Two flights, just a few weeks apart (<1 month), and pretty different experiences across the board.
Flight #1: April 2026
Details:
Flight: UA 2480
Flight: UA 2480
Scheduled: 1:00pm (local time) - 9:35pm (local time)
Actual: 1:04pm (push back) 1:25pm (take off)
Aircraft: 787-9
Seat 5A
SFO-EWR, business class. Regularly priced at $4k each way, which just ... blows my mind. But it is United's premium transcon route (SFO-EWR and LAX-EWR) and the cabin is always full, so ... people must pay it. I used my precious miles to secure a seat for 80k points, far more than I want to spend on a domestic flight, but, seemed well worth it. I also of course selected a flight time that would be a regular full Polaris cabin with 1-2-1 layout, and secured 3A, my favorite seat (secluded window seat, side table on my dominant side, close to front but not too close).
But two days before the flight I got the dreaded "we've needed to change your aircraft type" email, and yep, suddenly I was in a middle seat. Yes, we had a Dreamliner for our aircraft, but, boo. I aggressively watched the seat availability those 2 days (like, fairly obsessively), but no window seats ever opened up. And then, 20 mins before boarding, 5A was free. I snagged it instantly. Yes, it was the seat with no second window, but, still, much better than my middle seat. Oh, and I got their to find that the power and USB were not working. Which ... was actually a problem, given the flight length and my desire to use my laptop. The flight was 100% full, so there was no option to move somewhere with power. I asked multiple staff members about it, and they all said there was nothing to be done (usually they at least offer to attempt to reset it - maybe that isn't a thing on the Dreamliner?). Near the end of the flight, I was offered $200 travel credit, or 10,000 miles for it, only once I asked if there would be any compensation.
SFO had a lot of delays this day due to runway construction, wind, and well, everything. All morning long, delays were rolling in. Inbound aircraft held at their locations for 3.5 hours on average. I felt fortunate that my inbound had left much earlier so was already at SFO. The problem of course is that my flight crew was not. We were slightly delayed in boarding while waiting for the crew. People were remarkably efficient though, and even though 100% full, we did push back from the gate only 4 minutes late. We sat just shy of the gate for minutes, and took off with only 21 minute taxi time, which was great given the conditions.
Besides being relatively on-time though, this flight suffered in sooo many ways: no power at my seat, no wifi (ok, it happens, but usually it at least quasi-works SOME of the time), no PDB/nuts/refills, no ice cream toppings, no second meal service. I mean, seriously. A few things going wrong is understandable, but this really was a pretty miserable, and expensive, flight.
Service & Amenities
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| Blanket, pillows. |
This is a standard premium transcon route on a Dreamliner, so amenity wise, everything was expected, with nice blanket and pillow, plus small amenity kit at the seat when we boarded.
However, service and experience wise, um, the flight was far from premium. No PDB was offered, however we had water bottles waiting at our seats. Pre-orders were verified while we were still on the ground, along with orders taken for those who missed out, and our drink orders. My pre-order wasn't reflected in their system, he thought because of the seat swap. I hoped my choice would magically still show up, as it was a pre-order only option.
There was wifi ($8, which, for a $4k seat ...), but it didn't actually function. The worst in-flight wifi I've had in many many years, no matter the airline. I don't mean just spotty, slow, or flaky. They did make an announcement that they were resetting it, because clearly everyone was complaining. It did not help. They did not reimburse us. It never worked well enough to load a single image, let alone a website, or even chat. I was planning to work on the flight, and, well, not even remotely possible. Every 30 minutes or so, email would come through. I couldn't ever send replies though. It was just not usable. And they charged us $8 for it.
It was extremely cold in the cabin the entire time. I used my blanket the entire time, and I was still quite cold. I did eventually ask if it could be warmer, and the FA told me that many others had requested the same. She said she had passed on the message. It never warmed up.
The service flow was all off. No PDB. No drinks served at all before the meal. No nuts before the meal. Meals took >1.5 hours to even start being served. Dessert was not started being served until 3 hours in and was a disaster. Drinks never refilled, we were all begging for refills. The staff seemed rather scatterbrained, not attentive, and just not following the standard flow. When I asked for a drink refill, she came back 20 minutes later, and said, "oh, you wanted something. A drink?" I repeated my drink order, she left, and came back again about 10 mins later asking what I wanted. She still got it wrong. The guy next to me asked for a diet Coke about 5 times before he got one. I heard similar situations all around the cabin. Lots of us asking for things, lots of things not coming. And everything sooo slow. I later found out that they were down 2 flight attendants for the flight (unclear if this was due to the delays and staffing shortages or a planned thing?), and that there were only 2 FAs working the entire business AND premium economy cabin. This made much of the service flow make more sense - our meals took forever and were a one shot-deal, and they clearly streamlined everything.
