United Airlines is making a significant change to its “Bistro On Board” buy-on-board fresh food program in economy class, and while there is a lot to like here, there is also a meaningful downside that will frustrate some travelers.
United Will Require Preorders For Fresh Economy Meals
United has announced that customers flying in economy class will now be able to preorder fresh meals like burgers and sandwiches before their flight using the United app or united.com. The change applies to flights over 1,190 miles within the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
Beginning March 1, preordering will no longer be optional. It will be the only way to purchase fresh entrees in economy. Onboard purchases of packaged snacks, snack boxes, and beverages will continue, but if you want a hot or freshly prepared item, you will need to plan ahead.
What United Is Changing
Customers will be able to preorder meals starting five days before departure and up to 24 hours prior to takeoff. United says this will give customers more certainty that they get the meal they want while also helping the airline better manage catering and reduce food waste.
United points to its experience with premium-cabin preordering, which launched in 2021 and reportedly boosted customer satisfaction scores by nearly 40% on domestic flights.
The January preorder menu includes several familiar Bistro on Board items, including:
United says additional fresh options will roll out later this year, including upgraded salads, wraps, gourmet sandwiches, and preorder-exclusive premium beverages.
Why I Like This Change
I am a big fan of United’s buy-on-board food. United quietly has one of the best retail food programs in domestic economy, and I find the food generally tastes very good (often better than the food served in first class).
Preordering makes sense in theory. You know your preferred item will be waiting for you. United knows exactly how much food to load. Catering waste is reduced. Everyone wins, at least on paper.
On many flights, especially hub-to-hub routes, Bistro on Board items already sell out. Preordering eliminates the stress of hoping your seatmate does not grab the last burger before the cart reaches your row. That’s progress.
Why This Will Also Annoy A Lot Of People
The problem is what United is taking away.
Once this policy goes into effect in march, you will no longer be able to simply buy a fresh meal onboard if you did not preorder. That matters more than United may realize.
Not everyone books more than 24 hours in advance. Flights change. Connections misalign. People get hungry unexpectedly. Some travelers do not open the app until boarding. Others are rebooked last-minute and suddenly find themselves on a three-hour flight with no access to a real meal.
On my flights, the food often sells out anyway. The issue is not excess inventory, but demand. Eliminating onboard availability entirely removes flexibility from the system in a way that will inevitably leave some passengers annoyed. I know United closely tracks consumption and I’d think that at least on hub-to-hub routes, there would be a few extras loaded.
This Feels Very Alaska Airlines-Inspired
This move closely mirrors Alaska Airlines’ model, which requires preordering for fresh meals in economy. Alaska has long positioned this as a sustainability and predictability win, and United is now following the same playbook.
The difference is scale. United operates far more last-minute rebookings, irregular operations, and hub-driven connections. A policy that works reasonably well at Alaska does not always translate perfectly at United. We will see.
CONCLUSION
United’s move to require preorders for fresh economy meals is understandable and, in many ways, sensible. If you plan ahead, this should improve your onboard dining experience and guarantee you get what you want. This is by no means bad news and the idea of expanding the menu to offer additional selections is wonderful.
At the same time, removing the ability to buy fresh food onboard altogether is a step backward in flexibility. Reducing food waste is a worthy goal, but so is feeding passengers who did not have the luxury of planning their trip days in advance.
Overall, this a win, but not an unmitigated victory for consumers…do you agree?
Love it!
Did you skip over the whole “Why This Will Also Annoy A Lot Of People” because Matt’s onto something there.
The author covered it well. Fresher food for customers who care, less waste, less weight and for those who get hungry Bistro on Board is available. It will also likely spur even greater use of the app and increase Mileage Plus membership. Brilliant move if you have an excellent IT infrastructure and the best app both of which UA has. Love it!
Honestly, I hope it really does achieve all that. I do like United’s app; the new-ish countdown feature should be standard for all airline apps.
If I understand this correctly, one will not be able to purchase Bistro On Board, just snacks and snack boxes. Hot fresh food will only be available pre-order.
I generally like it as well. 24 hours is, however a bit more time than I might know that I will want to be fed – might this be reduced for flights leaving from hubs? One would anticipate that United should have the bandwidth to cater carts with 8 hours notice at DEN, IAD, etc.
100% agree
Not even Alaska does 8 hours prior to departure and their operation at SEA is much smaller than UA’s at DEN or IAD. Alaska’s cut off point is 18 hours at all their stations where you can pre-order fresh food. Given the scope of United’s catering operation 8 hours before departure is not nearly enough time, because it isn’t like you’re sitting at a restaurant you pre-select and your order goes straight to the kitchen. Before you order ever reaches the kitchen it passes through several departments.
