Another day, another United Polaris flight, much like many others, although this one featured a unique schnitzel dish, and ... a mis-catered dessert cart that meant NO ICE CREAM SUNDAES. Wah!
Flight Details:
- UA 194, San Francisco to Munich
- Departure: 1:30pm (Actual: 2:10pm).
- Arrival: 9:45am (Actual: 10:35am)
- Seat: 12A
- Aircraft 777-200
This is the story of a flight that took place during the historic geomagnetic storm in early May 2024. Very cool for those of you who got to see brilliant skies, but, not so great for those of us who were attempting to fly across the US, where almost the entirety of the airspace was closed due to the massive interference with radar. This mean we took a looooong route around, and there was plenty of drama around connecting flights (including myself, we were wheels down to my connecting takeoff time of only 48 minutes, so once we deplaned, dealt with going through immigration to enter Schengen region, getting to the other terminal, and boarding it was very, very tight - and very very stressful! Let's just say, I was one of those people running through an airport). That all said, I don't blame United for any of that, it truly was a historic one-in-a-lifetime type of geographic event.
Service & Amenities
This was a standard Polaris flight, not long haul enough to qualify for extras like pajamas. A fully loaded flight (in all classes) meant no extra blankets nor pillows nor mattress pads around.
My flight crew were actually fabulous. Friendly, welcoming, sympathetic to the drama that they knew most of us would have given the delay and long route. Most of the flight was folks with connections, and, well, we were all in for misery ahead.
Speaking of misery, due to series of other unfortunate things, I booked this flight just the day before, which meant I got the last available seat, 12A. So at least it wasn't a middle seat, but, 1) it was an even row, so not the private ones near the window, which yeah, is considerably less private, and my side table was on the wrong side for my right-handed nature 2) it is the only row with NO window, like, legit no window, which I didn't realize would matter so much, but it turns out to be pretty drab particularly for a day flight, and 3) in back cabin on a smaller aircraft with only one set of FAs for all of Polaris, so it took forever for service.
No PDB of any kind offered, standard water bottle waiting at the seat. A hot towel was presented once underway. Since I was in the back cabin, and this was the fewer FAs type flight where they serve the whole first cabin first, which, combined with a departure delay, the new service flow, etc, meant for a very loooong time before I even had a drink.
Food & Drink
Meal service has returned to the pre-covid flow finally though, with drinks and nuts served from a cart, followed by appetizer/salad/bread from a cart (in theory, not quite how it happened), and then main dishes delivered one by one. A dessert cart follows (again, in theory, not really what happened) with the cheese, sundaes, and dessert of the day. I didn't get a drink until after 3pm, nearly 2.5 hours after being on board.
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| Nuts, Aha Elizabeth Spector Cabernet Sauvignon 2021. |
Eventually once underway, I got my sparkling Aha, mixed nuts (cashews/almonds only, not really salted, warm), and red wine. I opted for the cabernet sauvignon, they also had a pinot noir.
This was one of the better wines I've had on a United flight. It drank a bit grapey, but was low tanin and acid, had a bit of complexity. I'd try something else next time, but it wasn't bad. Retails for $65, so also a bit splurgy for United. Low ***.
Linner
With a 1:30pm departure (and then delay), and a 9:45am arrival, the main meal was kinda ... late lunch/early dinner. Confused further of course by the fact that I ate in the lounge in the airport too, both because it was lunch time then, and because I had low hopes for the United catering.
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| Menu. |
The menu was essentially the same as I had in January ex-SFO to SYD. Simple salad. Appetizers were the same burrata or shrimp machboos. Choice of 4 mains. Crumb cake or sundae. Rinse and repeat.
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| Main Course Options. |
The main dish was 4 choices, with a regionalized offering (pork schnitzel) replacing the standard beef option. The others were the expected chicken, fish, or pasta:
- Lemongrass chicken with coconut jasmine rice, bok choy, grilled lemon cheek and Thai red curry sauce
- Butternut squash ravioli with Swiss chard and pepitas
- Grilled salmon with roasted green asparagus, lemon, thyme roasted red bliss potato wedges and turmeric lemon zest beurre blanc
- Pork schnitzel with creamy mushroom and pepper sauce, Yukon potato wedges with thyme, buttered baby carrots and lemon
I pre-ordered the schnitzel out of novelty/curiosity more than anything else, and hoping it would perhaps have tasty creamy mushroom sauce. The chicken and salmon were both sold out already on pre-order when I selected my meal in advance, but I didn't want them anyway. I was vaguely interested in the butternut squash ravioli, but reviews mention the sauce is greasy, and the chard bitter. So, schnitzel it was.
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| Romaine Salad. |
"with carrots and cherry tomato."
Our trays were delivered with just the salad on them. About 10-15 minutes later, the cart came through the aisle with appetizers, and then a bread basket followed. Very drawn out service.
The salad was pretty basic, yup, romaine, yup some not totally awful cherry tomatoes, a bit of carrot shards. Standard balsamic vinaigrette that I didn't use. It was what it was. Low *** as it was boring, but nothing wrong with it.
It was considerably better once I added the dressing from the appetizer, and later, the main dish.
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| Shrimp Machboos. |
"with tomatoes and mint yogurt dressing."
I had this before, and found it impressive in looks, but not taste, but, hey, it had been 4 months, maybe it got better?
It had changed, but I don't think for the better. The shrimp were again ridiculously large. Seriously, they were such beasts. It was impressive. Tail on. They looked great.
But ... wow, they were soooooo chewy. It was a workout to cut them, to chew them, to interact with them in any way. Just, not well prepared. They also were flavorless themselves, no succulent nice shrimp flavor. They had a spice rub on them, that was certainly flavorful, but, the shrimp themselves were remarkably tasteless. So, tasteless, chewy, tough, but well seasoned in the rub I guess? Um, * for the rub, 0 stars for the shrimp themselves.
