Whether intentionally or not, we now have an idea of what the next generation of tableware will look like in Polaris Business Class on United Airlines.
New Tableware In Polaris Business Class on United Airlines
Tomorrow, United will hold a special “behind-the-scenes access to the world of in-flight cuisine” in Chicago. This event will take place in downtown Chicago and access was sold to United MileagePlus members who jumped on it quickly enough. The event will include:
- Studio Ellen tour
- Q & A with Studio Ellen Executive Chef Olivier De Busschere
- Behind the scenes look at the menu design process
- Appetizers and cocktails developed exclusively for Polaris in-flight menus
- Access to digital photos, post-event
- Premium gift bag
- Complimentary parking
Interestingly, the MileagePlus listing for this event includes the picture above, which shows brand-new tableware or crockery for United. And I must say, I like it. It is modern and the gold spoon and ovular dish as well as the juxtaposition of black and white dishes are a nice combination.
Live And Let’s Fly has been hearing rumors for months that United is in the process of overhauling its tableware experience in Polaris and this is the surest sign yet that imminent changes are on the horizon. We are told from inside sources that everything is changing, including glassware. Maybe we will finally have proper stemware again…
Many complain about the food United serves in business class and I fully agree that it can be hit or miss. But I also give United credit (better late than never) for gradually improving the Polaris dining experience. With the exception of multi-course service (which is being trialed on some routes), we see a return to the pre-pandemic meal service an even an upgrade on some routes with hot mid-flight snacks that were not previously available.
Polaris food may pale in comparison to some of United’s global competitors (and even American and Delta domestically in some cases), but you never go hungry and we are to the point where I am quite happy with the food in its present form.
CONCLUSION
United has teased us with what may be the next generation of tableware in Polaris Business Class. I think it looks nice and pared with the recent upgrades to the food and wine itself, we are finally seeing a more competitive soft product on United in terms of catering.
What do you think about the new crockery?
Finally this looks really nice and elegant. United has the best bases for business travel so this is truly needed
Changing the crockery would make a BIG difference. They can (and still should continue to) improve the food quality all they want, but everything looks so depressing on the current plates/casserole dishes/… Even the decent stuff looks so sad atm.
This looks very nice and hopefully will also result in crews taking a bit more pride in plating and presentation. I honestly don’t see the coursing though happening on anything but Asia or longer European routes from the west coast. The FA I talked to last week on a flight from Zurich indicated that unless they add back the old crew numbers to Intl flights, the coursing will be limited to 9 hours or over. Eliminating a majority of European flights.
Besides the obvious of improving the food itself (Sorry, Matthew, being just edible is not acceptable. It’s of a very poor quality with poor menu choices), I would implement the following:
1. Coursing on 8 Hours or more. Thereby including most of the day returns from Europe which is perfectly doable with the current crew allotment.
2. Wine offering WHEN the dinner is served. (Not just with nuts a half hour before)
3. Healthier options for the arrival meal. A Chicken sandwich is fine, but what idiot thinks a Muffin as desert with it is a good idea?
4. Better inspection of the tray service to assure all items are clean and included.
5. A bread basket with choices.
5. Nicer menus and cutlery (which is being done)
Totally agree with all you said Stuart! Just flew from Tokyo
.to Ulaanbataar on MIAT and their business class meal was significantly better than Polaris from Newark to Tokyo a few days ago. And MIAT FA actually offered me a wine refill with the meal. Personally I don’t care as much about the flatware if the food is good, but the food has been sorely lacking. And service is terrible compared to most international carriers.
The flight crew is understaffed, and until they increase passenger/ flight attendant ratio, United will never compete with other international carriers.
Please do the first drink and nut service before distributing linens and any other preparations for the meal
No, that doesn’t work. When you then come to lay the linens etc people have their stuff all over the tray table. They’re listening to their movie and don’t pay attention to what’s going on. It’s much simpler to lay the linen down and then serve the drink and nuts. I mean when you sit down to dinner nobody comes along later with a tablecloth, after you’ve started your meal.
