One of Google’s top scientists has put United Airlines on blast over what he described as “3D printed mystery meat’ that was served to him on a recent flight in First Class.
“Hey United, is this a joke?” Peyman Milanfar, whose official title at Google is Distinguished Scientist, wrote in a post on X. “I just flew 5+ hours in First Class and this bowl of sadness is what you serve me for dinner.”
“Between the 3D-printed mystery meat, the cafeteria cheese cubes, and the whole tomato I need a chainsaw to cut, this is genuinely unbelievable.”
Given Peyman’s reach, with more than 101,000 followers on X, the post quickly went viral, and United was quick to reach out, saying in response: “We’re sorry the meal didn’t meet your expectations, Peyman. This is not the experience we want for you.”
Unfortunately, United’s response stopped short of promising there might actually be any improvement to the carrier’s now infamous lacklustre inflight catering.
Late last year, United did, at least, update its serving dishes and silverware, but the Chicago-based carrier hasn’t yet gotten around to addressing one of the most common complaints amongst its loyal community of frequent flyers – the food just isn’t that good.
Given that United is making a real and concerted push to become the premium carrier of choice (at least in the United States), you would have thought that work to upgrade its menus would be a top priority for the airline. Sadly, there’s little evidence to suggest that’s the case at all.
It didn’t take long for other people to comment on Peyman’s post, with Paul Millerd noting: “For United, that looks like a Michelin meal,” given just how bad the airline’s reputation is for serving unappetizing meals on board.
While Mark Wilcox also wrote: “It’s United, what do you expect?”
Others were also quick to compare the sad offering from United with rival carriers, with the likes of Air France, Turkish Airlines, and even Delta scoring high marks amongst commentators on Peyman’s post.
It’s not known whether Peyman paid for his First Class ticket himself, but given that Google is one of United’s top corporate accounts, it might give the carrier more reason to put a little extra investment and perhaps some love into its in-flight catering.
Hopefully, there is some change on the way. Approaching the New Year, United’s chief executive, Scott Kirby, told staffers in an internal memo that the airline has lots of improvement plans for 2026.
While Kirby didn’t list in-flight catering as a particular focus, he did note that the airline also has “some surprises in store,” including “innovative products that will shake up the industry and continue to attract and retrain brand loyal customers to United for the next decade and beyond.”
