Update, 12/19: It’s a big day over at United’s Newark kosher operations.
I spoke with Fresko partner Avi Moche and he confirmed that United’s soft launch of fresh kosher food in the Newark Polaris lounge begins today. The menu is limited for now but is helping to fill a void that was requested by many passengers. In the coming months, he expects the Polaris lounge kosher food options to expand significantly and will serve custom food items to complement the fresh kosher Fresko food that is available on United’s flights from Newark.
He notes that United is really working to satisfy the needs of the kosher traveler in a way that he hasn’t seen on any other airline and is actively working to improve the kosher product in the airport and in-flight so that it’s best in class.
Hopefully we’ll start to see delicious fresh kosher meals on more airlines and from more airports, but for now, United deserves kudos for their Fresko partnership.
United does read passenger feedback, so if you want to see more fresh kosher food and kosher wine options in the Polaris lounge or even the United Club, be sure to let them know!
Zvi Dubitzky sends over that United has kosher donuts from Fresko for everyone flying from Newark to Tel Aviv today in honor of Chanuka:
Meir and Rachayle Hornung share with DansDeals that they were the first ones to try out the new Fresko kosher food at United’s Newark Polaris business class lounge. They arrived at the lounge today at 12:25pm and were told that they were expecting kosher food starting today, but were unsure when it would arrive. An hour later a lounge manager came over to them to let them know that kosher meals had arrived. Lunch options today were Baked Ziti, a Middle Eastern Falafel Plate, and Egg Salad.
They report that the middle eastern plate’s falafel balls were delicious and the matbucha was a bit spicy and “out of this world.” They write that the baked ziti didn’t have enough flavor, but it was still very nice to get a hot meal in the lounge. They enjoyed the middle eastern plate so much that they ordered another one!
The Middle Eastern Falafel Plate and Egg Salad are parve, while the Baked Ziti is dairy/cholov yisroel under the Star-K and Tartikov.
This is all very exciting news for kosher travelers, be sure to give feedback to any airline you fly on about their kosher offerings!
Update, 12/14: United confirms to DansDeals that they will be “launching kosher meals in their Newark Polaris business class lounge, aligning the launch with Hanukkah,” which begins next week.
Unlike the frozen kosher meals served by American, El Al, and Delta in their US lounges, United will be offering fresh meals provided by Fresko, upon passenger request. United’s onboard kosher meals from Newark are also freshly made by Fresko, and receive excellent reviews from passengers.
Sample meals for breakfast will include a Mushroom Onion Frittata or Cheese Omelet with Breakfast Potatoes. Sample meals for lunch or dinner will include Baked Ziti Pasta and a Middle Eastern Falafel Plate.
The airline did not have any plans to share about expanding kosher offerings to other lounges.
Post a comment if you find hot kosher food in the Polaris lounge to share menu details and pictures!
Before COVID hit, United planned to offer hot kosher dining options in their Newark Polaris business class lounge, with no need to pre-order them.
At KWFE NYC on 2/17/20, United and Fresko had a tasting table and I wrote back then that I was told, “Fresko is working to supply United’s Polaris Lounge in Newark with kosher meals in the coming weeks. Currently the thought process is to offer parve, such as salmon, and dairy, such as ravioli, options for passengers’ pre-flight meals or for connecting passenger’s post-flight meals. United Polaris business and Star Alliance long-haul business and first class passengers can access the Polaris Lounge. Kosher wine is currently available in the lounge, though unlike the in-flight wines, the lounge wines are not mevushal. There won’t be any need to pre-order these meals!”
A week later I had COVID, and soon after that airlines closed their lounges and slashed flights as countries closed their borders.
In 2021 as countries were reopening and passengers returned to the skies, many DansDeals readers wrote to United to bring back in-flight kosher meals and by December United started doing that. At the time United told DansDeals that they were looking into options for providing kosher meals in Polaris lounges.
DDF member Sniderlaw is a United 1K member and has been persistent about asking United when Polaris lounges will have kosher food available.
