United Polaris, FRA-SFO

Flight Details:

• UA 927, Frankfurt to San Francisco.  
• Departure: 5:30pm (Actual 6:15pm).  
• Arrival: 7:55pm. 
• Seat: 11A

This was my second time flying United Polaris, the previous time was from Sydney, March 2020, right as the world was locking down (literally, flew back to SF and was in lockdown 2 days later).  That flight was highly, highly mediocre, particularly compared to my regular Air New Zealand, and I can't say it left me inspired to fly United again (well, ok, the ice cream sundae cart was pretty awesome).  And I certainly didn't want to fly United when they were very well known in the flyer community for dragging out Covid level reduced service for as long as possible.

And yet, here I was.  There really were no great flight options from Munich back to San Francisco, so I decided to go with United, through Frankfurt, so I could at least have an evening flight (better for some attempt of sleep) and, most importantly, no neighbor.

The service was considerably better than I expected.  My flight attendants were all quite friendly.  They didn't seem to hate the passengers.  They proactively offered things.  They genuinely seemed to care.  Really, an excellent crew, every single member I interacted with.

Amenities

My seat selection was fairly limited, but I knew I wanted an odd numbered window seat (the ones furthest from the aisle, evens are staggered closer, and, ideally, A side of the plane (so my little table would be on the right, as I'm right handed).  I wound up in 11A, the third row in the mini cabin of rows 9-12.  I liked being in the smaller, 4 row cabin as it felt a bit more intimate, although it also meant our meal service was pretty late into the flight, as the larger front cabin (rows 1-8) were served first.  It also meant I was basically right at the engines, quite a noisy seat.

Amenities.

Waiting at our seats when we boarded were the standard Sax Fifth Avenue branded blankets, big pillow, and smaller gel pillow.  Mattress pads were available once we were ready for sleep (but I of course secured one as we boarded, as I know they don't actually have enough for everyone).  No smaller lounging blankets on this flight, no pj's nor slippers either (only for longer routes like Sydney I guess?).  I was able to ask for a light blanket from PE (or maybe economy?) which was actually perfect for lounging, particularly as the aircraft was kept quite cool.  A very basic amenity kit was also at our seats, one of the uglier designed bags I've seen.

Screen, footwell, shelf.

The seat I have mixed feelings on.  I appreciated having no neighbor, I liked having the big table on the side, and the tray table slides in and out nicely making it possible to get in and out of the seat with it open.  I like the cubby for storing small items during the flight.  But there isn't really any other storage, just a little in the foot well and a tiny shelf under the tv, not big enough for a laptop.  No cubby for shoes.  You have to wear a shoulder strap seat belt during takeoff and landing.  No individual air nozzles.   The tv screen was fairly small.

The seat, while private, is quite narrow.  It felt cozy in a way, but also, a bit claustrophobic.  It was reasonably comfortable to sit, although like many aircraft, the controls weren't exactly intuitive.  It slid down easily to make a bed, and since they don't do turndown service, this was good, as most people could figure it out.

It was strangely comfortable for sleep.  Yes, it was very narrow.  Fairly short.  Not that well padded.  The mattress pad helped, but it was quite thin, didn't attach to the seat, and slid around.  It was only comfortable if I turned one way, else my knees hit the side.  But, when I turned that one way, it really was quite comfortable a cozy, particularly with the big plush pillow, the little gel pillow I used between my knees, an extra premium economy pillow and blanket I asked for ... and the plane was kept quite cool, definitely the least hot I've ever been on an overnight flight.  So I did get a few hours of solid, comfortable sleep, shockingly.

Food & Drink

Main Meal

Even though it was May 2022, United still had no printed menus.  As we settled in before takeoff, we were asked our main dish choice, described only as "beef, chicken with cous cous, or pasta ... I think ravioli."  Anyone who ordered the beef was asked their second choice, a clear indicator that they assumed they would run out.  We were also offered a pre-departure beverage of sparkling wine or water.  A little bit of service standards coming back.

Wine Tasting & Nuts.

Quite a while once underway, at least an hour in, the cart came through offering beverages.  I was happy to see several 3 different red wines, including a pinot noir and tempranillo, and one called "DOC".  I asked to try both the pinot and the tempranillo.  Our drinks were served with a little bowl of almonds, actually served warm.  We were on a test route for starting to bring back some amount of regular service, hence, warm nuts.

I didn't particularly like the tempranillo (very strong acid), but the pinot was light and fine.

Meal.

No appetizer was offered (still reduced lineup), just a salad (honey mustard dressing on the side) and roll, served with the main meal, on a single tray, not before.  These were hand delivered to each person.  For me, since I was back in row 11, this was nearly 2 hours into the flight.

Salad, Roll.

Everyone else seemed to get pretzel rolls, but mine was a basic white crusty roll.  It wasn't horrible, actually not stale, but also not warm.  Maybe this went better with ravioli than a pretzel roll would have?  That seems reasonable, but I would have liked the choice.  It came with a salted butter packet on the side. **+.

The salad had slightly interesting greens as the base, and randomly, grapes.  They were pretty fresh and juicy, not what I normally have in salad, but hey, fruit.  The dressing was just packaged honey mustard.  I added my own stuff to the salad - I had baby carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, pickles, and sausage salad to add on top. *** as served.

Ravioli.

For my main, I selected the ravioli, even though I didn't particularly want it.  I knew I didn't want the chicken with cous cous, and the beef I was interested in for the sides, except that they didn't know what it came with (I asked).  "Probably some vegetables", was the answer.  Well, ok then.  I was hoping for some decent veggies and maybe mashed potatoes?  But since I knew it was limited, and I didn't really want airplane filet, I just went for the ravioli.  Spoiler: I had my own food with me as backup anyway, and didn't suspect I'd eat much of the flight food anyway.

