Chris McGinnis trying United’s new $12 cheeseburger- It’s a mouthful and requires a lot of elbow room (Photo: Barkley Dean)
How about a hot, juicy cheeseburger on your next transcon flight? In economy class at that?
United introduced a new $12 cheeseburger option to its buy-on-board menu in January, and it seems to be taking off.
UPDATE! In Nov 2017, United introduced a new smoked gouda cheeseburger to replace the one mentioned in this post. Read all about that burger here.
United spokesperson Jonathan Guerin told TravelSkills that the cheeseburger is now one of the most popular Bistro on Board items, with the airline now serving more than 2,000 per day. The carrier serves the cheeseburger on most North American flights longer than 3.5 hours.
United describes it as “an old fashioned all-beef patty with cheese on a pretzel bun. Served with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, must and mayonnaise. It’s cooked onboard between 22-25 minutes in a 350F oven.”
I describe it as surprisingly good and very filling. And from what I’ve heard and seen onboard, lots of passengers feel the same way.
My economy class cheeseburger on SFO-ATL last week- surprisingly good! (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Last week on an ATL-SFO flight, I noticed that two first class passengers asked flight attendants to bring them cheeseburgers from the back of the bus—choosing the burger over their plated meals.
When I queried my social media streams about the burgers, most comments came back positive: “I love a good cheeseburger & compared to most plane alternatives, especially a cold option (gasp), I’ll happily devour a half-decent burger,” wrote @MilesTalk.
And it’s not just the cheeseburger United serves, it’s the fries that come with it. Somehow food scientists have figured out a way to make French-fries that bag up like potato chips, but look just like the real thing. And you know how at restaurants there are usually only a few french fries that are super crunchy? Well the whole bag crunches like those do. As the bag says, “Cut like a french fry, crunch like a chip.”
Check out the slideshow below to see how United is able to serve a hot cheeseburger in flight without it coming out a big wet mess.
Hot burger, cool condiments and a bag of french fries (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Flight attendants deliver the hot $12 cheeseburger in a brown paper wrapper. In a separate cool container, you get the lettuce, tomato, pickle, and condiments along with a bag of the fries. You also get utensils and a napkin, which is necessary because this burger is actually juicy.
Inside the bag, the hot part of the burger is already assembled: pretzel roll (which is nice and chewy and holds up well), the beef patty (which looks like it’s been grilled, but I suspect those grill marks are fake), and the cheddar cheese, which surprisingly stays mostly in place.
Probably not the healthiest or most organic of choices, but what is when you are on a plane? (Chris McGinnis)
Miraculously crunchy fries (Chris McGinnis)
Cool condiments served separately (Chris McGinnis)
The bare burger in its brown paper bag, which serves as a protective barrier (Chris McGinnis)
Eating a cheeseburger in economy class on United requires that you clear your entire tray table– it takes a lot of room to set this meal up. First you have to tear open the paper bag to get to it. Then use the bag as a plate since you don’t want your burger touching that nasty tray table top.
The whole rigamarole might be annoying to neighbors who are not eating or who are vegan. And when all three passengers in a row get the cheeseburger, get ready to knock elbows!
(Photo: Chris McGinnis)
The top comes off easily, making room for the condiments. The bottom is pretty much glued to the patty by the cheddar cheese.
You can create a beautiful burger on your tray table 😉 (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Get it all dressed up, add ketchup, mustard and mayo and voila! Cheeseburger in paradise!
Cheeseburger-Cheeseburger! And fries. In economy class. Not bad! (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Check out how nice those crunchy fries look next to that juicy burger!
If you like the cheeseburger, you will probably like what United has in store starting in July: Uno’s deep dish pizza (an icon in the Chicago pizza scene). A spokesperson told TravelSkills that it will be “A spinach and garlic deep dish pizza for $9.99.Available on on all flights within the U.S. over 3.5 hrs and on flights from the U.S. to Canada; Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. It’ll be prepared and served in our skillet dish to help the cheese brown and keep the crust crispy. And we’re planning a ‘Pizza and Beer combo’ for $13.99 pairing the pizza with a Miller Lite.”
Uno Pizza served on United flights starting in July
United is not the only airline serving burgers in the air. Alaska Airlines offers its popular $7 Angus Cheeseburger on its flights to/from Costa Rica, Cuba and Mexico. I’ve not partaken of this burger yet, but I’ve heard from passengers who say it’s equally good– and made with Oregon’s famous Tillamook Cheddar cheese. Spokesperson Bobbie Egan told TravelSkills: “We’ve been serving the burger out of Mexico continuously for more than a decade. Here’s a fun fact about the cheeseburger – it’s what we served people on our rescue flights from Los Cabo after the 2014 hurricane. People CRIED. The cheeseburgers (and beer and the flight itself) were complimentary.”
Have you had a burger in flight? Would you pay for one when flying in economy class? Please leave your comments below.
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I think the the logistics involved would be too expensive. But I agree. I hate it when the person next to you get the last meal and you are stuck with something you don’t or can’t eat.
Yes, Yes. Finally, we get some real onboard comfort food. Thanks United. Would really be nice to have something like a supreme pizza choice. Also, how about giving passengers ability to specify meal choice when making your reservation? Would really help with getting your preference, especially if you are relegated to sitting any more then 4 rows back in the economy cabin. Nothing would be more frustrating then to get all psyched up for a great burger or deep dish pizza and then told, sorry we are out of that selection. What do you think Chris?
Bummer if you are lactose intolerant
I had a cheeseburger on United in F last August. It was an LAX-EWR red eye, I think. It was very tasty and filling. I can usually eat two of the F meals, and my son was sleeping and didn’t want his, but I was too full to eat it.
It is nice to see that it will be offered in Coach, where I usually sit.
I’ll run it by my contacts, but I bet they think of that box full of fresh lettuce, tomato and pickles is the “salad.”
I think it’s mainly due to the length of those flights… but now that Alaska is getting into the transcon market, I’d suggest they bring it to those flights.
Wow. Whoever runs United’s Catering service should be in charge of all customer service. This looks good.
Will they offer it on trans-Atlantic flights?
A bit weird Alaska is serving burgers only on Latam flights. Why is that? Why not to serve it on all longer flights within North America or at least on flights to/from Hawaii (where people do get hungry due to the flight length and would happily be buying $7 hot burgers).
I also find the price reasonable. A burger indeed looks decent on Chris’ pictures. Then you get basically a meal – a burger, fries and a drink. I think fast food pretzel burger meal could easily cost $6-8 depending on a state/chain. So not bad at all for an airline food prices.
It would be good though if they offered an option to replace fries with some kind of simple garden salad. Chris could you reach United with an idea?
Just noticed the fries are Calbee, which is a Japanese brand….
A good non-fast food burger is $8-10 on the ground so $12 isn’t totally out of whack.
Sounds great but a $12 cheesburger? Again the airlines making a fortune on having a captured audience.