United Airlines is bringing back two passenger-favorite amenities to its domestic first class product and also adding more variety on shorter flights.
Hot Towels & Mixed Nuts Return To All Meal Service Flights On United Airlines
Hot towels and warmed mixed nuts will be returning to all fights 801 miles or more starting on March 1, 2023. While hot towels and warmed mix nuts are currently offered on premium transcontinental and intercontinental flights, we have not seen them on domestic flights or regional flights to Canada or Latin America since the pandemic began nearly three years ago.
The warm mixed nut mix contains cashews and almonds and is only offered on flights with lunch and dinner service, while the hot towels will be available on all flights, including those with breakfast service (typically on flights that depart between 5:00 am and 9:59 am).
Meanwhile, American Airlines restored these amenities to its shorter flights over a year ago.
New Snacks On Short Flights In First Class
United currently does not serve meals in first class on its shorter flights, but offers a beverage plus a stroopwaffel or pretzels on flights between 301 and 800 miles. Starting on March 1st, United will expand the snack selection in first class on these flights to include:
- Dots
- Lemon berry gourmet cookie
- Skinnypop
- Madi K black-pepper almonds
- Solely mango jerky
I’m not sure about the Dots…but everything else sounds like a nice upgrade that better aligns United with what its competitors like Alaska, American, and Delta offer on short flights in first class.
What could really set United apart would be to offer hot scones in the morning (as it did pre-pandemic) and warmed mixed nuts at other times of day on these shorter flights. I guarantee passengers would sing praises to United if it offered a ramekin of nuts with a beverage on a flight, for example, from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
New Menus Coming
One other note: in March the domestic first class meals will also change, though a new menu has not yet been shared. Once we have that menu, we will share details. My biggest request: bring back soups and salads! These are so simple and easy and yet passenger favorites. A fresh salad with a side of protein is the ideal airline meal for me.
CONCLUSION
United Airlines will bring back hot towels and warmed mixed nuts on more routes starting in March, a welcome addition to the onboard amenities. With competition fierce and business travel still depressed, I hope that United is realizing that it must compete on soft product as well…not just schedule.
Dots?? Did dentists have a say in that. Mike and Ike’s have more flavor anyway
DOTS is pretzels
Thanks, was not aware. Had never heard of them.
Dots are a soft, chewy candy. It’s a common movie theater and Halloween candy in the US. Definitely very different than pretzels, but neither is anything I would naturally associate with first class service.
It’s long overdue. I used to get a warmed scone on the first SLC-DEN flight of the day. Yesterday, MEX-IAH I got a mini packet of pretzels (whilst the FA munched away on a Takeoff box). United, Good Does the Bare Minimum.
$20 it’s Dots pretzels, which are delish
I am wondering if they mean dots pretzels.
Too little too late. AA has had these offerings for us to enjoy for the longest time now, without so much fanfare and Publicity. This ship sailed a long time ago. This drip, drip, drip technique just plainly isn’t working. I think it’s just plain stupid.
@BK: Dots = disgusting candy which contains Corn Syrup, Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Malic Acid, Artificial and Natural Flavors, Sodium Citrate, Artificial Colors
Dot’s = ultra unhealthy Pretzels full of disgusting highly processed artificial flavors, huge amounts of sodium, high fructose corn syrup and MSG which is responsible for you wanting to eat more.
Way to go Kirby in calling that an upgrade.
Sounds like you should take the bet then ; also, you seem fun
Why can’t they just go back to pre-pandemic catering. We don’t want 2 set meals for domestic first class, make it something different every flight. For frequent flyers who sit up front (who are your most important customers) it gets old real fast. Total joke, stop being cheap on catering!
United is so cheap, they make you fell like you have been scammed.
Apparently United is going to overtake American as the biggest airline in the world next month, does anyone know what the details on that are?
AA is about 25% bigger than UA. So not possible.
AA has about 300 more airplanes and flies to about
80 more destinations
@Matthew any word on when Delta will restore full meal service? They are still serving sad boxes on some flights of 3-4 hours.
Its about time UA got back to the drawing board … their onboard service needs a lot to be desired.
Their international business class meals are just plain awful! Get your FA involved … they will provide you passengers feedback!=================
Its about time UA got back to the drawing board … their onboard service needs a lot to be desired.
Their international business class meals are just plain awful! Get your FA involved … they will provide you passengers feedback!=================
United went from first to worst when it inherited Chelsea catering from CO and then phased it out.
I’m just hoping they’ll get rid of that lousy Indian food once and for all. It got to the point where when I boarded, I asked the FA to save me an alternate option, because I got tired of it running out.
If they really want to upgrade the meal service, they should offer real food and meals/snacks, even on short flights, the same way they do in Europe and Asia.
The bar is so low and United continues to test the bare minimum of improvements after years of gutting benefits and the frequent flyer program. All while demanding more money spent with them to quality for status. I consider United a smidge about a low cost airline. I’ll fly them if they have the best price otherwise I prefer other airlines.
@Matthew, I remember when former President Bush said, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
How many times are going to be fooled by UA before you call them on their BS new menus claims.
New menus of the same crap is just more of the same crap.
Why doesn’t someone actually tell them that, how about you as you have contacts there.
I’ll believe they want to improve the food when I see it.
The flight attendants are ashamed to serve what United offers. Crew and passengers have complained like a broken record and United refuses to make substantial improvements. It’s clear management does not care about this problem. We used to have soup, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, bread baskets…now the food looks half eaten and tastes even worse.
Everyone complaining that offerings are expanding…why? Give it a chance to come into fruition before nitpicking and finger wagging.
Second, status customer should write to United instead of Matthew to let them know what you would like to see. This may help create the changes you desire to onboard offerings.
Just flew United from LAX to Narita. Light snack mid flight is pretzels you have to get from the galley. Really, United? Thought small sandwiches that used to be snacks were a step down already. Try flying as a regular passenger on your own flights, dear United execs. And see it from your customers perspective.
Another reason to embrace major foreign European carriers, e.g., Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, etc. who maintain food standards that AA and UA just cannot attain.
Whatever happened to the common sense approach to inflight lunch meals, such as hamburger, deli sandwich vs. the cheap slop of pastas? Give me a break!
Lufthansa has become worse than any US carrier.
The worst seats in the industry. Horrific food
Warm mixed nuts? I’d be satisfied to get room temperature mixed nuts.
I just got my meal selection for an upcoming domestic First Class United flight cross-country, and the “meal” offerings are pathetic. Cheese enchiladas, Thai meatballs & rice and a “3 cheese skillet burger with jalepenos”. I really can’t choose which one is the least objectionable from the pictures (there is only a short, one-line description). Sad.
Three of us just flew first class. Three different meals. All were inedible. I’ve flown them exclusively for a few years, building up miles via the United Card. About ready to dump them. I’ll use the miles and meantime build up travel “points” on a card that isn’t carrier specific.