If you’re wondering what to order for lunch or dinner on an upcoming flight in United Airlines first class, I do find the cheeseburger a very safe option…it remains quite satisfying.
United Airlines Cheeseburger: Still A Safe Bet
I was flying from Chicago to Los Angeles and had a number of pre-order options to choose from (pasta, enchiladas, noodle salad, grain bowl), but ordered the cheeseburger with French Fries…is this still a safe option?
Dinner included “four-cheese skillet burger” with caramelized onion and jalapeño served with a side of crinkle-cut fries, a side of lettuce, tomato, and pickle, bread roll, and slice of cake.
The burger is always perfectly acceptable.
The French Fries, however, were somehow crispy but cold. I know there is a way to make these crispy and hot, but I think more training is necessary…
Note that if you do not pre-order your meal (between five days and 24 hours before travel), a cheeseburger is not offered onboard. It is exclusively a pre-order item.
Currently, my favorite meal in the rotation is the Ropa Vieja enchiladas, which are always a safe bet. I had these on the same Chicago – LA flight a week before and quite liked them:
There’s a beef brisket currently in the rotation that I am keen to try, but have not been on a flight yet that has offered this.
Bottom line: the French Fries are not great, but the burger is always a safe choice.
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.
The cheeseburger I was served came in a garlic buttered toasted pretzel bun,pickled onions, sour kosher dill,Bib lettuce,heirloom tomato,melted smoked gouda,gochujang mayo and whole grain mustard on the patty. Side of roasted rosemary potatoes with blackberry ketchup. Eli’s cheesecake with lemon curd and raspberry couli.
That is a pathetic option for 1st Class ? a small burger on a big bun ? who eat white flour buns anymore? why not offer meatloaf with a healthy vegetable and rice or pasta? or slice of lean ham? they need to upgrade their options, and on such a long flight, why not serve course by course, appetizer, salad, entree, dessert?
I would personally go with the Ropa Vieja enchiladas. To me, UA’s F burger is not much different than the purchased one in Y. That said, I had both UA’s F burger and the AS F “polynesian” burger last week. AS won the burger competition by a long way IMO, and there were no cold fries.
Got upgraded too late to preorder on SFO-HNL yesterday and the choices – Thai curry noodles and short rib – were generally unappealing (I love virtually all forms of curry but I’ve had this a couple times and mediocre is the best it ever gets) so I asked for a burger from the back that I would have gotten as 1k anyway without the upgrade. Alongside a salad and glorious non-dairy tart, made for a perfectly adequate meal on a five hour flight
I’m wondering if they could just cater with Five Guys. Five Guys is delicious, but expensive but probably cheaper than what United pays for 1st class catered.
Matt, I’m curious: What do you do with family vacations? I have 6 weeks to kill this year but my daughter’s breaks are quite small. I don’t want to travel without my wife and daughter and this is quite a challenge. You should write that up. I think I’m going to do a lot of “staycations” and spa days for myself this year.
When I fly for business, my wife sneaks herself in and hangs out in my business hotel room. It’s funny. “No way YOU are having fun by yourself!” Well, I have WORK actually. But she then goes and hits the town. Now with a 7 year old that’s more difficult.
Not sure. The meat is probably highly processed, not organic from grass-fed cows therefore can be somewhat unhealthy and toxic. The bread bun is pure sugar, not real flour. Oh well.
My head is going to explode. Sorry, that burger is nothing more than a 7-11 microwave. It’s disgusting and appalling in ever sense. Don’t believe Matthew. Bring on your own Five Guys. Even cold it’s better than this processed slab of chemicals.
@Stuart: totoally agree. I’ve had all the other choices and many are acceptable.
I guess the upside is that burger actually looks like a burger…
My first trip in United domestic F, the burger looked like a failed squished panini with the cheese all running down the side and sticking to my plate.
I had the burger last week from FLL to ORD last Saturday. The burger was good but the top bun was so dried out I took it off to eat the burger. I ljked the blueberry tart but was really looking forward to the cookie pie.