He received this response from United earlier today,
“My name is Aaron McMillan and I’m the Managing Director of Hospitality Planning at United and lead our food and beverage programs both onboard as well as our United Clubs and Polaris Lounges. Mandeep passed along your note so I could follow up with you. I appreciate you reaching out and sharing your feedback. You’ll be pleased to know that we have a solution identified for hot Kosher meal service in our Newark Polaris Lounge and will have it in place in the coming weeks. Other locations with non-stop service to Tel Aviv are key markets we’re evaluating for further expansion as well, including United Club locations.
We understand the importance of having Kosher options available for customers in our clubs and lounges and look forward to offering them very soon.
Best Regards,
Aaron”
That’s incredible news for kosher observant passengers. According to Mr. McMillan, the Polaris business class lounge in Newark should have hot kosher meals in the coming weeks! Plus Polaris business class lounges and United Clubs in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC which also have nonstop service to Tel Aviv and will hopefully have kosher meal options in the future as well!
United has also confirmed that they are in negotiations to open a club in Tel Aviv.
American offers kosher meals in their Flagship lounges in JFK and Miami and Delta offers kosher meals in all of their hub SkyClubs, though the meals are typical subpar kosher airline meals, or even worse than that. Here’s hoping United works out a solution with Fresko for premium kosher food options, as they were planning on doing before the pandemic.
I reached out to United for an official statement from them, but have not yet heard back from them. This post will be updated if they respond.
Do kosher meal and wine amenities influence which airline you fly with?
Leave a Reply
88 Comments On "Hot Kosher Meals At The Newark Polaris Lounge Are Now Being Served, Plus United Gives Out Kosher Donuts For Chanukah!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Can’t wait! Definitely another reason to fly United.
Waiting for United Clubs, to serve kosher food…
Yup
Dan
Any updates on the United clubs?
who can access these lounges any buisiness class seat /route?
United and Star Alliance long-haul business class passengers.
any cards give access?
No.
No, but cards give a few passes
Not to Polaris lounges.
Does anyone where the airlines get their kosher food for flights out of Chicago? My guess is it’s easier if they all worked with one provider. Anyone, I’m flying on British airways, and I’m curious what to expect.
Since United started to give the fresko meals they are only serving one meal on their Ewr Tlv flights. Instead they give a kosher snack in middle of the flight.
I got two meals on a ewr tlv Polaris flight
I got two meals; economy
I got 2 meals, and even if you only get one meal Fresko is much better food than than regal, so it pays to have one meal from Fresko rather than 2 meals from reagal.
Interesting, and nice to hear.
At the same time, all United Clubs I’ve visited past couple months moved to bulk food – used to be just the hot food we can’t eat, but lately it’s everything down to the chips – open can’t be eaten…
I have been told the United Club EWR will finally extend hours in the coming weeks from 10pm to 10:30pm which is great for the tlv flight.
Great News!! Now waiting for united club to get, how do I contact united whats there email?
just flew yesterday, no kosher yet in polaris lounge.
When is this actually supposed to start?
Any updates? Flying later tonight will update
was told in Newark Polaris still does not have anything kosher, not even packaged stuff like in Denver
Was told yesterday, meals should be there starting December 19
Does anyone know if American Airlines Admiral lounge at JFK airport offers kosher food?
I think only Flagship does. And you probably don’t want to eat it anyway.
flagship does .It was some frozen meals (they gave me 2 options) that they would warm up .
curiosity question , who else serves hot fresko meals ? just to compare
I’m not aware of any other airlines that do.
I’ll stick with new kosher special lol
Not the same post-COVID.
Are they going to have a mashgiach?
No, it will be served fresh, but double wrapped.
Any chance for Bet Yosef kosher
Great News. Does anyone know if American Express will make accommodations for a kosher meal through their concierge if you visit a Centurion Lounge? I feel like they’re the kind of company that’d be willing to do that i.e. grab the same meal the airlines use.
