United Airlines will upgrade its wine and Champagne onboard in 2025, with the introduction of Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée in Polaris Business Class and a trio of new wines from around the world.
United Airlines Adds Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Champagne To Polaris Longhaul Business Class
While United Airlines has gradually improved its food and beverage options onboard since emerging from the pandemic, its beverage menu has remained inconsistent.
A memo shared by Live And Let’s Fly discusses a new Champagne on offer, starting January 1, 2025:
Beginning January 1, our Polaris customers will have the chance to enjoy Laurent-Perrier’s La Cuvée Champagne. This fresh and elegant blend of 55% chardonnay, 35% pinot noir and 10% Meunier is aged to perfection for four years in the Laurent-Perrier house cellars. La Cuvée pairs wonderfully with our diverse menus or as a standalone toast to the friendly skies! Highly rated by James Suckling with 93 points and by Wine Spectator with 91 points, we are proud to be the only airline in North America serving Laurent-Perrier’s La Cuvée. Stay tuned for some exciting Laurent-Perrier activations on board soon.
That’s not all. United will also feature three sensational new wines in Polaris in January:
- Freemark Abbey cabernet sauvignon, an amazing full-bodied red from California
- E. Guigal, a delicious Chateauneuf-du-Pape from France
- Luca GLOT, a 100% chardonnay from Argentina
Even in United Premium Plus, United’s premium economy cabin, there will be an upgrade with the addition of Gallo Wines cabernet sauvignon and pinot grigio.
The memo promises “many more food and beverage enhancements coming in the New Year!”
I’m not much of a Champagne drinker…I know a good glass when I have one, but I’m not expert enough to comment specifically on this blend and variety other than that I know it’s not “vintage” and fairly common in business class around the world, but generally very respected.
Speaking as a United customer, while I appreciate these upgrades, I’d love to see a coffee menu onboard with espresso-based drinks. JetBlue does this so well…I know United can too if it wants to and I’ll take good coffee over good alcohol any day.
What are your thoughts on United adding Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Champagne onboard?
image: Laurent-Perrier
UA still has a long way to go with domestic F catering, so I hope there are some improvements being planned there
I was just thinking the same thing! I do feel like they’ve made some improvements recently. Hopefully they will continue in that direction.
Agree. It is a nice improvement- though I will believe it when I see it on a plane – but the on board Polaris food is still awful.
It’s a nice upgrade from their blue top.
Lovely, but the food on United Airlines remains abysmal.
I wonder if pax could tell the difference between LP and Dupont cider.
with improvements coming to the O cabin, will this finally mean a dedicated FA for that cabin?
Else, how will the FAs keep the O amenities for O and not allow Y pax to receive them?
When you say O I think of “first class” which United doesn’t have. Do you mean Polaris/J?
I think Derek meant the Premium Plus cabin here
O: Premium Plus
F: First
J: Business
Y: coach
I think Matthew is right to think of O as first in this context, because it’s the *A-wide booking class for first class redemptions. Not sure who still actually offers it though, maybe just LH and TG- do ANA still release first class award availability?
Are they improving the food, or just trying to make people drunk enough to ignore the crap they’re serving?
I was thinking of my experience on UA earlier this year as I just flew LH long-haul for the first time in a decade and, even in First (which I ironically chose in order to save money as I had been originally unable to get anything on miles back to England and bought a ticket which would have only gotten me as far as ZRH on LX J together with a flexible revenue one in AF Y to get me home), the food was comically bad. My first choice was some kind of duck breast which the crew deemed too poor to serve, and the second one was lamb which was completely flavourless and overcooked. Metal neutrality in the transatlantic joint venture must include decisions on catering, for they seem to be just as bad as each other.
I appreciate the bold choice of the Guigal. A Cdp is not a wine sought by a large segment of the population. Still, I’d rather sees decent, less expensive wines and no caviar. Use the savings for better meals.
Confirmed it was on-board IAH-AMS 07JAN.
Agree with the espresso–CO had the little machines for this on 777s back in the day.