United Serving Laurent-Perrier Champagne In Polaris Business Class

We’really aiming low here
if a 50 dollars bottle is a serious upgrade for a 6-7k ticket…worth a ‘wow’ from one of the most seasoned connoisseur if first class in the planet…maybe was a sarcastic title?

So Qatar and other carriers have all been serving premium Champagne since they started flying business class , wow, and what about the very lacklustre food that is almost inedible

Does this also include premium transcontinental routes?

Seriously Ben: "It’s clear that United sees Delta as its only competitor, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see United overtake Delta financially in the coming years."

And what metrics or 8-Ball are you using to make such a broad sweeping prediction? I don't really care if UA and DL fight it and care less which one wins. It's just these kinds of statements put a bit of a dent in your credibility.

The other thing they really need to change is this "first come first serve" basis for mattress pads and pajamas on ultra long haul flights. It's ridiculous that they wouldn't cater enough for each Polaris passenger, I can't understand the logic of that. Also creates more work for FAs when everyone requests it right upon boarding.

@ Ltl -- It's my understanding that it only includes Polaris branded flights, and United doesn't market premium transcons as such.

@ Steven E -- Well, right, Qatar's soft product is sort of in a different league than United's. 😉

@ lasdiner -- It's not sarcastic at all. I mean, keep in mind that Delta used to serve Andre sparkling wine as its pre-departure drink in Delta One. That retails for ~$5 per bottle. So it's worth recognizing progress where it happens.

@ Joel S Avgeek -- That wasn't even intended to be a controversial comment. I didn't pass anything off as fact, but just said I wouldn't be surprised to see it.

What makes me say that? Just look at the direction that United's financial performance is trending compared to Delta. Relative to Delta, United's performance has been getting much better. And United is also making a lot of major changes that could improve its performance even more, in particular the extent to which its growing its fleet with really efficient aircraft.

Add in passenger experience improvements (Starlink Wi-Fi, seat back entertainment, etc.), and United is becoming increasingly premium.

It's hard being a US carrier. The cost structures are so much higher ranging from labor, food, geography, etc. We will never get world class service because of that.

This is a positive improvement from United in that this is a beneficial change vs the usual cost cutting measures we see from US carriers.

Meh! Gimmicky move targetted and those who fall for such gimmicks. Laurent-Perrier is a mass-produced Champagne with fairly bland, uninteresting notes. Though, I can see why airlines love it - has a halo-effect, cant really fully taste better Champagnes in a dry and pressurized environment, and most people travelling J probably couldnt tell the difference anyway.

I'd rather see some food that's edible in Polaris...

What were they serving before? This still seems like a very standard champagne offering...

I would strongly bet that most of the champagne/sparkling wine that US airlines serve is consumed as pre-departure drinks which means that an airline is talking about three or four bottles per cabin.

From my observations, most people do not drink champagne after that point.

DL and UA both undoubtedly got low promotional pricing so the larger cost may not be the alcohol itself but the cost of inventory, storage, and delivery that is the case for all airline alcohol. The more of it that you serve, the lower the ground charges per serving.

Fair enough-i guess we take what we get

But most airlines -including our beloved ATL-based one - serve even lower end bubbles pre-departure. I’ve noticed DL serves some prosecco before their standard int’l DL one offering, AA does same for both int’l and transcon J and F
Yes it is to reduce ground duties, but then that means they carry even fewer bottles of the (slightly) more expensive stuff

that's my point. If you don't even use the higher end one during predeparture drinks and use only a couple bottles during the flight, the value from marketing is far larger than the expense of the alcohol itself, offset by the higher handling costs.

United copying Delta? Never..

Hey better Champagne is great, adds to the fun for some infrequent travellers, and makes the news.
Without question United has surpassed Delta in terms of quality, let's hope for that reason United improves it's food.
In North America both AA and AC food is worse IMHO.

Why is this such a big deal ? Even Air India served this champagne both pre-departure and during meal service. That was last year.

That recently changed and premium transcons now get full intl service including 2 full meals.

If United wants to impress. Go back to when UA first purchase the Pan Am Pacific Routes. Offerings were Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, GREAT French and California wines as well as superior hard liquor.

So Tim, you're a (fired) flight attendant?
How do you know how much champagne is consumed.

And have you ever considered "From my observations, most people do not drink champagne after that point." because Delta serves the crappy ones not because customers don't drink.

Interesting. On my No ember flights on Qatar I noted they’d switched from Laurent Perrier (to Joseph Perrier, if it matters). Maybe it’s the champagne company reaching out with a can’t-pass-it-up deal?

when you fly in the forward cabin of various airlines, you can make those observations.

And, sparkling wine/champagne is the norm for welcoming but not for service with a meal.

You have been to a high-class dinner party, haven't you?

United would have to start putting doors on their business class... and retiring 757s and 767-300ERs with aircraft like the A330-900 which have them for DL.
Even if Polaris is better than DL's 763 business class seat, the plane is still old, less reliable and less fuel efficient. and the 757 uses on TATL flights doesn't even offer direct aisle access.

DL just took delivery of its 7th out of 7 A350s this year and has received 5 of 7 A330NEOs with one in flight testing. DL is getting far more new widebody aircraft than UA or AA or HA.

The question will be what DL does with all of the 767s it is pulling off TATL; will they be retired or used for domestic, Hawaii or Latin flights - or a combination of all

Is this even an upgrade? Laurent Perrier La Cuvée isn’t even that good (it’s overpriced for what it is given the brand name), and from what I recall whatever United used to serve was also halfway decent. Now if this were Grand Siècle, that would be a wow.

Until a US based carrier stops thinking steamed food with cheese on top is delicious in economy, that's when you know they're serious about food. Seriously. Is there one Asian carrier that will just serve shit chicken with baked cheese on top in eco??

I know airline people read your blog. Why is the venn diagram of airline and food people in America so fucking non-existent?

"braised" food microwaves the best. Microwaves are basically steamers. So ask yourself, what food steams the best? Not things that need to be crispy! Not... Cheese !

It is comedic that this seems impressive to us. Such is the state of US airlines. The food would taste better if they just put it onto better crockery rather than using surplus from 1970s diners.

United has a history of serving Laurent-Perrier in Polaris so if this is an upgrade it means that they previously downgraded. Like others have said, it’s a middle of the road offering like Piper and Moet & Chandon. United’s announcement is pure marketing and it seems that they have successfully fooled the public by landing their messaging without critical consideration.

I recently flew Polaris EWR-GVA and the food was almost inedible. I’ve had better on Turkish Air and Vietnam Air in economy. Seriously United, get it together! (And no pjs unless flight is over 10 hours…those I must say were great on a flight last year).

I just flew United in domestic first. Got a CPU as a gold which is pretty rare nowadays. They had a pan-seared halibut with potato puree and salad with Magnolia Bakery banana pudding. It was actually quite good! I even got to pre-order the meal, but they offered all 5 (!!) options to folks who hadn't preordered. Much better than in years past when it was "chicken or pasta"? Maybe this was United's holiday gift to me 😛

Just flew ORD-HNL in Polaris, a 9hour + flight. As if it is not bad enough that this flight doesn't qualify for the Polaris Lounge (flight is longer than many US-Europe flights and technically flies over international waters for longer than Trans-Atlantic flights), they only served Prosecco on this flight. So, title of this article not quite accurate.