A rumor sprang up on Flyertalk this afternoon that hot food would be cut from the United Clubs in Chicago O’Hare and not expanded to additional airports. United informed me that no such decision has been made.
United’s lounge food has improved tremendously across the network. Fresh berries and oatmeal in the morning or hot soups and salads later in the day are a solid improvement over crackers, cheese, and crudités. At ORD, United went a step further, introducing hot dishes including eggs in the morning and lasagna in the afternoon and evenings.
The food was tasty, and understandably very popular. United planned to expand those hot offerings to other hubs and a permit had already been granted to do so at Newark.
But this afternoon a Flyertalk member reported that 1.) the hot food service in Chicago was just a trial ballon, 2.) demand greatly exceeded forecasts, and as a consequence 3.) hot food would not expand to additional clubs. The hot food is so popular in ORD that United’s hot food budget has allegedly been exceeded threefold.
I contacted United to see if it would confirm or deny this rumor and received the following response from spokesman Charlie Hobart—
Hi Matthew, you’re right; our customers love the new, refreshed United Club offerings. And while we always evaluate the offerings on a regular basis, we have not made any decisions to remove the hot food options.
Surely we could be pessimistic and say that United admits hot items are under evaluation, but at least United has stated on the record that it has made no decision to remove hot food options.
How United Should Handle Excessive Club Demand
For the sake of United’s commitment to be more “Flyer Friendly” and because consumers (this one included) love the new hot offerings, United should raise lounge membership prices or eliminate Chase guest passes before cutting back amenities. The Chase guest passes sell for as little as $10 on eBay. Surely a lasagna dinner with soup, salad, and red wine is worth more than that. Another, more immediate, option would simply be to get rid of big plates and use small plates only. Hopefully that would control portion size.
CONCLUSION
Hopefully United can work out a better solution that simply cutting hot food from its domestic lounges. The newly remodeled Chicago O’Hare lounge in the B Concourse is amazing and if United is serious about being best, it cannot claw back its positive enhancements.
Those passes are revenue from United’s single biggest customer, of course.
And of course hot food is a staple in airline lounges in Europe and Asia — lounges that elites have access to, no membership fee required at all. US lounges have fees by historical accident in a way, a requirement of anti-discrimination rules (that everyone have access on an equal basis — let everyone in or make customers pay).
And once the lounges became a revenue stream, they started being treated as standalone businesses rather than amenities for an airline’s best customers.
Either way there are budgets of course. We’ve seen Amex cut back on pricier ingredients in Centurion lounges. But it’s not like we’ve got beef and fish entrees being served here. These are cheap eggs and pasta.
And United ALREADY raised lounge prices recently…
I think UA lounge prices are already high enough, but the one-time passes are problematic. The CHASE relationship aside, do you think people would cancel their Explorer cards in droves without the two lounge passes each year?
At least for the USA, UA is a step ahead of Delta, AA, and Alaska — at least at ORD. Delta has great cold food, but no hot meals to my knowledge. I hope that UA iwll see this as an opportunity to positively distinguish itself from others and not merely as a wasted investment.
It’s United. They will find some way to F* it up. I fired united a few years ago as my travel partner do I guess I don’t have a dog in this fight.
I have yet to see hot food in United Clubs. However I do not go through ORD. AA has nice hot soups and salads. I am a Lifetime Member of United Clubs.
The one-time passes really have to go. The clubs are too crowded and Chase gives them out like candy to its Explorer members (yearly, I believe). I would think the $95 annual fee on that card is still worth it, without the club passes.
I once saw a “no one-time passes” sign outside at an EWR club and had a slight sigh of relief.
The new clubs at ORD and LAX are great and I hope the hot food is here to stay!