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Home » News » Downgrade: United Airlines Will Only Serve First Class Meals On Flights Of More Than 900 Miles In 2024
NewsUnited Airlines

Downgrade: United Airlines Will Only Serve First Class Meals On Flights Of More Than 900 Miles In 2024

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 14, 2023December 14, 2023 76 Comments

a plate of food with a knife and fork

While United Airlines has made great gains this year in improving domestic first class meal service, it will usher in 2024 by increasing the minimum flight distance required for meal service from 800 to 900 miles. This impacts many key routes, but hits Denver travelers especially hard.

United Airlines Will Only Serve Premium Cabin Meals On Flights Longer Than 900 Miles (Previously 800 Miles)

Last night, a flight attendnat sent me a note saying that meal service would only be offered on flights more than 900 starting next month. Currently, meals are served on flights more than 800 miles.

Starting January 1, 2024, complimentary meals will be offered at 900+ miles. This is a change from the previous 800+ miles.  On flights 301-900 miles, United First customers can expect a premium snack basket and under 300 miles will receive a complimentary drink.

I confirmed with United Airlines and this is indeed a policy change effective in less than one month. I also asked whether there would be any exception routes, and the answer is no. In the past, there were specific carveouts for hub-to-hub routes or other routes deemed important from a competitive perspective, like flights between New York and Chicago.

United refused to offer a reason for this change, but it brings United in line with both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both of which offer only meals on flights of 900 miles or more.

Big Impact To Denver Travelers

To understand this policy change, I created a 900-mile band around United’s Rocky Mountain hub, Denver. With these changes, many markets will lose out on meal service including key hub-to-hub routes like Los Angeles – Denver, Denver – Chicago, and Houston – Denver (the second ring shows the current 800-mile band).

a map of the united states
Great Circle Mapper / Karl L. Swartz

This is a cutback pure and simple: a “premium snack basket” won’t make up for a more substantial meal. It’s particularly sad because travelers like me who fly from Chicago to Denver to Burbank (for example), will go from getting two meals to zero meals. With Denver’s flight schedule focusing on banking (creating short connections for passengers), there is little time between flights to purchase food and a snack basket does not compensate for a meal.

CONCLUSION

It seems it is always one step forward, one step back with United when it comes to meal service. While the move more closely aligns United with American and Delta, it is disappointing nonetheless and will hit Denver travelers particularly hard.

If you are Premier 1K or Global Services member on United, I encourage you to write United and express your displeasure over this policy change. I certainly will.

image: United Airlines

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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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76 Comments

  1. Dave Edwards Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 12:52 pm

    Most of the passengers from Denver are high AF on gummies anyways and are just eating cans of Pringles. It’s a 2 hour flight, they will be fine.

  2. Jason Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 12:59 pm

    How do you think they are paying for the huge raises they are giving to pilots? It’s through these types of budget cuts, pure and simple.

    • Alert Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 6:52 pm

      They also ought to give big raises to the underappreciated FAs . I buy a pizza-to-go in the airport , which is allowed , and when I open the box on the plane , people complement me on the appetizing aroma .

    • Ken Reply
      December 15, 2023 at 1:08 am

      It’s a terrible decision, looking at that map; those are key routes; meals are needed on those; maybe the pilots did get too large of incr. in salary, benefits, and upgrades.

      • Mckillio Reply
        December 15, 2023 at 1:56 pm

        The meals are “needed”?

  3. Interested Traveller Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:01 pm

    A buddy of mine is a GM of a catering unit and he said that UA could save money by going to 900 miles and if they were like DL could increase quality without having to spend more money.

    Now we are talking UA here, so probably not going to increase quality and instead will just retain the extra profits from the cutback.

  4. Mak Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:07 pm

    We tend to fetishize food and drink on airplanes, but I personally don’t need lousy airline food at all on a 2.5 hour flight. I’d rather get my meal on the ground and have the airline put those resources elsewhere, or better yet just lower fares.

    • PM Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 5:47 pm

      It’s not a matter of fetishising airline food. Like Matthew said, flying on a short haul connecting itinerary often means being left with very limited food options for the best part of a day. Bringing one’s own food onboard isn’t always easy or practical (e.g. you can’t convince the security people that yogurt isn’t a liquid, keeping food at a safe temperature can be complicated), so it’s always good to have the option to eat something on the plane.

  5. Derek Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:15 pm

    Still showing full meals IAH – MCO after Jan 1. That is under 900 miles

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 1:20 pm

      This news just went out last night, apparently. I expect the system will be updated this weekend.

