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Home  >  Meal of the Week • United Airlines  >  Taste Test: United’s New First Class Sandwiches
Meal of the WeekUnited Airlines

Taste Test: United’s New First Class Sandwiches

Matthew Klint Posted onOctober 24, 2020October 27, 2020 37 Comments

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.

Earlier this week I flew from Los Angeles to Chicago on United. My upgrade cleared so I had the chance to put two of United Airlines’ highly-caloric new first class sandwiches to the test. The result? Tasty, but probably not worth the fat and carbs.

The New First Class Sandwiches On United Airlines

After limiting domestic first class meal service to snack boxes only for several months, United has introduced sandwiches as an alternate choice. Depending upon the time of day, a selection of two sandwiches is available onboard.

On my midday flight, the two sandwich choices were tomato basil and mozzarella focaccia or carved roasted chicken on Italian flatbread.

For you, dear readers, I decided to try them both.

I began with the carved roasted chicken on Italian flatbread. Kudos to the flight attendants for warming them up prior to serving. The sandwich arrived warm (not hot, so as not to melt the plastic wrapping) on a “real” plate.

I could not help but to noice the nutrition facts. 680 calories. 36 grams of fat. 18 grams of saturated fat. 1360 milligrams of sodium. 61 grams of carbs. Ouch.

The sandwich was tasty; a bit doughy, but tasty. With that many calories, it darn well better be tasty! It included provolone cheese, parmesan garlic butter, and kale aioli.

I chose not to finish it…so I could move on to the next sandwich.

Next up, I tried the tomato basil and mozzarella focaccia with sun-dried tomato and pesto cream.

I preferred this sandwich to the first one. It had a strong basil flavor and seemed lighter than the chicken sandwich.

That said, it still had 500 calories including 18 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 980 milligrams of sodium, and 65 grams of carbs (including added sugar!).

CONCLUSION

I don’t always do a great job, but I make a conscious effort to eat heathy. If that is your aim, steer clear of these sandwiches. But they are tasty, especially when heated. If you’re hungry, these should do the trick nicely. Still, I look forward to the return of full meals and particularly salads onboard…hopefully sooner rather than later. If sandwiches are not your thing, you can still ask for a snack box.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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37 Comments

  1. Corwin Low Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    These remind me of Starbucks’ sandwiches. Lovely warmed up, but not terribly healthy. Interesting that they put nutritional information on it. If they plated it without the wrapper, we’d be none the wiser (at the time).

    • Donna Reply
      October 25, 2020 at 2:38 pm

      How did u manage 2 sandwiches?

      • Matthew Klint Reply
        October 25, 2020 at 4:07 pm

        I just asked nicely.

        • S. Terry Reply
          November 1, 2020 at 6:48 am

          I had both of these sandwiches recently on two flights in Business First and found them to be awful. Neither of the breads were high quality and I’d expected tomatoes in the tomato mozzarella, not tomato paste. Was the chicken actually carved? It looked like packaged lunch meat. I think most people have higher expectations for a sandwich and would be much better off bringing their own or one from any open deli in the airport.

      • Tiffany Reply
        December 12, 2021 at 4:10 am

        You ask. You’re paying 3x economy and these are cheap crappy sandwiches

  2. Jm Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    United is still instructing us not to heat them up. Too bad; I think they’d taste much better warm.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      October 24, 2020 at 6:40 pm

      Really? I did not even request that they be warm (though I planned to). It was a proactive move by flight attendants.

      • Donna Reply
        October 25, 2020 at 2:40 pm

        And how do YOU plan on heating it up?

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          October 25, 2020 at 4:09 pm

          I was going to bring my toaster oven, but then I saw that it was a prohibited carry-on item.

      • JM Reply
        October 26, 2020 at 2:27 pm

        The initial memo about the sandwiches said they are to be served cold. I reread the memo a couple of times to verify because the sandwiches seem like they should be warmed. A few days ago, there was another memo saying that some of the plastic wrap is not oven safe and will melt, but the sandwiches were wrapped in that plastic by mistake and they don’t know which sandwiches have oven safe plastic and which don’t. That memo reminded us they are to be served cold.

  3. Paolo Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 5:42 pm

    Scandalous. 680 calories, ie 1/3 of daily intake for an average person. A list of ingredients that reads like a chemistry experiment, including ludicrous amounts of fat, sodium…PLUS added sugar. That before any drinks, snacks or sides consumed in the same sitting.
    Of course once in a while doesn’t hurt but this food is not part of a healthy diet.

    • Ben Reply
      October 24, 2020 at 7:56 pm

      “Scandalous. 680 calories, ie 1/3 of daily intake for an average person.”

      So you’re saying this meal is like having one of three meals in the day? 🙂

      “A list of ingredients that reads like a chemistry experiment”

      Other than the Disodium EDTA, what in the carved chicken list of ingredients reads like a chemistry experiment?