Drinks
I was happy as always to have AHA sparkling water in two flavors, blueberry + pomegranate or pineapple + passionfruit (along with plain seltzer if I preferred). I ordered this when drink orders while taken on the ground, but there was no beverage service (and again, no PBD) until meal time. As in, not before the meal at all. There was not turbulence, the crew wasn't in their seats any length of time, etc, it seemed to entirely be due to the staffing shortage. Drinks didn't come until actually with our meals, on the tray with everything else. There were also no nuts or anything else to nibble on until the full meal. I ran out of my water very quickly as I was parched, and no refills were offered.
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| Wine List. |
The wine list was the standard 1 rose, 1 sparkling, 2 white, 2 reds. Exactly the same reds I had on previous flights, so nothing particularly interesting for me. Both I had found "fine", 3/5 stars, so, acceptable before, I assumed they'd be acceptable again. They also had beer, basic spirits, and two premade Crafthouse Cocktails: Moonlighter Vodka Spritz or Espresso Martini. I stuck with wine.
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| Wine. |
Talbott “Sleepy Hollow Vineyard” Pinot Noir, 2022
"A vibrant Pinot Noir with ripe cherry and black raspberry on the nose and stunning flavors of dark berries and peppery spice on the palate. Pairs best with chicken and vegetables."
I started with the pinot noir as I thought it would pair best with my seafood meal. I gave it a 3/5 rating last time. I rate it about the same this time. It was "fine". Light, mild, not acidic, not much tannin, basically, low key boring, but not bad.
Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon, 2021
"A full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant and sage that greets the senses. Layers of vanilla and cassis are complemented by cedar on the palate. Pairs best with beef."
I had liked the cabernet more last time, 3.5/5 stars, so I moved on to it once I had finished my meal. I again liked it considerably more than the pinot, it had a bit more going on. I wouldn't call it a great wine, but, it was better. So yes, again, probably 3.5/5 stars.
"Lunch"
I call this "lunch" because it was described as such, but it was served starting at 3pm in SF / 6pm in NY so I'm not quite sure what to call it (mine came around 3:30pm).
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| Main Meal Menu. |
The main meal menu was quite similar to the one I had previously on this route nearly 2 years ago: salad + cheese (this time ricotta, not burrata), chicken, beef, fish, and one other (interestingly, no vegetarian option this time, unless you preorder a special meal, which is unfortunate for anyone with same day changes or upgrades). The beef sirloin dish was actually identical to my previous flight.
I was pretty lukewarm on all of these dishes. I got the beef last time because I loved the sound of the sides (sweet potato gratin! green beans!) but they were just ok. I do love halibut, but, come on, fish on a plane. Still, that is what I went with. Those who didn't pre-order only could select beef/chicken/pasta.
If you are curious, for this premium transcon route, Premium Economy gets a subset of this menu: just the salad, no ricotta, just the beef, chicken, or vegetarian main dish (no fish), no ice cream sundae nor cheese plate, and interestingly, a totally different dessert. They get a brownie fudge tart instead of lemon tart, which is just interesting to me, given that all other options are just a reduction (also, um, I'd prefer the chocolate over the lemon!).
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| Tray. |
As I mentioned, everything came at once. Even the nuts. No drinks prior to the meal. And, then, everything: nuts, salad, appetizer, bread, main, all on one tray, all at once. Delivered row by row, starting in the front. I was in 5A, and didn't get my meal until 1.5 hours into the flight. This really was a long time to go without anything, for a "premium" route (and those normal prices!).
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| Nuts. |
Nuts were almond and cashews, with the meal. I really would have appreciated them, and a drink, sooner. They were not warm.
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| Bread. |
No choice of bread was given, again, meh, this is a premium transcon! I expect that for a regular domestic flight, but they really do market this as being more special. I did like the cornmeal on it, it was quasi arm, but it didn't taste fresh at all. 2/5.
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| Baby red oak leaf arugula salad. |
"Baby red oak leaf arugula salad with mozzarella, artichokes and roasted red tomatoes."
The salad wasn't quite as described as it was not baby read oak leaf lettuce nor roamaine, and I didn't want the toppings really, but I used the lettuce base. I just don't really care for artichokes, and the appetizer was cheese and tomatoes, so the mediocre grade mozzarella balls and sundried (not roasted as the menu said) tomatoes really didn't seem necessarily. I would have preferred other toppings. It came with a balsamic dressing on the side. The lettuce was fine, but everything else was just poor menu planning really given the appetizer (and we all had the same salad and app). Eh, 2/5.