This ... was not good.  The serving was decent, 5 pieces of cheese ravioli, plenty of sauce.  But ... yeah.  The ravioli tasted like elementary school lunch.  Really not good.  The pasta was not quite mushy, but certainly not al dente.  Ricotta filling had no seasoning.  The sauce was fine, good chunks of tomato, but also had a pretty boring taste.  No complexity whatsoever.  No cheese to sprinkle on top or anything.  *.

And with that, I gladly pulled out my own meal, and heated it up in my HotLogic.

Dessert & Port.

Once done with the mains, we were individually offered dessert (no cart).  Dessert offerings were a cheese platter, a raspberry tart, and ... yup, ice cream "sundae"!  Ok, NOT the famous United ice cream sundae cart, rather, these were pre-assembled with fixed toppings, but, at least it was something (most United flights were still doing just a Tim Tam - for SYD flights, a packaged sorbet - SF based, or packaged Christie Cookie Company cookie - other US cities).  You know how much I love ice cream.

The FA offered any of the above, or even said "any or all of", so I asked for both the tart and the ice cream, along with a little port.  Air New Zealand taught me to really enjoy port with my desserts!

I did quite enjoy the port, the best part of the entire meal lineup. ****.

Raspberry Tart.

My dessert quickly arrived.  The raspberry tart turned out to be ... well, I guess a tart?  A bit hard to describe, but not what I was thinking (I was picturing a tart shell, cream filling, raspberries on top ...).  

It did have a hard shortcrust shell, but was more like a cake inside, with raspberries baked in, and a layer of raspberry jam.  It was quite cold.  I think it would be nice with some whipped cream (or clotted cream?), or potentially warm with ice cream.  Decent, but not quite as served.  ***.

"Sundae".

Then, um, my "sundae"  This was plain vanilla ice cream, with a thick frozen sauce (caramel?) and  a few bits of brownie on top.  Ok, this was NOTHING like the glorious sundae cart.  I love having ice cream on a flight, but, the hard topping really didn't do it for me.  The ice cream was good enough, but, just plain vanilla.  The caramel was cloying sweet, and, yes, rock solid.  Meh. ***.

Arrival Meal

To say the timing of this flight is awkward is an understatement, but, this is generally true for all Europe flights.  We were arriving in what felt like early morning, but was 8pm locally.  Gah.  Most airlines tend to serve some kinda light brunch like meal, or tea time.  Not United.

Dinner-Breakfast-Wah?

1.5 hours before landing we were offered a choice of Mediterranean vegetables with cous cous and pesto or a "Hamburger Wellington."  Both were served with a fruit bowl and a packaged muffin.  Sorta a ... dinner-breakfast?  A hamburger wellington is not exactly a light arrival meal, but, United is kinda infamous for it at this point, and honestly, I suspect it is much tastier than the breakfast they serve on some routes (egg bites).

I don't care for cous cous, so this was an easy choice.  Also, um, HAMBURGER WELLINGTON!  Who cares if it is 2am?

Cheeseburger Wellington.

The wellington really was an item that works well for airplane meal service.  It holds temperature well.  The crust was thick, kinda buttery and flaky, and not like a real wellington, but more like a pot pie.  I actually really did like the pastry.  And hey, pastry sorta felt appropriate for "morning"?

Inside was a fairly thick beef patty.  Dense.  Fully cooked.  Not juicy.  Not much positive to say about the beef patty, most fast food burgers are tastier than this.  It was larger than expected though.

There was also cheese, as this was a cheeseburger wellington after all.  The cheese, orange, presumably American?, melted nicely, and I did like it.  So, pastry and cheese, quite good, but the beef ... not so much. 

It was served with condiment packets, not attempting to be fancy and put into little ramekins like many airlines do.  I didn't mind, but this certainly didn't help make it feel classy.  

And that was it.  Nothing to try to lighten it up in any way.  It really could have done with fresh tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles ... relish ... but I guess it wouldn't have been a wellington then.  This had potential, and made me excited about the idea of a cheeseburger wellington in general, it just, um, needs a better burger inside.

Anyway, not really what I wanted at 2am, and not really a light pre-arrival meal, but, an almost tasty item, just not for the timing.  ***.

Fruit & Muffin.

The muffin was a packaged blueberry muffin, served cold.  No points for presentation on this one, but it made it easy for me to just toss into my bag and try to warm up later.

Finally, fruit, which, shockingly, didn't have melons so I could try it.  But, um, I kinda wished I hadn't been able.  The fruit was horrible!  It looked decent - vibrant green kiwi, a full strawberry, blueberries ... but every piece I tried had a strange texture and flavor.  Almost like it had been frozen, even though it didn't look it.  I was shocked at how bad the fruit was, particularly as it didn't look bad.  Luckily, I had my own berries with me of course.  *.  

Since it was 6pm where I was landing, I opted for decaf coffee, and the flight attendant apologized telling me it was instant only.  It actually wasn't bad, even black, and it helped my brain wake up a little, without worrying me too much about the caffeine.

I didn't get a photo of it, but mid-flight near the galley were some snacks set up to grab - Cheez-Its, crackers, chips, full size Kit Kats, and several flavors of mini Ritter Sport.  I was happy to see chocolate in the lineup, and while this is no Club Kitchen like British Airways has with actual food, it was more than I was expecting.