      • David Hoffman Reply
        October 25, 2020 at 1:13 am

        Whiny baby on board. Eat the entire sandwich you pretentious twit. You are not going to die.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          October 25, 2020 at 1:24 am

          I said I liked the sandwich, sweetheart…

          • Bruce Russell
            October 25, 2020 at 10:11 am

            I had the tomato basil sandwich cold. It made me long for Southwest’s peanuts. It wasn’t worth the calories. In fact, it wasn’t worth the effort to chew it.

        • Me Reply
          October 25, 2020 at 5:13 pm

          You must be an air-flight attendant

  4. Al Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 5:58 pm

    This is an absolutely ridiculous amount of sodium. Needless to say this is an issue in the US with foods laden with excessive amounts of saturated fats, sodium…etc.

  5. Ricky Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    The sandwich is a welcome sight, too bad they don’t revamp and upgrade the same Snack Boxes which have been around for a while.

  6. MeanMeosh Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 8:56 pm

    I think this is one of those situations where you just eat the thing and toss the wrapper before you have the chance to read the label…

  7. Michael Buckley Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 3:34 am

    Disgusting.

  8. TWA John Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    Whenever you see hydrogenated oil it would be more healthy to eat the package. I seldom eat anything served on any aircraft. It is all GMO, cheapest crap they can find and loaded with chemicals to kill anything that could live in the meal. NO THANKS The taste and smell is designed to spark to your senses and induce you to consume it.
    I got the date code graph of those round color dots that catering puts on everything. Amazing when they board 3 day old food.

  9. Ricport Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    At least they’re no longer serving that horrid Indian food they kept shoving at F pax. Every flight I was on, everybody took the other option, and the FAs I talked to said it was about as popular as dry rot.

  10. SFO ramper Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    @TWA John
    Life is to short today we are here tomorrow we don’t know
    Enjoy life eat the food in the plane Maybe is not best but is food,

  11. Shawn Bivens Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    I had the carved chicken on focaccia. It was not good at all. I actually sent it back, and then requested a tapas box.

    • Tiffany Reply
      December 12, 2021 at 4:18 am

      Same. I have no idea who paid him to say these were good. It was like lunchable meat with goopy soggy bread and water like cheese. My friend did the tomato and it was not tomato. It was catsup like sauce with cheese on soggy dougy tough bread no basil in sight. I got a snack box and now when these monstrosities are offered in 1st, i get a snack box or go without. It makes me wonder if this was paid advert. If not, id hate to see what this gentleman eats at home if this is “tasty”. If i was starving i would be thankful. But if you’re charging 1700 for a 5 hour flight, you can’t serve this.

  12. Shawn Bivens Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 7:13 pm

    At least Untied is serving hot coffee, beer, and spirits in first class along with boxed food. Delta’s only service beer & wine and boxed “flight Fuel.” No coffee. In Comfort class they serve beer & wine only. No boxed food. They do hand out zip lock bags to Comfort Class and Main Cabin that include water, snack, mini liquid Purell Hand sanitizer, and a napkin. Delta as of October 20 is still blocking the middle seat as well.

  13. Aaron Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 7:57 pm

    The tomato sandwich had me on edge for a moment! The picture looks like the disasterous “lobster grilled cheese” on AA!

    • Tiffany Reply
      December 12, 2021 at 4:19 am

      It is catsup and lunchable cheese on wet yet tough bread. Don’t do it!

  14. Andy K Reply
    October 26, 2020 at 11:55 am

    That looks like something out of a gas station in west Texas.

    • Kyle Stewart Reply
      October 26, 2020 at 12:41 pm

      Having spent time in west Texas… I can confirm Andy’s comment as accurate.

  15. Jared Reply
    October 27, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    Reminds me of the sandwiches HA serves in economy, pretty sure the tomato one is super similar.

  16. Tom Reply
    October 28, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    Any word on when they’re going to bring back meals and alcohol in coach? I just flew Alaska in coach and they already have notices that they’re soon going live with a contactless payment system so passengers can order. I haven’t seen any notice yet on United.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      October 28, 2020 at 2:46 pm

      No word yet, sadly.

  17. Mike Reply
    May 8, 2021 at 7:33 am

    I think they both were disgusting with a heavy emphasis on the bread portion. I would have preferred a yogurt parfait or a fruit cup. It’s almost offensive to serve this to a first-class passenger.

    • Tiffany Reply
      December 12, 2021 at 4:26 am

      These were so bad and aren’t going away, so i Googled it to see if we were the only ones offended by these. Wondering why they’re STILL being served.
      have no idea how this gentleman can call these things tasty. The breads are wet and also tough. And the tomato is just catsup. The chicken is very cheap lunch meat. Both are just messy as hell. They drip everywhere . We always get the snack boxes or go without when we are forced to fly united. 1400 to 2000 dollars for a 5 hour flight often times and theyre serving jail food with gas station wine. It makes no sense. Must be paid advert.

      • Timothy Reply
        May 22, 2022 at 11:35 am

        And as of today, United is still serving these sandwiches. In 2019-early 2020, a snack in First was a fresh salad with chicken breast on the side and a little Ghirardelli chocolate. I really hope they go back to that or something similar very soon.

  18. Pingback: American Airlines New 'Low Protein' Meals In First Class - View from the Wing

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