United Airlines Now Offers Dynamic Polaris Meal Service Preorders On All International Flights

January 2025 UPDATE: United Airlines has expanded dynamic meal preorders to all long-haul international Polaris flights. A memo to flight attendants reads:

This expansion included adding dynamic preorder to 226 unique segments and 70 catering locations to help advance our service offerings for our most valued customers.

This innovative service enables premium cabin customers to select from the scheduled entrees in advance. By boarding the precise number of preordered items and maintaining standard ratios for other entrees, we ensure efficiency and customer satisfaction!

“Dynamic” preorders are now available on all United routes that offer meal service, both domestic and international. If you pre-ordered a meal, you will not be asked for a second choice, unless there is a catering error.

If the number of preordered entrees exceeds the quantity boarded, priority will be given to customers following customer status.

Well done, United. This is a long overdue, but welcome change.

October 2024 UPDATE: United Airlines has further expanded dynamic meal preorders to more Polaris routes this month. Slowly but surely, United is moving toward a point in which dynamic pre-orders are available on all routes.

Denver

Frankfurt – round-trip
London – round-trip
Munich – round-trip
Tokyo Narita – round-trip

Newark

Munich – inbound to Newark only
Zurich – inbound to Newark only
Frankfurt – inbound to Newark only
Sao Paulo – inbound to Newark only
London – inbound to Newark only
Lima – inbound to Newark only
Bogota – inbound to Newark only
Rome – inbound to Newark only
Paris – inbound to Newark only
Delhi – inbound to Newark only

Washington Dulles

Frankfurt – round-trip
Paris – round-trip
Rome – round-trip
London – round-trip
Sao Paulo – inbound to Dulles only
Munich – inbound to Dulles only
Zurich – inbound to Dulles only
Amsterdam – inbound to Dulles only
Athens – inbound to Dulles only
Barcelona – inbound to Dulles only
Brussels – inbound to Dulles only
Dublin – inbound to Dulles only
Edinburgh – inbound to Dulles only
Geneva – inbound to Dulles only
Madrid – inbound to Dulles only
Lisbon – inbound to Dulles only
Amman – inbound to Dulles only [route currently suspended]

Houston

Rio de Janeiro – round-trip
Lima – round-trip
Munich – round-trip
Amsterdam – outbound from Houston only
Buenos Aires – round-trip
Frankfurt – round-trip
Sao Paulo – round-trip
London – round-trip
Bogota – round-trip
Quito – outbound from Houston only

Los Angeles

Melbourne – round-trip
Sydney – round-trip
London – round-trip
Shanghai – round-trip
Hong Kong – outbound from Los Angeles only

Chicago

Athens – outbound from Chicago only
Sao Paulo – outbound from Chicago only
Reykjavík – outbound from Chicago only
Milan – outbound from Chicago only
Shannon – outbound from Chicago only
Dublin – outbound from Chicago only
Frankfurt – round-trip
Rome – inbound to Chicago only
Sao Paulo – inbound to Chicago only
Munich – inbound to Chicago only
Zurich – inbound to Chicago only
London – inbound to Chicago only
Paris – inbound to Chicago only

San Francisco

Amsterdam – outbound from San Francisco only
Barcelona – outbound from San Francisco only
Paris – round-trip
Rome – round-trip
London – round-trip
Auckland – round-trip
Brisbane – round-trip
Melbourne – round-trip
Sydney – round-trip
Frankfurt – round-trip
Hong Kong – round-trip
Munich – round-trip
Tahiti – outbound from San Francisco only
Shanghai – round-trip
Taipei – outbound from San Francisco only
Zurich – round-trip
Seoul – round-trip
Manila – outbound from San Francisco only
Beijing – outbound from San Francisco only
Singapore – outbound from San Francisco only

In short, you’ll have a greater ability to pre-order a meal between five days and 24 hours before your flight than what is currently possible (more details below), though as you can see the list is still somewhat convoluted.

It is not clear to me beyond the logistical hurdles or simply the cost, why this is not being rolled out systemwide (as American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have offered for years). The current pre-order system with entree choices often shown as “out of stock” due to preset ratios that do not consider actual demand is undeniably annoying to passengers. Allowing passengers to pre-order their preferred meal is a low-hanging fruit and an easy win for United.

Yes, customization costs more money, but it makes for happier passengers and that makes more loyal customers. We’ve surpassed the testing stage so it is just a matter of logistics at bases like Newark and Washington now.

My original story, from January 2024, is below.

United Airlines is testing dynamic meal service preorders in Polaris Business Class on one route, with hopes to expand the concept to all international flights later in the year. It’s a welcome and necessary first step.

United Airlines Running Dynamic Polaris Meal Service Preorders Test

I’ve outlined before how the meal service preordering works on United, which is very different depending on the type of flight.

Preorders can be done in two ways. The ideal way is that passengers have a choice prior to the flight among a list of menu items, then the flight is catered accordingly based on those choices. That, to me, is the very premise of a preorder program. The other way, however, is simply to use preorders to better allocate meals that have already been pre-proportioned and will not change based on the specific demand of the flight.

When it comes to Polaris Business Class (i.e. longhaul flights), it is the latter path United has chosen. That is why you will often see choices that are “out of stock” if you wait too long to pre-order your meal on a longhaul flight. Meanwhile, domestic preorders work according to the other method: a list of options (often beyond the standard three menu items) are available and a flight is catered based on pre-orders. That is why you will not see “out of stock” on a domestic flight in the forward cabin.

> Read More: How Meal Preorders Actually Work On United Airlines

This month, United is testing its dynamic preorder system on flights between Denver (DEN) and Frankfurt (FRA).

Customers traveling in the Polaris cabin between DEN and FRA may order above the standard meal boarding ratios. Catering will board the exact number of preordered entrées. Meals for customers who did not preorder will be loaded per their original provisioning ratios.

While this change is longer overdue, at least now it is starting and I don’t think United is only “testing” it on this route to see if passengers like it. Obviously, passengers love getting their first choice. It seems to me that what United is testing is whether it can pull this off…and that is wise. Better to start (and fail or discern trouble spots) on one route than roll it out systemwide only to have to promptly pull it back.

United says, “Based on customer and flight attendant feedback, we hope to expand this concept to all international flights later this year,” and I cannot imagine any scenario in which a passenger or flight attendant would not prefer more choice…so the matter is when, not if.

Nevertheless, as we often see with United, rollouts of passenger-friendly initiatives can be painfully slow.

CONCLUSION

United is testing out dynamic meal preorders in Polaris Business Class between Denver and Frankfurt this month. I am hoping the test will go smoothly so that we can see this program expanded to more routes and eventually all international longhaul routes.