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Home  >  United Airlines  >  Official: United Airlines Restores Glassware, Pre-Departure Beverages
United Airlines

Official: United Airlines Restores Glassware, Pre-Departure Beverages

Matthew Klint Posted onNovember 16, 2021November 16, 2021 15 Comments

After a 20 month hiatus, United Airlines will restore pre-departure beverages in premium cabins on its mainline flights later this month and restore glassware and ceramic cups onboard starting next month.

United Airlines Will Restore Pre-Departure Beverages On Mainline Flights In Premium Cabins

Starting on November 23rd, United Airlines will restore “pre-departure welcome beverages” onboard all mainline flights. For now, the selection will be pre-poured and limited to water or sparkling wine.

While it will not hurt to make special requests, there is not intended to be an open bar on the ground…at least for now.

Glassware Returns On United Airlines

It was just yesterday that I wrote how long overdue the return to glassware was on United. As if in direct response to my story (I don’t flatter myself – I’m sure this was long-planned and my timing happened to be right), United will restore glassware on December 1, 2021.

That includes ceramic cups for coffee/tea and the following types of glasses:

Domestic First Class:

  • Highball glasses
  • Wine glasses

United Polaris Business:

  • Rock glasses
  • Wine glasses
  • Flute glasses
  • Cordial glasses
  • Polycarbonate glasses
    • This is a glass that looks like a rock glass but is used on international flights for pre-departure beverages only

Why It Matters

Rather than rehash what I wrote about yesterday, I will only note five reasons why it actually matters that glassware and pre-departure beverages have retuned:

  • It actually makes the premium cabin experience more premium – nothing screams cheap like a nice plated meal served with a disposable cups
  • Coffee tastes better in a ceramic cup and wine in a glass
  • I’m less worried about tipping over “real” cups and glasses, which are far less flimsy than the blue plastic cups currently in use
  • Other airlines have restored glassware
  • Even with washing and transport costs, there is less waste than using single-use plastic or paper cups

Bottom line, it just makes for a nicer experience overall.

CONCLUSION

Pre-departure beverages will return next week on United Airlines in premium cabins and glassware returns next month. These moves are long overdue, but welcomed.

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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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15 Comments

  1. Kyle Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 10:28 am

    That’s good to hear. Hopefully Delta will follow soon, though I’m not holding my breath since their meal service is so mediocre domestically now

  2. Derek Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 10:38 am

    2 questions

    how will the premium transcons and longhaul HI flights be catered in terms of the glassware? As domestic first or Polaris?

    Is PP still receiving the plastic?

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 16, 2021 at 10:42 am

      PP will have a “real” wine glass on the tray with service.

      Premium transcontinental flights traditionally had the rocks glasses – we will see what happens next month.

  3. Joe Biden Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 10:59 am

    C’mon man. What about the ice cream sundaes? They told me they’d bring back the ice cream sundaes. They lied to me.

  4. Dr. Jill Biden Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 11:18 am

    What does this mean for international Premium Plus?

    • Aaron Reply
      November 16, 2021 at 12:49 pm

      You really have nothing better to do with your time, huh? One post is one thing, but two…

  5. Greg Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 12:52 pm

    ” nothing screams cheap like a nice plated meal served with a disposable cups”

    A necessary step but nothing nice about the plated meals being served on premium transcon and polaris these days. They are an insult to premium fliers and not at all comparable with what Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, ANA are serving in their own JVs. Not to mention jetblue, aa, and delta on transcon.

  6. Bob Kerner Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 12:56 pm

    Matthew, do you know anything about the food in first class? It was the chicken and enchilada for the longest time, and now my last 3 flights have been this disgusting “Italian ragu”. Is this the new permeant option? Will it ever go back to pre covid where it is a different meal on every flight, and you get a salad and nuts and all that even on short flights like LAX-DEN?

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      November 16, 2021 at 2:07 pm

      For now it is the chicken or Italian ragu – we will probably see that on the menu for the entire quarter, then see something else in January. Not sure when UA will go back to more a diverse meal offering in domestic first, but there are some signs this will be the case with the pre-ordering it has rolled out from ORD.

  7. Jerry Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 1:18 pm

    Return of glass was inevitable. Return of the PDB was not. That’s a big deal and AA and DL should most certainly follow.

  8. Robert Gallegos Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 2:40 pm

    Hi Matthew, love the blog! Is there an easy way to view all of the routes that are starting/resuming next month? I have been looking around at the schedule and it seems like a new schedule goes into effect on Dec 16 and there are a ton of new routes.

    SFO/LAX-TPA
    SFO/LAX-RSW
    LAX-YVR
    IAH-NRT
    IAH-AMS

    A ton of Colorado and other mountain towns starting from DEN, SFO, LAX.

    Also, I noticed LAX-SYD changes to a 777-300ER and LAX-NRT changes to a retrofitted 787-9 with PP for sale.

    Do you know if all these things I mentioned are finalized? I assume the Dec 16 schedule would be locked in by now. Very exciting to see all these flights!

  9. His Magesty Reply
    November 16, 2021 at 5:03 pm

    Scott, thanks for reading my comments in Matt’s story about your bigger is better announcement. Now get to work on the rest of the list…

  10. Steve S Reply
    November 18, 2021 at 1:28 am

    How ironic as I just commented here (in reality bitched) about the lack of a PDB a few days ago. All I can say now is HURRAY and it’s about time. The limited choice of sparkling wine or water (which I hope is cold) isn’t exactly thrilling but I’ll take it as a modest victory. I have one more round trip on UA before December 1st. With luck that will be the last of my snickerdoodles and warm water.

  11. M Simons Reply
    November 25, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    On United San/Ord yesterday 23rd same old plastic and no predeparture offerings. Wasn’t catering issue either.

  12. Pingback: Passenger Gets Tattoo Inflight, Flight Attendant Provides IT Support - View from the Wing

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