United Airlines will continue its three-step Polaris meal service trial on select services to Frankfurt and London, suggesting that this model will eventually represent the new post-pandemic norm for onboard meal service in business class.
What The New Normal Of United Airlines Polaris Business Class Will Look Like
During the month of February, United Airlines trialed an upgraded three-step meal service on select longhaul flights in Polaris business class:
- Step 1 – Pre-meal beverage/cocktail snack/lay table linen
- via cart
- Step 2 – Main meal tray with plated entrée
- hand-delivered
- Step 3 – Dessert
- hand-delivered
Digital menu cards were also introduced on the United app, giving business class passengers their first menu in nearly two years.
Trial routes included:
- Frankfurt (FRA) ⇄
- Chicago (ORD)
- Houston (IAH)
- Newark (EWR)
- Washington (IAD)
- London (LHR) ⇄
- Chicago (ORD)
> Read More: United Airlines Will Trial New Polaris Service On Select Flights
According to a pair of United memo reviewed by Live and Let’s Fly, both flight attendants and passengers provided strong positive feedback on the new meal service style. A note from John Slater, the Senior Vice President of Inflight Services at United Airlines, included a long list of directly quoted flight attendant feedback, all of it positive. One flight attendant said:
“I take pride in doing a good job and want our service to represent THE EXCELLENT AIRLINE WE ARE!”
Another said:
“I hope we can continue to improve so that we can better compete for these high yield business travelers.”
Another focused on the improved presentation of the meals:
“I love the plating element. The presentation is 100% better this way.”
United tell flights attendants:
We’ll continue to monitor and gain feedback from our flight attendants and customers as we have throughout this journey.
But–and this is just me speculating–I’d place a high likelihood on this service being standardized across the longhaul route network as early as April or May.
First, because it represents a compromise that limits direct interactions while restoring a higher level of quality to the product (the plating of meals is a huge step in the right direction, as in the re-introduction of table linens and a choice of desserts). Second, because American and Delta have greatly surpassed United in terms of quality of offering on longhaul international flights. Third, because many of these changes (like plating meals or serving in courses instead of all one tray) don’t even cost money but still makes a meaningful difference to the perceived quality of the product.
Slater added:
“Your involvement and feedback help guide how we navigate the next steps, ensuring that the decisions that are made provide the best experience for both our customers and our flight attendants.”
But the feedback, even if cherry-picked, seems clear: flight attendants are onboard with this change and (strategically) if the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), the union representing United flight attendants, suddenly opposes it, United can show 1.) a compromise was made versus pre-pandemic service, 2.) flight attendants are “onboard” with the change, and 3.) competitive pressures demand it.
The last frontier will be the restoration of the appetizer, though I predict that will come once this new three-step service is rolled out systemwide.
I cannot underscore enough how important a nice presentation is. United eliminated plating in favor of casserole dishes in early 2019, long before the pandemic, but this reversion to plating restores a higher level of quality. Studies continue to show that a visually appealing meal tastes better…it’s a mind game.
> Read More: United Polaris Dining: The Sad New State Of Affairs (2019)
CONCLUSION
United Airlines will continue its expanded Polaris meal service on handful of routes, but it is becoming clear to me this style of service will eventually expand to all longhaul routes. The question is only how long will we have to wait?
image: United Airlines
Thanks for covering – with this flight attendant feedback there’s no excuse for any compromise – this is still not satisfactory
Get up to Lufthansa / Swiss standards or better – we shouldn’t have to accept a lower level of service within the same JV
I was not impressed with Lufthansa business class service pre Covid. Tray delivery with bread, salad and main. Polaris pre Covid was delivered by course to set tray table. There are better benchmarks than Lufthansa; full Polaris is one. They are getting there. (Have never flown Swiss, but aspire to)
Those “quotes” from FAs makes me think United may have hired RIA Novosti to write that memo.
