United Airlines continues to invest in its onboard product with several upgrades to the food and beverage menu this month including new wines in Polaris business class, better coffee, and more meals in economy class.
United Airlines Improves Coffee, Polaris Wine, Coffee, Economy Class Meals
An internal memo shared with all United employees counts up the onboard food and beverage changes in April 2025.
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Starting Earth Day, April 22 through May 20, illy Arabica Selection Braille Cerrado Mineiro (produced using regenerative agriculture methods) will be served.
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As part of a 3 year partnership, Polaris will start to see new wines from Heitz Cellar, which is a family-owned Napa Valley winery that uses 100% organically farmed fruit. Their cabernet sauvignon, which has flavors of violets, redcurrants, spices and oranges with hints of mint and dark chocolate, is now available in Polaris
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New Bloody Mary mix and tomato juice from The Pickle House. Their beverages are served at various Soho House locations but are exclusive to United Airlines in the air.
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Passengers in the economy cabin will now have a 3rd option for meals on flights from the U.S. to Europe (chicken, beef or vegetarian), along with a side salad.
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New food for purchase options on the Bistro on Board menu for flights of 1,190 miles or more. There’s a new Chicago Bagel Breakfast Melt made in collaboration with Jeff Mauro. Along with that are chorizo breakfast tacos, a chicken parmesan sandwich and a Tuscan caprese burger.
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New preorder exclusive signature entrees for domestic first class. New entrees in April include shrimp Creole at IAH, Korean BBQ short rib at LAX and pastrami spiced chicken at EWR.
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Those in domestic first will see red velvet as a new flavor of the Magnolia Bakery banana pudding dessert.
A few thoughts on this.
- The illy Arabica Selection Braille Cerrado Mineiro coffee sounds good – maybe one day we’ll even see single-origin blends from Sumatra in premium cabins, which is my personal favorite illy blend. It’s a nice thing when airlines invest in coffee.
- I’m told (by someone who knows!) that Heitz Cellar is an excellent wine beyond the higher $69/bottle retail value…as View From The Wing notes, “United has raised its business class wine standard significantly for 2025, really leaving Delta (and, chortle, American) behind.”
- I find the Bloody Mary cocktails disgusting and a fancy brand won’t change it, but I know that many love it…
- Not mentioned in the memo is that United is shifting back from a grain salad to a green salad with the economy class meal, which I think is a crowd-pleaser. Those of who have endured the grain salads for years on United are quite happy to see mixed greens with a light oil and vinegar dressing return
- The Maryland blue crabcakes are out of the rotation…I hope they return. I’d love to see United try out a BBQ plate as the “Houston Signature Dish” (who wouldn’t love a little brisket and pulled pork and sausage?).
- I like red velvet, but not banana pudding…it’s a hard pass for me on the Magnolia Bakery desserts (my waistline thanks me), but I’m sure some will like it. A suggestion, though: how how just a bowl of fruit as a dessert option?
- The economy buy-on-board options sound intriguing, particularly the Chicago Bagel Breakfast Melt from Jeff Mauro. I did not get to try his signature burger in economy class last month, but I hope that returns as well.
This is all good news and I applaud United for the investment, especially in the face of economic headwinds (though I’m certain all of this had to be arranged months in advance). That said, I hope United continues to improve the quality of food in its premium cabins. We’re talking quality, not quantity. Higher-quality proteins and salads with a selection of high-quality dressing. Crusty dark bread. Fresh fruit as a dessert alternative on all flights.
What do you think about the latest investments in the United onboard dining experience?
image: United Airlines
does this mean PP also now gets 3 choice of the Polaris meals instead of just 2?
If so, maybe for daytime flights to HNL, I would consider that cabin (but never for overnight)
Still two in PP
why would Y have more choices than O? That does not make much sense
Will they at least introduce pre orders like AA and DL have done?
“I find the Bloody Mary cocktails disgusting ”
That’s where I stopped reading.
Are we no longer entitled to personal opinions under the new regime?
I like how Polaris is becoming more competitive. Used to avoid US carriers for international J but my recent DL and UA J flights have changed my mind in terms of service. Hot take, but I’d take UA’s J catering over KL’s these days.
I just stepped off KL from AMS-LAX and would beg to differ…I liked the catering. Will share more about that flight tomorrow.
great work by United.
