They are doing whatever they can to attract biz customers. If UA fails, they can't say they didn't try hard to make it succeed. Those FA's, whether or not assigned to the FC cabin, would ask any of the FC customers who had an empty glass if they needed anything. It was nonstop attention. Four out of the 8 people in FC purchased a F ticket. The rest were status upgrades.
The food on US is ok--when the flight is catered properly and they actually serve food. Just had a flight last week that was not catered properly and the food was lousy. The FA felt horrible.
But the food on UA is much better--for breakfast you had a choice of cereal/fruit plate (pineapple, strawberries, kiwi and grapes...much more than US gives you) and mushroom frittata that was plated with spinach, roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes and sausage links. They also brought around a bread tray that had bagels, cheese danish, and croissants. Then, they passed around a snack packet with pretzels and nut mix. And then warm chocolate chip cookies...this was a morning flight. THe afternoon/evening flights have even more service and ice cream. But, even without the food, they make the FC experience feel like a FC experience.