Somewhere, Sara Nelson is trying to find the names of these FAs.
LOL!
The quality of the food is really disappointing for international business. At lease when departing the US I can get a good meal at the Polaris lounge but the return is a poor experience
Greg. I don’t know I would celebrate LH business as a gold standard, or even silver for that matter. Not currently anyway.
Does PP also receive plated meals, or are those meals still pre plated versions of the Polaris meals?
UA would have one of the premiere PE products in the world if they moved to this service in that cabin
We lucked out on our last international trip in late 2019. Those FAs still served the food as though it were plated. It really does improve the feel of the product. Of course, I’m old enough to remember them carving roast beef in first class!
The AFA is made up of active line Flight Attendants by the way. So when you say, “if the AFA opposes…” it represents the feedback of line Flight Attendants.
I disagree. Nelson is a radical Marxist and her AFA lieutenants represent a narrow-minded and self-serving vision that many United flight attendants that I know personally take strong exception to. Nelson’s self-serving diatribes are at odds with many of the flight attendants she claims to represent.
Sara Nelson is first an ambitious, political climber. One does not rise to a leadership level in a major American labor union without those aspirations (or skills). Her rhetoric tracked with the popularity of a progressive, COVID-fearmongering, social justice agenda in American politics generally, and accordingly her profile rose in 2018-2021. That is to say, in 2022, as the pendulum swings, those themes are increasingly political losers and she will either back off or risk irrelevance. I submit it might be the latter: her media mentions and TV appearances have diminished considerably in past weeks… nobody wants to wear masks on airplanes anymore, and as such nobody wants to hear a flight attendant/politican banging the drum for a perpetual extension of the mandate, supported by what is proving to be a slate of self-serving, contradictory, nonsensical arguments
Why not keep your comments to food and the United presentation. Your knowledge of labor relations or health care is not one of expertise.
Health care?
Although we gripe about this as “Continental d/b/a United,” Continental had incredibly good meal service in BusinessFirst. They took great pride in their appetizer cart, beautiful salads, slicing cheese at chairside, sundae carts,
etc. Some main courses were plated; others weren’t, but they took such care with presentation.
I dare any virologist to show that COVID-19 is transmitted by cheese courses or sundaes in vivo, and in any statistically meaningful way.
The BusinessFirst teams seemed to enjoy their jobs (mostly). It seems to be a perverse logic that inflight crews are happier staring at their phones for COVID reasons. They might really be happier if they provided elegant service. It makes the time go by a lot better than “Candy Crush.”
Customer interaction builds loyalty. Attractive food keeps passengers happier, calmer, and less bored. Given the cost of business class fares, United is robbing its most lucrative passengers. As business travel and higher-revenue international leisure travel rebound, United will face defections from its premium cabin.
Are we confirmed that entrees in Polaris are going back to plating in the galley (such as… by photographic evidence)? I am cautiously optimistic, but will believe it when I see it! The dog bowls are just a sloppy presentation.
Agreed. Yes, supposedly on these “trial” routes all entrees are plated.
The casserole dishes were terrible. Glad to see plating restored. Next step is to restore service to when Polaris was first introduced.
I was just watching a trip report on YT by traveling foody and did not realize that AA has pretty much restored it’s inflight service offerings in their flagship cabins (sorry if you reported on this already – I don’t remember). Mean while UA is moving in the other direction by cutting back on the soft product – how annoyingly UA. I read DL will resume inflight service in DLOne this month and yet UA is still moving in the other direction by cutting down on its inflight offerings. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for UA to restore the full Polaris experience for its soft product. I mean AA is even fulling stocking the bar with the foods it had available pre pandemic; I had hopes that UA’s Polaris Bar would mirror AAs when the Polaris cabin refurbishments were rolled out but boy was I wrong. Disappointing all around – really
Any word on the ice cream sundae? Even if plated in galley…. That was my fav part of the meal
Still only served on a limited number of routes.