United Will Finally Restore Kosher Meals Systemwide, Plus All Kosher Meals From Newark Get An Upgrade

Daniel Eleff – DansDeals.com

After months of campaigning to get kosher meals brought back onto United flights, United exclusively tells DansDeals that they will be restoring kosher meal service systemwide!

Currently, United serves kosher meals on flights in both directions on all Tel Aviv flights and on Newark-London and San Francisco-Sydney flights.

Here is the full restoration schedule:

• Effective immediately: Kosher meals are available on all long-haul international flights, when departing from Newark. No kosher meals available on return flights.
• Effective 12/14: Kosher meals are available on all short-haul international flights, when departing from Newark. No kosher meals available on return flights.
• Effective 12/14: Kosher meals are available on all domestic flights that are 2,000+ miles, when departing from Newark. No kosher meals available on return flights.
• Effective 1/1: Kosher meals are available on all international flights, when departing from United hub airports (Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington/IAD). No kosher meals available on return flights.
• Effective 1/1: Kosher meals are available on all flights to Hawaii, when departing from United hub airports. No kosher meals available on return flights.
• Effective 1/1: Kosher meals are available on all domestic flights that are 2,000+ miles in both directions.
• Effective 2/1: Kosher meals are available on all international flights in both directions.
• Effective 2/1: Kosher meals are available on all Hawaii flights in both directions.

Here is where you’ll find kosher meals on United:

• Kosher meals are available on flights and in cabins where passengers are offered an entrée meal service. That includes:
  • First class on domestic flights longer than 2,000 miles. That includes flights like Newark to Phoenix or Cleveland to Los Angeles. You can use the Great Circle mapper to check the distance between airports.
  • First class on Hawaii flights
  • Business/First class on short-haul international flights
  • All cabins on long-haul international flights.
  • On domestic and Hawaii flights where a Premium Plus cabin is sold, you would also be able to request kosher meals in that cabin.
  • On flights between Hawaii and Chicago, Newark, and Washington DC, coach passengers will also be able to request a kosher meal.

Perhaps best of all, United will now serve fresh meals from Fresko on all departures from Newark instead of frozen Borenstein meals! I covered the original Fresko announcement here when it launched to Tel Aviv and chatted with United and Fresko about their partnership at the Kosher Food and Wine Event in 2020. Now it will be expanded to all routes instead of just Tel Aviv, giving United a big advantage over their competitors serving frozen Borenstein meals.

I also asked United if they are still planning on adding kosher meals to their Polaris lounge product in Newark as they had planned to do before COVID and will update this post when they respond about that.

You will need to contact United or request a meal under “manage reservations” to request a kosher meal for your existing flights, even if you have kosher meals listed in your preferences. As always, 24 hours advance notice is required.

United will also restore other special meals (Asian, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free) in all markets in Q1 2022.

Will this news make you choose United for your next flight?