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United Airlines extends Business Class wines to Economy passengers
The airline will now offer its premium canned wines, previously served exclusively to Business Class travellers, to those seated in Economy. But for a price…
From 1 October United Airlines will offer its premium California-made canned wines to guests travelling in Economy. While the wines have been available for some time on a complimentary basis for United’s Business Class passengers, those seated in the airline’s Economy section will have to pay.
The newly expanded wine offering in Economy incudes a canned Rosé, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon by Just Enough Wines, and a new canned sparkling Brut by Maker. All of the wines are produced on California’s Central Coast, and both brands are female-owned.
Just Enough wines was founded in 2020 by Jessica Hershfield and Kaitlyn Lo, while Maker was established by Sarah Hoffman, Kendra Kawala, and Zoe Victor.
“After the overwhelmingly positive response to the addition of rosé in United Polaris business class, and ongoing fanfare for sparkling options, we’re thrilled to now offer rosé and a higher quality brut bubbles option for our economy passengers, delivering a more premium experience onboard,” said Aaron McMillan, managing director of hospitality programmes for United Airlines.
United will charge Economy passengers US$12 per 250ml can, and the wines will be available on “every mainline flight”.
According to United, the airline has served more than 20 million glasses of wine system-wide so far this year – 1.5 times the number of servings for beer or spirits – and more than 3.2 million glasses of wine in domestic Economy alone.
United claims that making the switch to canned wines will reduce its use of single-use plastic bottles by an estimated 4.7 million bottles per year.
Airlines are upping their game when it comes to their wine lists, with Air France appointing a new head sommelier earlier this year and French boutique airline La Compagnie making the call to serve only organic wines on board its flights.
Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has partnered with Puglian brand Sea Change, which donates a percentage of every bottle sold to marine conservation charities. The same airline launched a limited edition bottle of Bottega Prosecco to mark Virgin Atlantic’s 40th birthday. Bottega selected a special batch of Prosecco and created a custom-made matt-finish bottle with exclusive front label to celebrate the occasion.
Last year, Champagne Laurent-Perrier announced it was teaming up with Global Airlines, a new UK-based air passenger carrier, with the Champagne House’s travel retail director Jean-Christian de la Chevalerie saying that “Global’s vision for air travel is compelling, and one that perfectly aligns with Laurent-Perrier’s.”
He added that Laurent-Perrier looked forward to “exploring how we can make this a really unique, meaningful, partnership that excites our customers.”
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