Another day, another business trip, another one with United, another one with a meh aircraft for a fairly long domestic flight. Decent crew, boring food and drink.
Flight Details
Flight: UA1259
Aircraft: Boeing 737-Max 8
Departure: ATL, 6:55pm (scheduled), 6:42pm (pushback, actual) 6:58pm (takeoff, actual)
Arrival: SFO, 9:28pm (scheduled)
Seat: 3E
Standard 737-Max 8 aircraft, and lack of amenities. I wanted a little pillow and/or blanket. I wanted lotion, if not in an amenity kit, at least in the bathroom. I wanted headphones that were not just earbuds. I wanted a seat that was more comfortable. But alas. Not on this aircraft.
Standard recliner, 2-2 layout, not particularly useful space around the seat, just space for my bag under the seat in front of me, a little cubby for water bottle beside me, drink tray between the seat with my neighbor. No amenities. Basically bare bones US domestic business class, not competitive with other airlines I generally fly transcons with.
Food & Drink
Meal service began in a timely fashion, drink orders taken and meals confirmed/selected by those who didn't pre-order once the FAs could get up. Warm towels came soon after. Our meals were delivered within 10 minutes of the drinks. I had my meal within 42 minutes from takeoff, and I was in the third row. The first row had theirs within 30 minutes! Very efficient staff.
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| Nuts. |
Mixed nuts were offered along with our beverages. They were not warm. Just almonds and cashews.
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| Drinks. |
On domestic non-premium transcon flights United does not have any particular wines on offer. Just, "red wine" or "white wine", no options for either. I went for "red wine" and was never told what it was, but did later see a bottle of chianti in the galley. I also opted for the blueberry pomegranate flavored sparkling Aha, which I really do like . I was happy to get a full can without even asking.
The red wine was bo-ring, but not offensive. No acid, no tanin, not too much like grape juice, but just pretty flat flavorwise. I wouldn't ever pick it again, but I finished my glass (and did not ask for more). **+.
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| Menu. |
So ... I asked if I could order one of the economy buy-on-board meals, which was accommodated. I said I would still like the rest of the setup (bread, side salad, dessert).
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| Tray. |
I had to laugh when my tray was delivered. I kinda thought they'd actually plate the lasagna on one of the glass bowls used for F meals, but perhaps they didn't have any extra? My lasagna, in a box, came with the rest of the standard setup.
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| Bread. |
The bread of the day was a dark roll. It wasn't very fresh, and didn't have any real flavor. I usually actually don't mind the United rolls (at least some of them) but this one was pretty lackluster. It was not particularly warm. Standard pat of butter on the side. **.
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| Salad. |
The salad was a bit sad, not much in terms of volume of mixed greens, and they were fairly limp. It just didn't seem that fresh. Sun-dried tomatoes rather than fresh tomatoes, which I don't really care for, but likely were better than their lackluster mealy off-season regular tomatoes. The shards of cheese were nice, although slimy. I avoided the cucumbers that looked slimy too. Interestingly, my tray came with the Italian dressing that goes with the entree salad, rather than the little lemon dressing that goes with the standard side salad that everyone else had.
Anyway, not a particularly compelling salad. **.
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| Bistro on Board: Cheese Lasagna. $11. |
"Warm cheesy lasagna with cauliflower Bolognese sauce."
So, the economy lasagna. I had done my research of course and knew what to expect (besides the box and lackluster presentation). The internet believes this was the same lasagna American Airlines used to serve in domestic first class.
It was only lukewarm. I think the FA went to fetch it from economy before she began our meal service, and it had just been sitting up front in the box rather than kept hot in an oven until she got to my row to serve the trays.
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| Ingredients ... |
Also, uh, beware of the ingredient list. This was kinda scary long.
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| Lasagna: Close Up. |
It was ok. The pasta was not too mushy, but certainly wasn't al dente. It had layers of ricotta cheese, lightly studded with flecks of green, but not particularly much flavor, and it was kinda grainy. Fairly average red sauce, with some chunky bits that seemed to include carrots. Not quite as much sauce as I'd want. A bit of melty cheese on top.
Like others who had reviewed this, I found myself wondering where the cauliflower was exactly. It is described as "cheesy lasagna" with "cauliflower bolognese sauce" so I think it was incorporated into that chunky sauce rather than anywhere in the lasagna itself, but, I didn't taste it, and I didn't see any bits of it. I do actually really love cauliflower, and think it could have been used in a far better way in a lasagna if they wanted (particularly in the layers), but, yeah, this was basically just cheese lasagna.
Overall, TV dinner quality cheese lasagna, about what you'd expect from a frozen product heated in a microwave. But, decent enough I guess. Low *** given the setting and context.
When purchased in economy as part of the Bistro on Board lineup, this is $11, but I was able to just sub for my meal. I don't think I'd get this again, but, given my menu lineup, I still think it was the best choice available (unless I had just wanted salad, which would make sense maybe for a lunchtime flight).
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| Dessert. |
"Indulge in our new frozen-to-thaw Banana Pudding, a delightful, naturally flavored treat whipped to perfection and made with real bananas." -- Magnolia marketing, from their grocery store version
In December, some exciting news came out. Well, two bits of related exciting news. First, a month prior, Magnolia Bakery announced that after years of R&D, they had produced a version of their famous (and truly exceptional) banana pudding that would be sold in grocery stores (frozen). I love that pudding when purchased fresh from the bakery, and I love pudding in general (hence the label on my blog), but I'll admit I was a bit skeptical about the thaw-to-serve concept, particularly when a key element of the banana pudding is, well, fresh bananas. So that is piece of news #1. And then, yes, in December, United announced that they were replacing the onboard dessert (previously sliced pies or their precursors, the pie-in-the-sky from Eli's Cheesecake) with a special version of the Magnolia banana pudding, made just for them.
I'm not sure what exactly is different about the pudding served on board United flights compared to the grocery store version, other than that it comes in a branded cup, and is smaller (the grocery one is 14 ounces, and listed as 2.5 servings). I did find the size a bit comical, it was more the size of a kid's pudding cup than a proper adult portion. Frequent fliers are extremely displeased with the fact that they get served a cardboard pudding cup with a paper top they need to remove, rather than actually being plated up in any way. And that the ingredient list is a bit lengthy, given the long shelf life. But I was still excited.
Stay tuned for this review, which I'll be adding to my Magnolia Bakery master post soon!
The grocery store lineup features three flavors: banana pudding with wafer cookie bits (as we had), along with a version with red velvet cookie bits, and one with chocolatey hazelnut swirl. I'll need to try them next to compare.
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