Drinks on a flight. Tomato juice and water glass on a table in an airplane.
UNITED Airlines has been at the centre of a number of jaw-dropping scandals recently.
There was the infamous incident last year in which a doctor was dragged off his flight after he refused to give up the seat he had paid for.
There was the socialite who was kicked out of business class, the passenger who was sent to the wrong city, and most recently, the carrier sparked international condemnation over the death of a beloved pet that was forced to endure a flight in the overhead baggage compartment.
Now, United — the fourth biggest airline in the world — has found itself at the centre of another social media storm: this time, over tomato juice.
Last week, United announced it was ditching the beverage from its drinks menu on US domestic flights of less than four hours, due to an adjustment to its in-flight catering arrangements.
It might have assumed few people would care. But boy, was it wrong.
When it made the announcement, the reaction from passengers on social media was swift and brutal.
Unhappy passengers vowed never to fly United again while others said the move left them “deeply saddened”.
Their outrage may have been justified: tomato juice is believed to actually taste better in the sky.
While conditions in the depressurised cabin, including noise, can diminish passengers’ senses of taste and smell by up to 30 per cent — which is part of why most food and drinks taste so gross up there — researchers have found tomato juice is immune to the phenomenon.
That’s thanks to tomatoes being rich with umami, a flavour likened to savoury that’s considered the “fifth” taste behind salty, bitter, sour and sweet.
In light of the outrage, United backtracked on its decision and announced a few days later it would reinstate everyone’s beloved beverage.
“You say tomato. We say, we hear you. Tomato juice is here to stay,” the airline tweeted.
It then said in a statement: “We want our customers to know that we value and appreciate them and that we’re listening. Our customers told us that they were not happy about the removal of tomato juice so we’re bringing it back on-board as part of our complimentary beverage offering.”
It’s not the first time an airline has felt the wrath of unhappy passengers after fiddling with its in-flight menu.
Qantas threatened to remove its famous steak sandwich from the first-class menu in 2009, but it sparked such a massive wave of anger from passengers, the airline was forced to reconsider — and the classic sanger has been on the menu ever since.
“The steak sandwich was promptly reinstated to the menu, where it remains a firm favourite today,” the airline said.