arrival meal now upgraded’ – that’s a very nice ablative absolute construction, Matthew!
All airplane food, it is actually more healthy to eat the packaging. You were spot on with all the toxins they use to make the food anti-septic. Many crew have left a crew sit for days and there is no decay.
Both of those look pretty slim on everything but the bread, but the Turkey Monte Cristo with raspberry jam actually sounds pretty good, despite the turkey bacon. I’ve been doing more jam on my own breakfast sandwiches lately. Check out the Pancake Tweetup group on Facebook for some of my recent outings!
Pre-covid, I would probably have said something like ”eww”. Now, I just miss flying and can’t wait to have another nasty airplane meal 🙂
Dreadful. Total overload of carbs and sodium. The calorie count is too high. A much higher quality sandwich from Pret or Fresh, and dozens of similar outlets, has fewer calories and healthier ingredients.
While the idea is good, and infinitely preferable to the ‘slop on a plate’ of many airline breakfasts, the execution could be better…
In average, F class costs a minimum $200 more than Y class when flying domestics. Let’s analyze a bit:
– Everything bagel baguette with veggie cream cheese or Turkey Monte Cristo with raspberry jam: $15 / each
– Cup of coffee: $3
– 1-2 fresh baked cookies: $2
So is it really worth to pay that much for a seat that is not lie-flat in a single-ailse, for a meal that is unhealthy (I am sure you guys’ wives/girlfriends/partners prepare much tastier and healthier breakfast), for a service served by grim-face attendant, for a flight with no wifi (extra, please)?
How revolting.
That bad?