Flight Details
Flight: UA1187
Departure: BOS 1:58pm (scheduled) (1:54pm pushback, 2:12pm takeoff)
Arrival: SFO 5:30pm (scheduled) 4:56pm actual
Aircraft: 737 Max 9
Seat: 4E
This was a pretty average United domestic flight. We took off on time, minimal drama in-flight.
The aircraft itself is pretty meh for such a long flight - the seats just really were not comfortable at all, and mine wouldn't recline. No footrest. No real functional spaces around to put things, besides a slot for water bottle and space for a phone and laptop. No in-seat entertainment units. Not even USB ports for charging. No amenities besides a small thin blanket, no pillow, which I really wanted for some lumbar support. Meh. Wifi worked fine.
Service was good, the FAs were very good about offering more beverages and picking up used items. They weren't overly friendly or interesting, but were attentive enough.
Food & Drink
Once everyone *finally* boarded (it was a lengthy boarding time), PDB of water or sparkling wine was offered. I asked for sparkling water, and that was accommodated.
One underway, drink orders were taken, as were food orders for those who hadn't preordered. Beverages came out fairly quickly, meals around the 1 hour mark. No snacks later in the flight, even though the same length as the other transcons like those from Newark than include an entire second meal service.
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| AHA Sparkling Water Pineapple + Passionfruit / Red Wine. |
I also opted for "the red wine", no idea what it was. It was decent enough, not too much acid nor tanin, and actually some body to it. ***.
No nuts provided.
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| Decaf Coffee. Black. |
With my dessert, I asked for decaf coffee. It was clearly instant, and not very good. But nice and hot. **.
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| Menu. |
For my main dish, I had an amusing list of choices: chicken (grilled), chicken (charred), or chicken (also grilled), or two vegetarian options. Wow, United, wow. 2 of the dishes (one of the chickens, and the enchiladas) were pre-order only. Those who didn't pre-order had only two choices in practice, the salad or the chicken with rice. Nearly everyone had pre-ordered, I only heard the FA ask 2 people what they'd like, and they were not given the pasta choice.
Given that I loathe chicken, and truly disliked one of the vegetarian options before (the enchiladas), I essentially had no choice. Mezze rigatoni it was, even though I can't say I've been impressed with United's pasta in the past.
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| Meal. |
My meal was served about an hour after the actual takeoff, as expected. All of the meals, besides the entree salad, come with the same side salad and roll, butter, salt, pepper, and olive oil, and dessert, all served at once.
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| Roll. |
The roll was served nicely warm. It was my least favorite of the selections in the United lineup though, just a white roll (I actually quite like their grainy one or the wheat one). It was fresh enough tasting, not stale, not dried out. I liked the cornmeal on top. Good to dunk in the sauce too. Low ***.
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| Salad. |
The salad was different from versions I've had in the past, this time with a base of mixed greens, cucumbers, and sundried tomatoes (instead of fresh), and copious amounts of large shards of cheese. The greens were actually pretty fresh tasting, not wilted, and not frozen (both of which are things that happen frequently with United salads). I don't care for cucumbers, so those I pushed aside. And although I'm not a big fan of sundried tomatoes, they were dramatically better than the usual mealy and not ripe fresh tomatoes, so they worked really well here. Lots of flavors. The cheese was good, but there was really quite a bit of it given the small amount of greens (which is my only real complaint with the salad, it is really quite small!). I added my own additional greens and veggies, and my own dressing (they only provide olive oil now? What happened to the generic balsamic vinaigrette pots?). Higher end of ***.
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| Mezze Rigatoni. |
"Mezze rigatoni with vodka sauce."
People on social media have said reasonable things about this dish. As have friends of mine who have flown with United recently and had it. And, like I said, it's not like I really had a choice ... I don't eat chicken, and I didn't want the enchiladas that I had truly disliked before. I did consider just getting the entree salad (which has chicken, but I could avoid that), and bringing a bit more of my own food, but hey, in the interests of research, I figured this was worth a try.
The dish actually looked pretty good. Well sauced. Not overcooked. Attractive sprinkle of cheese on top. It was hot but not scalding, and held its heat well.
But I was underwhelmed by the flavor. The pasta was cooked well enough - not mushy, not dried out, I'd even say maybe actually somewhat al dente. The portion was fine. The ratio of sauce to pasta was good. But the sauce was highly mediocre. It tasted like it came from a jar, or a cafeteria. It was creamy, but just didn't taste like much of anything. Mild tomato flavor. No spices whatsoever. It definitely needed salt, and really would have benefitted from anything else like garlic, herbs, chili flakes ... just, something. Remarkably bland. I was glad I at least had red chili flakes with me.
**+. I wouldn't get this again. If I had the same menu in the future, I'd either take a gamble ordering one of the special meals like Asian vegetarian or Kosher, or see if I could order the beer cheese burger from economy. This menu just had nothing I wanted.
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| Dessert. |
The dessert made me laugh when I saw it. For two reasons, first, because it wasn't what was on the menu, but moreover, because it was *tiny*. I know I come from a family that enjoys dessert and eats big slices, but, wow, this was a child or mouse's portion!
The menu said we'd have the "harvest apple tart", which I've had before and actually quite like (it is one of Eli's Cheesecake and United's better items), but instead we had tiny pieces of blueberry cheesecake. The cheesecake was served a bit too warm, but otherwise was fine. Reasonably creamy, reasonable cream cheese flavor. Minimal soft crust, better than generic cardboard like graham crust. The blueberry element was also minimal, clearly it was a distinct layer in the cheesecake, but my tiny slice had only one bit of berry in it. So, "fine", but not special, and one of the weaker desserts in the United lineup (that generally I think are reasonably decent). Low ***.
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| Bonus Slice! |
When I laughed about how tiny it was to the FA, she offered me an extra, which I gladly accepted. And yes, I had plated my first slice up with my own fresh fruit to embellish it.
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