      • JD Rohrer Reply
        January 24, 2024 at 12:47 pm

        I flew ATW-DEN on January 21, 2024 and was surprised when we were not served the meal. I can’t be alone since the announcement just came out. Premium Snacks?? We were offered Skinny Popcorn and the smallest “snack” size Dots pretzels. I was in 4A and there were only 3 snacks total in the basket being at the end of the rows. If they want “premium snacks” to be listed first class should get the Snack Boxes that the others buy. Would take the same amount of time to serve as in the back with no clean-up without First class paying but included in ticket.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          January 24, 2024 at 2:37 pm

          Agreed.

  6. Matthew Klint Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:16 pm

    I may be among the minority, but I find United’s meals are just fine and I look forward to them.

    • Greg Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 10:49 pm

      They aren’t premium cabin appropriate

      That doesn’t justify this downgrade unless there’s a big improvement in meals on remaining routes

      DEN is a key connecting hub but further east than PHX or SLC so as you point out high value connecting pax will go hungry

      What a small ball move

    • Al Tanenbaum Reply
      December 18, 2023 at 12:36 pm

      I agree with you.
      Flew in First ORD -LAX in November; was able to preorder an entree from a selection of four.

  7. Drew Boo Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:20 pm

    Actually, despite the 900 mile rule, American still serves meals between ORD and DEN. So I’m assuming United will do the same.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 1:21 pm

      United told me no exception routes. I suspect AA offered meals because UA did and now AA will also eliminate them…

    • Will Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 3:13 pm

      That’s because AA uses the old Stapleton airport to measure flight distances from DEN. So it just barely pushes it over 900 miles for ORD-DEN.

  8. lowlevelelite Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:24 pm

    Lovely, so on a 1.5hr flight between Zurich to London in Business I get a full meal with glassware, but United can only offer pre-packaged snacks and a drink on flights up to 3hrs!? (BOS-ORD sometimes blocks close to 3hrs and is one of the meals getting cut)

    I thought United was on the upswing with their inflight service, especially compared to their european counterparts (LH/LX/OS). I guess not.

  9. Levy Flight Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:25 pm

    Disgraceful! BA, AF can serve a far superior meal on a flight between LHR and CDG, a distance of 216 miles. Serious disincentive to fly first class intracontinental UA.

  10. Santastico Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:42 pm

    Not that anyone will miss US meals but that is another move from Kirby in making US the best airline in the world. LOL!

  11. TimeToFly Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:48 pm

    This new rule is more aligned to reduced amounts of available ‘Service Time’ for Flight Attendants to conduct said service and be seated by 10,000 Feet.

  12. Jan Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:48 pm

    Why does it matter when you have 100+ 787s coming up? Sometimes you just gotta let the biggest and best airline in the solar system do its thing. Kirby knows best.

  13. Timothy Dunn Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 1:55 pm

    You should just give up flying any other airline in the US and fly with the world’s #1 PREMIER airline, Delta.

    • Mckillio Reply
      December 15, 2023 at 2:01 pm

      “but it brings United in line with both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both of which offer only meals on flights of 900 miles or more.”

  14. Marissa Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 2:08 pm

    Another bad move. Guess I will be buying something to take on board or taking something from the club if there’s time.

  15. Neal Z Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 2:14 pm

    I’m far more concerned that UA still hasn’t brought back special meals (e.g., kosher, gluten-free) in F/J on flights under 2,000 miles. I generally have to pick at a few things on the “best option” on my flights that are 800-2000 miles, now 900-2000 miles.

    • Michael Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 5:09 pm

      On the other hand… United still provides a roomy and comfortable seat on that segment length, which the European airlines certainly won’t do.

  16. DavidM Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 2:37 pm

    I would not be surprised if UA responds to complaints by saying, “We surveyed our most frequent and other premium passengers, and this is what they wanted.” Another disincentive to keep loyalty to any airline these days.

  17. viapanam Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 2:44 pm

    Crying crocodile tears …

  18. Christian Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 2:50 pm

    That wacky Scott Kirby! He must’ve gotten tired of devaluing everything else and has now found a way to devalue first class food too. Give the man props for consistency, it’s like United is being run by Scrooge McDuck.

    • D.A. Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 4:43 pm

      Kirby is doing what he only knows how to manage…. cut, cut, cut.

      I do find this ironic after how they have been bragging about improving the food recently.

      • Christian Reply
        December 14, 2023 at 9:52 pm

        Tough to get called out for deception on bragging about your food when there IS no food.

  19. Vinod Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 3:19 pm

    And I am sure this change is because of “customer feedback”. LOL

    I look forward to our intra european premium cabin flights where I get a tasty meal and good service.