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| Lemon herb ricotta. |
"Lemon herb ricotta with heirloom tomato chunks, pickled serrano peppers, parmesan chive mix and red wine vinaigrette."
The appetizer was also cheese and tomatoes, but this was actually pretty good. The ricotta was tasty, the heirloom tomato hunks large, juicy, and vibrant. And zomg, the pickled peppers were crazy spicy. The parmesan on top of it seemed odd though. I combined this with the lettuce and really did enjoy my salad version with lettuce + heirlooms + ricotta. But again, menu planner ... why the double tomato/triple cheese? Higher 3/5 for this appetizer.
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| Seared Halibut. |
"Seared halibut with fennel puree, heirloom cherry tomatoes, seared leeks and cioppino broth."
The main dish was a mixed bag. The fennel puree was kinda some off putting colored goo in the base, that really seemed like baby food, and was odd to have with the broth as it just mixed in. It did have decent fennel flavor. The "cioppino broth" seems to just mean a light tomato broth, I don't think it had any elements of standard cioppino (e.g. other seafood). The seared leeks tasted to me like just more fennel, I honestly thought that is what it was, and was surprised when I saw the menu said leeks. I was kinda meh on the base/broth/toppings for this, but I don't tend to really like warm tomato dishes.
The fish though was good. It was mild, tender, not dried out, not fishy, just, totally fine. I was reasonably impressed with how well this came out actually. 3/5.
Even though it was freezing on board, given that I didn't want the lemon tart, I of course had to have an ice cream sundae. Or, I planned to anyway. The meal ended, and no desserts were mentioned nor offered. I waited, and even once everyone had been cleared, still ... nothing. I honestly was confused. I finalized asked, and that is when I was told about the staffing shortage, and things made a bit more sense. We were eventually offered dessert, described as ice cream, a cheese plate, or cake. Cake? Well, huh, the menu said lemon tart, but he said cake. I double checked, and he said, "yes, cake". I asked for a sundae, but if there were extra cake, said I'd love that too. He said no problem. For the sundae, I was offered hot fudge or caramel. I asked if it was hot fudge, not just chocolate sauce, and he said yes. I asked what other toppings they had, as he didn't mention anything else. He said, "I think they have whipped cream, nuts, and cherries." Interesting, as I heard the other FA offer strawberries and chocolate chips. I asked for a little hot fudge, nuts, and whipped cream.
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| "Ice cream" with "Hot Fudge" |
Um. Well. So, what I was brought was entirely melted froth with chocolate sauce. Not just soft ice cream, entirely melted. No whipped cream. No nuts. And ... chocolate sauce, not hot fudge. He told me they had only caramel and chocolate. Nothing else. This still didn't explain how he coudl serve me entirely melted soup with a straight face. Sigh. I hate chocolate sauce, and this was ... well, not ice cream. Boo.
Later, when I went to use the bathroom, I saw ... all the toppings. The nuts. The whipped cream. The cherries. The chocolate chips. All there in the galley. I think they choose to just streamline things and kept it simple with "chocolate or caramel" only, but ... why tell me they didn't load any toppings?
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| "Lemon Cake". |
And the "cake"? Yes, it was the lemon tart. The curd I didn't like as I never like lemon curd, and it had a mediocre shell. The berries were fine.
Overall, a real let down dessert-wise, and this is something they usually do well enough (the Eli's cheesecake! The ice cream with toppings!).
Arrival Meal
The arrival meal doesn't really make any sense on this flight, given our <5 hour flight time, and the fact that the meal didn't begin until so long into the flight, let alone end. We ended "lunch" at 4:15pm / 7:15pm, and the second meal service usually is about an hour and change before landing. However, even though the flight was supposed to have it, and I had pre-ordered the cod fritters, they skipped this entirely due to the staffing issues and didn't tell us they were doing so. No compensation given.
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| Arrival Menu. |
Premium economy guests have the cheese or cod fritter option only, no salad.
But alas, I didn't get a chance to see if the cod fritters were better this year.
Flight #2: May 2026
Flight details:
Aircraft 787-9
Seat 9L
Departure: 10:20am (scheduled) 10:35am (push back) 11:01 (takeoff)
Arrival: 6:50pm (scheduled) (landing) (gate)
Service
Boarding was completed on time, however we had a 15 minute delay pushing back from the gate for unknown reasons. No communication given, we were just sitting there with boarding door closed, catering loaded, bags loaded, etc. No PDB was offered. We then sat to the side for another 20 minutes. No real communication.