It would be a really interesting trip review to compare all US3 carriers on NYC-LHR or LAX-SYD to compare them side by side now with wine bottle public price points, etc. And sadly, I mean comparing in the same direction on something like NYC-LHR so you can get a better side by side comparison leaving at approximately the same time.
There are just so many small things that each carrier has changed that I don’t even know how to compare realistically anymore aside from everyone’s usual assumptions.
For instance, my recollection 2-3 years ago is that DL got rid of their second full drink service in economy (that, I think, AA and UA still have) replacing it with that boarding peach bellini. Small things like that are a cost savings for DL under the guise of making an experience better but I don’t even know if that’s still the case.
I’ve never flown Delta in economy class on a longhaul flight…I hope to do so soon. LAX-SYD may be a bit long, but reviewing the three on a NYC-LHR trip would be interesting (JetBlue as well). Would be nice to do it in Premium Economy as well.
I’m addicted to the burgers. One of the best parts of 1K in economy. I often ask for them in lieu of the first class meal when sitting up front.
I must admit I like the burgers too!
So now UA will be serving $69/bottle wine with their $2 polaris meals? I’m flying SFO-FRA next week and all the wines look great, but the meal options are appalling.
Yes, I’d go with the pork schnitzel but agree that the food choices continue to be a drag.
On my upcoming UA flight IAH EWR this Sunday the following items are not available for pre order but may be available. The bagel melt by Jeff and Pickle House Bloody Mary mix. My first Star alliance flight post American.
Oddly, UA is still not allowing passengers to pre-order off the “Bistro” menu in economy class.
Mmm. I think your idea for BBQ brisket is excellent. It is also something that would reheat well. Executive Chef Matthew.
During my last UA long haul every pax in business ordered a bloody Mary cocktail.
The featured picture is quite outdated. UA hasn’t served wine in Polaris class that way since “United Business” was renamed “Polaris”.
Just a stock photo to focus on the wine…
I’m not really sure how much difference most of these changes will make but it’s tough to see them negatively so minor (for now, maybe major later) props to United on this. I will say that a vegetarian entree on European flights should have been in place years ago though. How tough is it to offer a pasta dish?
For years there has been a “secret” third item (Indian vegetarian) that was available on request only. Several were loaded (even for those who did not order a special meal). But it’s good to see an official third option.
I had the parmesean sandwich on April 5th from ORD to San Diego. I was confused that the menu was outdated and the attendant said there is a new fresh menu. The bread was surprisingly toasty, mozzarella was melty, and chicken breast was smaller than the massive slice of melty cheese. So, it’s not bad, but the proportions are out of whack.
I give them an A for effort, but whenever airlines try to get too clever with their meals, it’s usually a disaster (hello UAs Indian food pre-COVID).
How about food for us normies, like lasagne (DL does a half-decent job at this) or a good club sandwich? And I’ll take the banana pudding any day over red velvety anything.
Quality and consistency were key in the days of CO BusinessFirst. Sure the menus themselves were tired (like most things CO pre-merger but thats a different discussion), but regardless of which airport you flew out of there wasn’t a huge variance with respect what you were served. Now domestic or international YMMV……I’ve had mediocre meals ex HND, decent ex SFO, terrible ex IAH, questionable in other outstations. At least from the hubs, a lot of this was due to having Chelsea, but outstations used whatever caterer was onsite and double catering wasn’t as widely used.
It seems that rather than a complete overhaul or relaunch all at once, UA is executing catering changes/improvements in piecemeal phases. It’s a slow process and not part of a large announcement; we’ve heard that changes are coming but its been vague and usually the only way we find out about it is after the fact or close-in….wondering if this is so UA can avoid promising but not delivering. Maybe this goes back to learning from the launch of Polaris with the big flashy ads of new seats etc., only to have reality set in and discover that the seats hadn’t been installed on any aircraft and only one Polaris lounge had been built
United Restaurant Airlines.
Hey Matt! Big fan and read your articles DAILY. If you have any questions about the Chicago Bagel Melt, the Honey G Cheeseburger or a scoop on any upcoming collabs I have with United, please reach out directly. Would love to chat. Again, LOVE your site.
Thanks Jeff! I’m flying to Chicago soon and hope to try your bagel! I missed your burger last month.