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Home » United Airlines » United Airlines Upgrades Meal Service To Hawaii In All Cabins
HawaiiNewsUnited Airlines

United Airlines Upgrades Meal Service To Hawaii In All Cabins

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 30, 2025January 30, 2025 9 Comments

a group of people walking out of an airplane

United Airlines is (finally) upgrading meal service onboard its longhaul Hawaii flights, with new menus and new drinks in business, premium economy, and economy class.

In This Post:

Toggle
  • Meal Service Upgrades For Longer United Airlines Hawaii Flights
    • Premium Cabin Upgrades
    • Economy Class Upgrades
    • New Cocktails: The Return Of The Mai Tai
    • CONCLUSION

Meal Service Upgrades For Longer United Airlines Hawaii Flights

Let’s start with the forward cabin and work our way back.

Premium Cabin Upgrades

If you’ve flown United out of Hawaii in a premium cabin, you can probably picture the chicken katsu or that pink blob of cake that has been served for years.

a tray of food on a tray

Oh, it could be worse, but as United has updated and improved its catering across the rest of its network, premium cabin meals to and from Hawaii have remained more or less unchanged.

That changes starting February 1, 2025, on United’s longer flights to and from the Hawaiian islands.

In the forward cabin, marketed as United First, menu choices will include more variety for both the main meal and pre-arrival meal.

Outbound To Hawaii

Main meal:

Seared beef
with garlic chive smashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, and Cafe de Paris butter

Roasted chicken breast
with French green bean harissa ragout and deep-fried Panisse sticks

Scallion butter shrimp
with steamed rice drizzled with garlic lemon butter and charred broccolini

Creamy wild mushroom ragout
with mascarpone polenta, sauteed garlic spinach, and feta cheese

Pre-arrival meal:

Sandwich
with shredded kalua pork and pepper jack cheese

Cavatelli
with forest mushroom cream sauce and top with fresh arugula

Tuscan kale romaine salad
with roasted heirloom tomatoes, focaccia croutons, side of grilled chicken, and creamy roasted garlic dressing

Inbound From Hawaii

Main meal:

Braised calamansi pork belly
with ponzu soba noodles, sauteed vegetables, asian slaw and togarashi macadamia nut crumble

Garlic roasted chicken breast
with caramelized carrots, roasted thyme fingerling potatoes and chili crisp butter

Seared salmon
with basmati saffron rice, roasted lemon broccolini and coconut curry sauce

Ricotta spinach filled cannelloni
with rustic tomato sauce and parmesan sauce

Pre-arrival meal:

Creamy scrambled eggs
with Hawaiian egg fried rice, seared Portuguese sausage, and roasted tomato

Souffle pancakes
with creme angliase, honey, and toasted macadamia nuts

Fresh fruit yogurt bowl
with pineapple mango puree, macadamia nuts, and shaved coconut

The sunde cart will also return on flights departing after 10:00 am with special toppings like pineapple compote.

Finally, United will offer an “improved selection of wines in the premium cabin with more bottles provisioned.”

These menu options will be available on United’s longer flights between Hawaii and:

  • Chicago (ORD)
  • Denver (DEN)
  • Houston (IAH)
  • Newark (EWR)
  • Washington Dulles (IAD)

Passengers in Unied PremiumPlus will also enjoy upgraded main meals (two choices instead of four) and pre-arrival meals, with liquor also included (but not sundaes).

Flights between the West Coast and Hawaii will see no (immediate) change in meal service.

Economy Class Upgrades

In August 2021, United re-introduced complimentary meals in economy class on its longer routes, with dishes like Hawaiian quinoa salad with grilled chicken or guava egg noodle salad with tofu.

a tray of food in plastic wrap

a tray of food in plastic wrap


> Read More: United Airlines Will Offer Complimentary Meals On Hawaii Flights In Economy Class


Starting in February 2025, United will upgrade the cold meals to hot meals, with dishes like huli huli chicken (a Hawaiian variation of teriyaki chicken marinated in pineapple juice) with sticky rice and green beans.

These menu options will also be available on United’s longer flights between Hawaii and hubs beyond California.

New Cocktails: The Return Of The Mai Tai

As we mentioned in an earlier post, United will also add two Hawaiian-inspired cocktails, including “a refreshing pineapple daiquiri and a vibrant mai tai, both by Crafthouse Cocktails and available for purchase in economy for $12 or 1,420 miles, and complimentary in the premium cabin and United Premium Plus.”

CONCLUSION

It’s great to see United make such a concerted effort to improve its onboard product and do so even in economy class this year. I hope to try out some of these new dishes on a future United flight. It is these sorts of investments that can make United the most “premium” US carrier…

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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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9 Comments

  1. Tony Reply
    January 30, 2025 at 8:15 am

    How about UA route between Guam and Honolulu? Distance wise it is long-haul. Let’s hope that Guam based routes will receive the same treatment.

    • Derek Reply
      January 30, 2025 at 3:54 pm

      I believe the GUM-HNL also receives upgraded catering

      It is United Business, so that may be why it was not included with the United First announcement

  2. Ben Reply
    January 30, 2025 at 8:23 am

    I thought United postponed this announcement given what happened last night. Hopefully this was a post made with an ambargo that you forgot to cancel (or you decided to let it get published anyway even it with a delayed announcement), and United didn’t think it was a smart idea to still announce this first thing the next morning after a major plane crash.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      January 30, 2025 at 10:38 am

      These were not under embargo and written before the crash.

  3. Derek Reply
    January 30, 2025 at 10:40 am

    How about calling the long haul flights Polaris like DL and AA do with their equivalents?

    Include Polaris lounge access (the morning flights are the times when the PLs are not busy, so overcrowding is not an issue)

  4. Maryland Reply
    January 30, 2025 at 10:57 am

    No mention of the Spam musubi?

  5. Alert Reply
    January 30, 2025 at 12:25 pm

    Anything with pork , butter , deep-fried , katsu , or cheese will give you an overload of junk .

    Anything properly washed is to be hoped for .

    Better to bring a favourite sandwich from home or hotel .

    The old meals in 1960s and 1970s were tasty and good , but those days are long gone .

  6. Susie T Reply
    January 30, 2025 at 9:17 pm

    To too bad there’s not half of these choices available from California like they used to offer including the mai tai etc

  7. Shelley villalpando Reply
    February 1, 2025 at 1:21 pm

    Spell check. Again!

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