Interesting, Matthew.
I particularly like your comment regarding these fresh meals often being better than the first class product domestically. I’m even wondering if it’s better than Polaris (premium) meals internationally?
I agree with you that this move may come back to bite UA given your comparison of apples (Alaska operations) and oranges (United operations).
Like you said, this is very Alaska-eske, and I quite like it to an extent, since I’ve liked it a lot when traveling on Alaska, the issue is, on Alaska all of my flights are nearly P2P. On United they involve connections, and sometimes some SDCs along the way, so it may create a bit of an inconvenience to customers… I guess we will see how UA plans to deal with this, but hopefully this means a better menu in economy!
Why can’t they take preorders and then stock some surplus for onboard sales. That would maximize the revenue opportunity and fewer people who are willing to pay go hungry.
So this throws standbys, including airline employees (me), out of the loop. I guess I’ll just enjoy my “snack box” with cheese and crackers and appetizers the size of a pinhead on my six hour flight to the west coast.
Reminds me of a flight a few years ago where a fellow sitting next to me threw a tantrum because none of his choices (hot or cold, snack box, etc) were to his liking. Refused everything offered. The FA just gave him two snack boxes of which he picked through like a toddler (took 1-2 items only) and proceeded to dump the rest of it all on the floor. Stupid fool, I would have been happy to eat most of which he threw down.
Americans are very impulsive with food purchases. They will lose alot of revenue.
and then there is a lot of accounting that it is very doubtful UA will get right.
If you preorder and then don’t get your meal, how long before you get a refund.
good summary of the situation, Matthew.
Now to see if AA and DL make changes to their BOB programs.
They won’t lose a lot of revenue when the old way shut 2/3 of the economy cabin out from being able to get anything as they always sell out quickly.
Forgot to add… there’s no refund issue because you aren’t charged until you receive the item
If UA doesn’t require payment when ordering, then they will lose far more money than they could possibly make.
People will be trained very quickly to just order everything on every flight and then just not accept it in-flight.
and, rebel,
UA gets more complaints to the DOT than DL does even though UA flies a whole lot less passengers. You have proven over and over that facts are not your friend.
I know you are programmed to automatically hate on everything that delta’s competitors do, but i really doubt that is going to be a major issue
has nothing to do with hate… it has to do with not having consequences for doing something.
If you can order something and not pay, there will be people that will reject it… granted some of it can be resold but it truly flips the script on its head.
it’s human nature and it has nothing to do with DL or UA.
Accounting? This UA not DL. No problem. Brilliant.
And what happens if you order a meal and your flight plans change within the 24 hours before the flight departs? I think this will upset more people than it will please the United Controller…..
Thanks for the succinct article Matt. I’m a big fan of the pre-order option. I’m not a fan at all of not being able to buy hot fresh food on board. As you pointed out, plans change. Some people buy last-second flights. Irregular operations happen. With most of my flights being coast to coast, I would be disappointed if I couldn’t order a hot item on board. I hope United rectifies this quickly.
What happens if one is upgraded, either the increasingly rare CPU, or purchased upgrade? Do you retain the option of keeping the order or cancelling it? Do you get refunded the purchase amount, as usually, first grade can request a coach food item at no charge?
Let’s give this positive UA initiative a chance!
Makes me wonder what will happen when a plane breaks, and they switch the metal and bring you to a new gate 3 hours later, and it’s not lunch time instead of a breakfast flight….
Silly. They could just push preordering but stock less onboard purchases for those who can’t. This will especially be difficult for 1K in trying to decide to order ahead of time while waiting for a potential upgrade to come through.
I’m reasonable but this is not well thought out.
Sell them at the GATE. Then everyone has the opportunity to purchase FRESH onsite.
This covers delays, connections, weather, cancellations.
It seems like UA is optimizing for the “happy path,” but the problem is that things go wrong.
For example, the customer service desk has been removed at SFO. This is great in the happy path. But what happens when your flight gets delayed? They say to use the app to rebook or use video chat to talk to an agent. But what if the app doesn’t work or offer the flight you want? Or what if your cell phone is dead? Or what if you’re an international traveler without a foreign SIM card? All of these are real, plausible scenarios – not just made up hyperbole.
Similarly, food pre ordering works great if you know you’ll have a tight connection. But what if you misconnect and get rerouted? Or what if you same day change? Etc.