The mint yogurt dressing was a thin sauce in the bottom of the bowl, that I used with the salad, and that worked quite well. *** dressing. There were more random cherry tomatoes in this dish was well.
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| Dark Roll. |
And finally, the bread basket came through with assorted breads to pick from. I was in the back cabin, second to last row, so I had slim pickings. I'm not sure if the crowd favorite garlic bread or pretzels were offered to others, but I had only sourdough, white, or dark to choose from. I went for the later.
It was lightly warm, soft, and didn't taste stale. Not particularly great, but not bad. I still do like the wheat ones normally offered ex-SFO, was sad to not get one of those. Low ***.
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| Schnitzel. |
"Pork schnitzel with creamy mushroom and pepper sauce, Yukon potato wedges with thyme, buttered baby carrots and lemon."
Ok, so for my main dish, I got the schtnizel. Mostly for novelty, as it is unique to the German markets, and I didn't want the others anyway (which, my traveling companion who got the salmon confirmed was awful, and she couldn't really take more than a bite). Also, I had feasted in both lounges, and it was a strange time, so I didn't really expect to eat much of this.
It was considerably better than I expected. Now, was it schnitzel? Well, not really. It was thin mystery meat that could believably be pork, and it did have some kind of coating, but certainly not a nice crispy coating. It had some bits that were chewy, but mostly, the meat was actually not bad. Moist. Flavorful. Huh. *** pork itself.
The "Yukon potato wedges with thyme" were more like halves of red potatoes, and I wasn't really into them, but the baby carrots were decent enough, they were mid-size baby carrots, soft but not mushy, and had been cooked with butter. The mushrooms were boring button mushrooms, but, I like mushrooms, and they were fine. So, *** vegetables too. Nothing great, but not bad.
There was a big hunk of cooked lemon in the mix, that worked remarkably well with the salad creation I was concocting, and with the schnitizel. Very juicy, and it livened up everything I squeezed it over. Kudos to them for having the acid element.
And finally, the creamy pepper sauce, that was again, pretty decent. A thin sauce, a bit broken, a bit oily, but actually quite flavorful. I ended up drizzling it over the rest of my salad, dunking my roll in it, and then, eventually, just lapping it up with my spoon like soup. I liked that sauce quite a bit, even though more broth like than sauce. ***+ sauce.
This all came together to be a pretty reasonable meal. Not restaurant quality, not even the quality of nicer business class airlines, but, for United, this was certainly one of the best entrees I have had, as they are usually awful, and not edible. ***.
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| "Crumb Cake" (aka, carrot cake). |
Dessert is when the tragedy struck. No dessert trolley made its way down the aisle, but instead, just the FA with a tray offering cheese or cake. Wait, what? Isn't this United Polaris? That I fly mostly because they have ice cream sundaes? (I mean, not really, but sorta). It turns out that the ice cream was not loaded. The toppings were, but not the ice cream. Now, I honestly would have been thrilled with a big bowl of whipped cream, caramel drizzle, and nuts to go along with my berries and cheesecake I had with me for backup, but I understand them not wanting to set that all up just for the odd people who wanted toppings sans ice cream.
Anyway, ok, cake it was. But ... it also wasn't the cake listed on the menu, which was the crumb cake. It was the cake from the prior month's rotation, the carrot cake. The same carrot cake that *hadn't* been loaded on my Sydney flight, so, hey, at least I got a chance to try it?
It was ... fine. The cake was dense, moist, and spiced, but honestly didn't seem all that carrot. No shards of carrot, no coconut, no nuts, no raisins ... a bit boring, but ok I guess. The cream cheese frosting was thick, rich, and the best part. Basically, low end average carrot cake. **+.
No port was offered, nor any other after dinner drinks.
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| Continental Breakfast + bowl of whipped cream + bowl of chocolate chips. |
About 2 hours before landing some activity began in the cabin, with drinks offered to anyone who was up. I opted for black coffee, it was fine. 1.5 hours before landing, the FAs came through to ask if you'd like the creamy eggs or oatmeal. I've had both, and disliked them every time, so I declined, and opted for just the continental, which is fruit, yogurt, and a croissant.
Of course, I first asked if the fruit contained melon, as I'm allergic, and luckily it did not. The pineapple I skipped, the grapes were fine, the orange segments very refreshing after so many hours in the air. **+ fruit. I did not have the yogurt, as I strongly dislike Chobani sweet flavored yogurt, and that is what United serves.
The croissant is never a strong point on United flights, but this was worse than usual. Cold. Smushed. And tasted stale. Normally they are at least not stale tasting. Fairly dreadful. *. Served with rock solid butter and reasonable jam.
Our flight did not have the ice cream catered, as I mentioned. But the FA had mentioned earlier they had the toppings catered. So at breakfast, I may or may not have said, "if you still have that whipped cream, I'd gladly take some with my breakfast ...". She didn't skip a beat, and was more than happy to bring me the entire bowl of it, saying it was just going to waste anyway. She asked if I wanted the slivered nuts for protein, or any of the other toppings. I said I'd love a sprinkle of chocolate chips, and she brought the whole bowl, again saying, that they'd be trash anyway. I gleefully kept the rest to sprinkle on things throughout the next few days.
So what was my actual breakfast? Clearly not what United provided me It was a scone I had brought with me, smothered in whipped cream and jam, with the United fruit plus my own berries, also covered in whipped cream and sprinkled with chocolate chips, and some nuts "for protein". Given the fact that nearly every tray I saw with the eggs and oatmeal seemed to be going back with only 1-2 bites taken, I definitely feel like I made some winning decisions.
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