Bumpy skies on takeoff, FAs in jump seats an extended time, seatbelt sign on for a long time, etc. All things that added up to a pretty meh start to the flight. 2 hours into the flight, still no beverages. Hot towels did come at one point, but they were hot in theory, not in practice. They were barely lukewarm. They were also not collected, just left with us at our seats for the next hour.
Our first meals were served at 1pm (where I was seated, later for others), which was 2 hours after takeoff. Dessert came around 1:40pm. And then ... uh, the second meal, at 3pm. Just over an hour after the first meal ended. I appreciate the they bothered serve it, unlike my flight the week before (when I really wanted the item I had pre-ordered too!), but, this was a bit ridiculous.
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| Ink Grade Cabernet Sauvignon, 2020 --> Louis Martini Cabernet. |
Drink orders were taken, and pre-order meal selections confirmed / meal orders taken, once underway. However drinks did not come for a very long time. It was 12:50pm when I was finally served my first drink of sparkling water, after being on board for 3 hours and 20 minutes (!). Also, um, I was not served the wine I also ordered.
The drink selection was identical to my last flight. I decided to give the Ink Grade Cabernet Sauvignon another try, as it really should be a decent wine, even if I found it a bit meh last time. It seems it was not loaded on the flight though (which wasn't told me, but I saw them opening cheap Louis Martini cab instead. Booo).
It was ... fine. My office gets this for our regular events, and it is definitely a much lower price point wine, sad to see on the Polaris branded route.
The regular menu was highly uninspiring to me.
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| Takeoff Meal Menu. |
The starter was feta this time instead of ricotta, which was even less appealing to me than teh pri, and came with kalamata olives, also less appealing. The same salad I had my previous 2 flights. Meh.
For the mains, chicken with rice and broccolini (literally, nothing I like), beef (never great on flight, sides not very interesting to me either), fish (sadly salmon, the one fish I'm not fond of, and it came with grains, meh), or vegetarian (mushroom ragout with polenta, although the FA was calling it "mushroom pasta" as she offered it to others). The veggie one sounded maybe possibly interesting, but honestly not that great.
And so, I took a total gamble into the unknown, and ordered a special meal. United fairly recently greatly expanded their special meal offerings (14 choices now!), and I've seen soooo many other people in my recent flights getting them, so, why not? I was tempted by Asian Vegetarian, East Asian Vegetarian, Hindu non-Vegetarian, kosher, heck, even the kids meal. In the end, I went for Asian Vegetarian, hoping to get some non-legume based Indian food, hopefully paneer (Asian Vegetarian seems to mostly be Indian, whereas East Asian is more stir fries with rice/noodles). However, when the FA came to confirm my special meal, she said it was the vegan meal ... uh-h.
Interestingly, on this flight, everyone around me was asking for Tapas or Takeoff boxes, a contrast to all those other flights where people were ordering special meals. But the overall theme was the same: no one was ordering the regular meals.
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| Warm Nuts. |
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| Asian Vegetarian Meal #1. |
My meal was, indeed, an Indian meal, and it did, indeed, feature paneer. I was pretty excited. The FA who served it told me it was always a favorite of hers when someone special ordered and didn't want it / changed flight / etc. The aroma coming off of it too - amazing!
Everything was served at once, and the meal does not include the regular salad/starter, nor the regular bread basket, nor the regular dessert, since it is all included. Interestingly, the tray came with just a single generic packet of salt and pepper each, not their shakers, and thus no red pepper flakes, which I would have liked. But at least I wasn't fighting with those damn shakers. I also had a pat of fake butter (uh, why? It doesn't go with any of this), and, I assume in error, the salad dressing that goes with the regular salad.
My platter included ...
- Starter: Pita chips w/ yogurt and spiced garbanzo beans
- Salad: Marinated cucumber/tomato/onion
- Bread: Roti
- Main: Basmati rice, two curries, paneer
- Dessert: gulab jamun
Such a feast! And mostly, it was quite good, although there were some shortcomings. I was also starving by this point, as it was served at 1pm, 2 hours after takeoff (and the rows behind me were obviously even later).
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| Starter: Pita chip, spiced chickpeas, yogurt. |
The starter was the least interesting thing on the plate to me, as I dislike garbanzos. But they seemed nicely spiced, and the thick rich yogurt was good. I appreciated having the yogurt to mix with things. 3.5/5 yogurt.
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| Soggy/floppy pita "chip". |
The pita chips though, lol, they were soooo soft/soggy and flopped over when you tried to pick them up. Zero stars for these.