Looks stylish. I hope they up the food experience. I flew AF recently and their food was very good, as we might expect. Their lounge in SFO is quality too Encourages me to fly AF when get the chance.
Show us upgraded menu items and the coursed service flow as a standard, not a trial. Less interested in the tableware than a bigger budget on the food. Stuart’s proposal makes sense with cutlery the lowest of the priorities.
The wine improvements are appreciated and noted.
Seems like a minor thing but this will go a long way in improving the meal presentation. I agree that the current casserole dishes are so sad looking, like something from a TV dinner box or served at a hospital. The above looks a lot more premium and will bring a nicer feel back to Polaris.
The Polaris food and service is consistently lacking, I hope they address that along with table settings.
I do hope that they keep the black tray table and black accents. It brings a more refined sense of elegance to the otherwise typical blue accents that are accented throughout the Polaris cabin. The color blue used might be fun but not very formal. Now, none if this is true if the food presentation looks sloppy and tastes foul.
The dishware is surely changing, but not to what’s pictured
Can you provide more details?
Knowing UA, they are probably bringing back the BusinessFirst dishware!
Everyone wants an international/premium service product on a US carrier comparable. But this is UA were talking about so the general trend with them is to introduce something at its full potential and make tweaks to roll back the elements and spin it as an “enhancement based on customer feedback”
Polaris, when it launched, was great. There actually seemed to be some thought put into the various service elements and making it feel like a premium experience. But then FAs indicated that passengers indicated it took too long to serve and they just wanted to sleep, so the scrubbed the bloody mary/mimosa cart and tweaked a few different things. Menus never seemed to rotate it was the same entrees since the intro. Then UA dropped a FA from the count, and assembling food items onto the plate was too hard and everything went into the casserole/dog bowl dishware. And then it went downhill from there.
In an ideal world, UA would have most people eating at the Polaris lounges, get on board, offer minimal food/service, maximize sleep and arrive at destination. There’s a reason UA has the highest ratio of premium seats on widebodies relative to DL/AA, etc. and it reflects on the soft product they offer. Do you want a better chance of flying J across the pond, or a smaller chance of getting an upgrade albeit a superior inflight J product?
I can. What’s pictured is the concept for a new “tapas style” mid-flight dining service that will roll out in 2024. It consists of several small tapas/light bites on a special tray setup, and will be provided only on flights over 14 hours. The example shown is for SFO-SIN. It’s not the new dishware.
It will probably be rolled out first quarter 2024.
Looks really nice and a huge step up from the 1990s, which pretty much describes the existing UA service hallmarks of Polaris dining. Hopefully, UA will also work on the food, which is prison grade level at the moment and disgusting.
Any guess if they’ll get rid of the Death Star salt and pepper shakers? Reminiscent of Alderaan, those shakers really create a disturbance in the force of what would otherwise be a good meal…
Let’s just hope this is not the usual marketing /PR event and lack substance and follow-up.
Likely, history will repeat itself ( United is very good at doing this). Introduce something to get customers excited, then take them away after a year and/or destroyed by not training FA properly and lead to below average execution.
Agreed.
When you can’t run your planes on time, divert their attention new tablecloths and flatware……sound like an equal trade to me.
I am still not going to fly United Polaris anytime soon till the full meal services are resumed.
It is just unacceptable and I have a choice on how I spend my money.
To me, it is nothing like a PR effort to rescue a failing product. Other than the nice suite seats and the Polaris lounges at key hub airports, the whole experience is still far from the standard that business travellers expect.
United’s dismal business class food and presentation changes were made for one reason. To scam the passengers and save money. There is no science behind any of the changes. It was all about saving money. They still have disgusting food and a lazy presentation in business class today. Absolutely no excuse for lowering the standards so drastically.