Can someone explain to me why United Airlines continues to slash domestic first class meal service?
Oh, I know. One word, right? Kirby. United Airlines’ President Scott Kirby is just doing what he attempted to do at American Airlines: cut his way to growth.
And first class fares have dropped so much over the last few years, perhaps this is not unexpected. But I haven’t seen cutbacks like this since my worst business class meal ever over a decade ago (in the midst of United’s bankruptcy).
I just wish United would issue a statement like this:
We’ve got to pay for our employee bonuses from somewhere, so we’re cutting domestic first class dining.
Or:
We’re slashing first class meal service because we know we can get away with it. Have you seen the slop they serve on Delta and American?
American Airlines, to its credit, has much more generous meal service windows and now allows for the pre-order of special meals and fruit/cheese plates on most domestic flights.
But as View from the Wing glumly pointed out, this is how United spins it:
We offer customers a more simplified meal service on flights under 4 hours. It’s not considered a full meal service because it has a smaller serving portion of the starter, entree and dessert.
Excuse me?! Really?
I might laugh if it wasn’t so pathetic. Now flights under four hours like a 3.5 hour flight departing at noon from Newark to Houston have been “snacked”. No more hot lunch option…not even a burger. Just a couple of paltry cold options.
You know first class catering is slipping when the economy class buy-on-board food is far better. I know I won’t be the only one requesting breakfast tacos or a hamburger from the back on a flight like this.
CONCLUSION
Despite rising oil and labor costs, airlines are still raking it in. In fact, U.S. airlines made more from baggage fees last year than any years in history. Times are good. And that’s the point: as long as United can get away with these cuts, they will continue to happen.
The annual cost to serve meals on a route like EWR IAH is north of $4M. The business case to cut meals back to something “a little smaller” to save $100M is an easy pitch when you frame it as “American and Delta will analyze it on their end once we announce it and make a similar decision”
It’s sort of like collusion with united telling the other airlines to look at it from the angle UA did. If they don’t action it, United will eventually roll it back and try something different.
I must be psychic. Like I said the other day: “But I’d say a large part of the trust deficit between the public and airlines is the constant use of corporate Newspeak to spin obvious devaluations (award chart devaluations, Basic Economy, bag fees, revenue-based mileage earning, etc.) as ‘enhancements’.” If UA hired Josh Earnest to try and spin “enhancements” like this as “customer friendly”, they really need to save their money!
Although as an aside, I have a suspicion this “enhancement” won’t stick. AA tried to foist the “Dougie Diet” as Rocky called it on F flyers back in 2014. Though the quality of F meals on AA still leaves much to be desired, they did back off pretty quickly on the number of routes “snacked”.
Do you ever actually ask for coach food in the back? Have you ever been obliged? Or, if not, re first class passengers allowed to buy them? I’d pay for those meal upgrades, if I planned on eating onboard and not bringing my own food.
You can always ask for coach BOB food in lieu of what they are serving in first/business class, as I’ve done on a recent flight when the BOB burger was a much better option than the cheese platter.
I can’t remember the last time I had a decent meal in domestic first. I’d rather them put together a higher end snack box with heartier items (think Harry and David salami/cheese) than serve some shitty breaded chicken that’s been sitting under a warmer for 2 hours.
I am surprised the US carriers don’t collectively move to pushing travelers more forcefully to eating before the board. They could easily do this by incentive’s such as what Priority Pass has done. While it would still be a cost, they may benefit finally by reducing what they need to load (less fuel) and providing incentives which are less than their catering costs. I don’t think there is any rule that airlines are forced to cater food, so pushing passengers to either eat airport food or bring your own smelly food is something we should expect.
This would work on most domestic flights other than possibly transcons.
We flyers are a demanding bunch and we all need to remember Econ 101 in that the airline business – particularly in the US – is an oligopoly which translates in they can do mostly what they want.
Cheap shots at United for being crappy aside, I think you should vote with your feet. Surely you could status match or challenge on another airline. There’s been far too much consolidation in the airline industry, but there are a couple of alternatives.
These days, if it’s a long flight I eat about an hour before I board regardless of class I am in. For very long flights I bring snacks with me. I never fly F for the food; it’s more about comfort.
Has anyone ever thought where these cuts will leave flyers one day? Eventually there will be nothing but peanuts in F on legacy carriers, or UA at least in this case. I mean is that where Domestic First is headed in the future, just a big seat like Spirit? Something in me thinks Kirby would be fine with that…he’ll just slowly make cuts here and there until there is nothing substantive left. Get rid of First Class is you’re not wanting to make it a first class experience anymore, for crying out loud!
Because, United.