  20. Timothy Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 3:30 pm

    I live in Denver and this really impact me. Zero meal service for DEN- LAX, IAD, SAN, or ORD? Beyond disappointed.

    • Adam L Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 5:51 pm

      IAD is definitely further than 900 miles from DEN, as would many East Coast destinations.

      • Timothy Reply
        December 14, 2023 at 6:37 pm

        D’oh! I meant to type IAH.

  21. Fly across America Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 3:38 pm

    I wonder how many people pay full fare for these first-class seats for flights within the US and how many are free upgrades or mile/points. How often do pay full fare for them, Matthew?

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 4:52 pm

      I never pay full fare, but these days I tend to purchase premium cabin seats instead of hoping for an upgrade on my domestic flights.

      • Fly across America Reply
        December 14, 2023 at 6:38 pm

        Are you saying you buy first-class domestic tickets without any miles/points? I am not sure what you mean by never paying full-fare but buy premium seats then.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          December 14, 2023 at 6:39 pm

          Well I buy business class seats with dollars, not points, but I buy P or D fares, not full-fare J tickets. Perhaps we meant different things?

          • Fly across America
            December 14, 2023 at 7:14 pm

            I see now. I was just talking about using dollars instead of miles/ points or free upgrade at gate because of status. I wasn’t getting into the nitty-gritty of the fare.

  22. ed lewis Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 3:54 pm

    Sounds all Jeff’d up to me,,,,, oh wait, it’s not him….It’s Mr. Blowhard himself.

  23. Dan Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 4:40 pm

    In addition to DEN, ORD isn’t great: MSY, BOS, DFW are in the band in addition to DEN

  24. SMR Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 6:09 pm

    the food is SO DISGUSTING and bad for you….UA doing you a favor and you do not even know it. Who eats that crap?

    • Troy Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 6:50 pm

      Agree.. EXACTLY what I was thinking.. why I’ve moved our business elsewhere where meals are higher quality.

      • OCTinPHL Reply
        December 14, 2023 at 7:17 pm

        I’m in no way defending UA’s meals – but exactly where have you moved your biz to that has higher quality meals? DL? Are you comparing UA to AA and DL, or to foreign carriers? Frankly, the domestic meals on AA, UA, and DL are all within the same “margin of error” – slightly above slop.

    • Alert Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 6:55 pm

      Agree about domestic airline food being atrocious . I bring my own food onboard from the large selection for sale in the airport . International food on LH and JL is very good in my experience .

      • Matt H Reply
        December 14, 2023 at 8:24 pm

        I would accept this reasoning.

  25. TJ Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 6:32 pm

    For the record, I just worked Denver to Chicago on AA and served first class meals as the mileage is posted as 901 miles. So, however you’re calculating mileage, may be a bit off.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 6:38 pm

      According to GCMap it is 896.

    • Jared K Reply
      December 14, 2023 at 9:10 pm

      When I’ve flow DEN to ORD, it fairly consistently is credited as 888 on United.

  26. Steve Reply
    December 14, 2023 at 11:55 pm

    I was on IAH-DEN Wed night and overheard a FA say this. She said no more “hot” meals for less than 900 miles but I’m not sure if that just now means snack basket or some other first class cold meal (hello cheese and fruit plate!).

    • Greg Reply
      December 15, 2023 at 11:08 am

      That would be more palatable but the quote is:

      “On flights 301-900 miles, United First customers can expect a premium snack basket”

  27. YULtide Reply
    December 15, 2023 at 1:54 am

    Can anyone recommend a good curry takeaway in DEN airport?

    Asking for a friend.

  28. YULtide Reply
    December 15, 2023 at 1:57 am

    Seriously, though, they should just give up the pretense of calling this product “first class”. Truth in labeling.

  29. Kip Reply
    December 15, 2023 at 5:58 am

    Wow surprised at how many H2H routes are excluded. Insane considering the most loyal customers are likely to be on this flight. Even a short little SFOLAX or EWRIAD should get something more than the normal short route. (Snack box if rule says only drinks)

  30. Argosy314 Reply
    December 15, 2023 at 10:45 am

    My suspicion is that this is one way they can grow DEN and compete against WN. If they eliminate meals, they can probably turn aircraft faster since catering won’t need as much time to service the aircraft….thus they can reduce turn times and add more flights.

    I could only hope that they $$$ they save will be reinvested back into better quality food on the flights that will continue to have meals. That being said, does this pretty much eliminate most, if not all, meals on Express?

    I remember the nonsense they did in 2018, when they served “snacks” in place of meals on flights under 2.5 hours or something like that. Segments like SANIAH got a plate with a few slices of lunch meat and grapes, essentially the snacks they serve on Premium Transcons.