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| Spiced Cucumber Salad. |
The salad was mostly cucumber, assorted sized slices, plus a few slices of tomato and some onion. All nicely marinated, flavorful Indian spicing. The tomatoes in particular were quite good. I threw this on top of my own salad greens I had with me and enjoyed. A nice refreshing dish alongside the heavier mains. 3.5.
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| Roti. |
Then there was the roti. It was, um, stone cold. I think they were supposed to warm this, but forgot? It came wrapped in foil, so I was excited for that to hold in the warmth, but, it was stone cold, and really not enjoyable to try to eat. I suspect the staff member working the galley wasn't familiar with what to do with this. Or maybe it is supposed to be that way?
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| Roti: Inside. |
So, when served on board, cold and solid, not good. But of course I saved it and brought it home. It was much better warm, but more akin to a thin pita bread that was just slightly richer than normal than a real roti. Still, it went very well with the meal, and would have been great to dip in the curries if it wasn't stone cold. 1/5 as served because it was basically frozen, but 2.5/5 otherwise.
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| Main: rice, palak curry, butter curry ,paneer. |
The main dish was the real stunner here. It smelt amazing, the execution was shockingly good, the portion really quite large (not even considering all the other components to the meal).
The rice I expected to push aside, as I'm not a rice person, but I had a little with the curry just to test it out to write this review and was shocked. It was fluffy. Fragrant. Not clumped together. Not dried out. This was shockingly good rice. Plenty of it. Nicely warm.
Then there were two curries, a palak based one, and a creamy butter chicken/tikka masala style sauce. Both were quite flavorful (not spicy, but spiced), served perfectly warm. These were on par with pretty standard Indian food takeout (or TJ meals!), nothing to complain about here. I love having multiple curries to mix together when I eat Indian food, so I loved them for including two different ones.
And then, the paneer! Three large triangles, I was amazed by just how generous the portion was. Spiced, and plenty flavorful without the curries, but great with them too. Nicely bouncy. One slice was a bit dried out, in a way I kinda liked, the other two were nicely moist. Again, nothing to complain about here.
Overall, flavorful, lots of variety, everything worked good together. Would I go out of my way to go to this Indian restaurant? Nah. But would I order takeout from them again? Sure. 4/5 maybe, particularly given the setting.
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| Dessert Menu. |
The FA offered me any of these in addition to my special meal dessert (which often they do not do). I asked for just whipped cream and chocolate chips from the sundae lineup (as in, no ice cream, just toppings), which made her laugh, but she was happy to do.
The regular arrival meal options are the same salad or fruit plate that have been on my prior flights, or, pork adobo, which sounded relatively interesting to me. But since I ordered a special meal, this applied to all meal services, so I had my mystery special meal instead. We were offered the meal 1 hour 10 mins before landing, which was a bit amusing given that the prior meal service ended about an hour prior. Since so many people just got snackboxes then, they actually all wanted the meal. I didn't get a good glimpse of the pork abodo though.
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| Dessert: Gulab Jamun. |
The gulab jamun was a bit sad looking. No syrup. No garnish. Two smaller-than-average balls. I've seen other photos of this where it came as three balls, and definitely had syrup, so this was a bit lacking. And like the roti, it too was served cold.
That said, it was pretty ok. Fairly generic Indian restaurant quality, by which I mean, the same frozen product that everywhere that doesn't make it in-house uses. The balls were soft, they were sweet in the right ways. I wish they were warm, I wish they had syrup, but, really, they were fine. 3/5 in general, probably nearly worth another star given the setting.
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| Whipped cream + chocolate chips. |
I of course had an adorable platter of whipped cream and chocolate chips to have with it, plus my own fresh fruit, and was quite happy.
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| Arrival Meal Menu |
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| Asian Vegetarian Meal #2. |
My meal was ... no, your eyes are not decieving you, nearly identical to my first meal. Lol-tastic. Meal so nice, we served it twice! It was the same starter, the same salad, the same curries, the same 3 big pieces of paneer, the same cold naan. The only differences this time were that 1) it didn't have a dessert on the tray, 2) it randomly had a standard dinner roll in addition to the pita + naan + rice for carb-city, 3) it had only one pita chip not two with the appetizer, 4) the curries had a slice of cabbage on top? I suspect the dinner roll was a mistake (something included with the other pre-arrival meals), the lack of dessert was expected as the pre-arrival meal never includes one, and perhaps my first meal was supposed to include that random slice of cabbage?
Now, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the meal, the first time. I'd likely enjoy it again in the future. But being served the exact same meal twice in 2 hour time span? Uh ... yeah, it mostly made me laugh, and as someone who hates food waste, I pulled out a container I had with me and packed most of it up (on ice of course) to take home, but, lol.
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