    I give this about 3 months before UA rolls it back…..they have a history of

    • TJ Robinson Reply
      December 23, 2023 at 10:32 pm

      Oh please open your eyes catering is on and off before the passengers are deboarded

      • Argosy314 Reply
        December 29, 2023 at 6:41 pm

        Not always; but there still is time associated with catering/turning a flight turning flights that gets factored into schedules. And assuming that the correct meals/items are loaded and the FAs don’t have to call catering back.

        I’m not saying I agree with the decision, but clearly UA is focused on building up DEN further in any way they can.

  31. Argosy314 Reply
    December 15, 2023 at 10:46 am

    Meant to say they have a history of trying to test the waters seeing how far they can cut things back before adding it back to the way it was before and selling it as an enhancement “we listened to our customers”….

    • Timothy Reply
      December 15, 2023 at 10:59 am

      I hope so.

  32. David Reply
    December 15, 2023 at 10:55 am

    As a Denver flyer, his is disappointing. I just booked a flight from DEN to Leon, Mexico going through Houston two days ago for March. We’re bringing our dog and the connection time is tight so I was looking forward to being fed. It lists a breakfast flight on the way there and dinner on the way home. I asked for a refund so I can book on Aeromexico instead and they will not do it because it’s over 24 hours…..They thanked me for being a Premiere Platinum, though.

  33. Jared Houser Reply
    December 15, 2023 at 11:16 am

    I think it is important to note that most 800 mile routes have not had meals historically. Before a year ago or so, the rule was 900 miles for meals with the exception of hub to hub routes being 800 miles.

    So DEN-BUR didn’t used to get a meal but DEN-LAX always has. Then a year ago they changed to include all 800 mile routes.

    Now they’re saying only 900 with no exceptions, but I bet they’ll put the hub to hub exception back. Otherwise will have a lot of angry J passengers.

    • Timothy Reply
      December 15, 2023 at 2:08 pm

      I’m not saying you’re wrong but I remember being served dinner from SAN-DEN and DEN- SAN in 2018, 2019 and again after the pandemic. I believe that route is 830 ish miles. In comparison, my flights to Las Vegas never had meal service (obviously much shorter flight).

  34. Johannes Bols Reply
    December 16, 2023 at 1:43 pm

    The taxpayer bailed out these jokers after 9/11 and this is how they thank us.

  35. USDAC Reply
    December 16, 2023 at 11:06 pm

    Is this nautical miles?

    • Timothy Reply
      December 19, 2023 at 10:32 am

      I believe it’s just “regular” land miles.

  36. Forty2 Reply
    December 17, 2023 at 12:03 am

    Was surprised to be served a nice hot dinner on AA MSP-CLT in F yesterday that was barely over two hours. And it was the best airplane meal I’ve had in a long time.

  37. TDF Reply
    December 20, 2023 at 5:25 am

    A two hour or less flight and the expectation is a full meal? I really do not understand sometimes what people think exactly an airlines job is. Please just get me where I am going as close to the time posted. That is all.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      December 20, 2023 at 7:10 am

      It is, among other things, to feed premium cabin passengers.

    • TJ Robinson Reply
      December 23, 2023 at 10:26 pm

      If you paid the exorbitant price for first class YES

  38. Ray Sharradh Reply
    December 21, 2023 at 3:26 pm

    How many First Class seats are on the typical A320/737 family aircraft? 12? Even if First Class is full, watching the FAs blow through a “premium snack” service and then do nothing but refill service on a two hour flight after I’ve laid out First Class fare – I ain’t impressed.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      December 21, 2023 at 4:11 pm

      A319/20 has 12, A321 20, 737-700 12, 737-800/MAX 16-20, 737-900, 20.

  39. ryhops Reply
    December 23, 2023 at 8:56 pm

    The (potentially) impacted flights still show meal service in F, 10 days after the announcement and within a week of said flights departing. I wonder if the backlash has prompted them to reconsider, at least on hub-hub routes like LAX-DEN, DEN-ORD/IAH, etc.

  40. TJ Robinson Reply
    December 23, 2023 at 10:25 pm

    Their food is absolutely horrible to begin with but I’m so against this I can’t put it in words. It should be 50o miles. That being said this is just more greediness from the airline and
    More laziness from the crew. Why not just put out a drink and sandwich cart for passengers to help themselves so the crew won’t be interrupted in their galley gossiping and playing on their phones? This is most crew, however I’ve had some wonderful flight attendants in First that have went out of their way to please. I think the company should let the passengers reward them like TWA used to. I still love to fly but not like I used to.

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