They did not let me in yesterday with the one time pass
One time passes do not work for Polaris.
Flew this week to TLV, and the Fresko meals that they served in coach (pulled beef) was really good. Im not a foodie who writes reviews on food, but it was really so good, I would have taken extras if they had…
First time I responded to United email to take survey, because I wanted to thank them for upgrading the kosher food
I agree, as a jew that eats only kosher food I never had such good food on a plane the dinner was really good bud there breakfast wasn’t so good
At the jfk new soho lounge last week and they offer lunch and dinner. It was 6am, so I declined.
It wasn’t crowded, just folks eating breakfast and taking showers.
Is there an option for economy passengers on EWR-TLV routes to purchase kosher wine?
under what supervision is this food? is it double wrapped? or made fresh?
What lounges offer kosher food in JFK?
I was in the Polaris lounge this week in EWR and they had no kosher food
What Hechsher does Fresko have ?
Star-K
Also Tartikov hechsher
I was thinking more like fresh salads and bagels baguettes
this is just standard grease-food, that even fresh is nothing much
shame on united
I am currently here in the Polaris lounge and asked several people and nobody even knows about upcoming available kosher meals
Me too. Are you on the 3:55 flight to TLV?
“He notes that United is really working to satisfy the needs of the kosher traveler in a way that he hasn’t seen on any other airline and is actively working to improve the kosher product in the airport and in-flight so that it’s best in class”
Then why not introduce right away the entire menu, why let it happen in months?
These things take time to implement in large organizations.
But keep providing feedback and odds are good that it will bumped higher on the priority list of things that they want to do!
I remember as a Bochur in London going to LHR in Chanukah to distribute donuts and Menorahs to travelers on El Al evening flight to TLV.
The security couldn’t figure out by why we were coming through with a source full of donuts
Must’ve been almost 15 years ago.
Awesome!
Ha, I did the same 7 and 8 years ago
Will they bring kosher meals into the ewr united club as well ?
I asked Fresko and United that question, but no comment so far.
Definitely provide feedback!
How does one get to enter the Polaris lounge?
It’s for United and Star Alliance long-haul business class passengers.
I’m sure it’ll make the best nothing Burger ever.
If you can afford United business class you can afford to bring some better food with you too.
Any long-haul business class with unrestricted cancellation policy?
Not worth getting banned over lounge access.
Valid points, and what does United define long-haul, how about EWR > NAS or BDA, must be beyond 6 hours? only international?
While perhaps better than nothing, if you’re really hungry, these kosher options are embarrassingly lame. They’re on par with the gefilte and horseradish days of the 80’s and 90’s.
Like I wrote that Fresko told me, this menu will be expanded and improved in the coming months.
This is just the soft launch trial.
Are all Fresco meals, also Tartikov?
Yes
On the picture of the middle east falafel plate you posted, I don’t see the volover hechsher? Is it on all items?
American flight tonight to TLV has a Chabad menorah lighting at the gate with donuts and gelt.
Is there access to this lounge with star alliance gold?
No, you can access the United Club, not the Polaris Lounge.
But United club doesn’t have any kosher food
On a side note i was served stogel dog food on singapore airlines, FRA-JFK be aware, it seems that singapore service is not that great anymore
My I access the lounge with a united pass?
In Polaris right now for 3:55 flight – they have no idea about kosher!!!!
Ask someone else?
Correction – found someone to help – in the middle of the treif food section on the wall there is a code to scan. That’s the menu. Then ask someone to bring to you!
As a Reserve card holder.
which lounges in Newark airport can I access?
So no kosher food in the reg club lounge
Only long houl intl flights. How can we get them to have kosher at the reg club lounge ?
what about the polaris lounge in SFO ?
i found some kosher food in the popup near c93
Hi dan,
was wondering if this program has stopped?
my mom is now at the lounge and when she asked for kosher food they just gave here some chips and pretzels.
Was there any change? did they pause the trial?
She’s at the United Club EWR or the Polaris Lounge EWR?
If i’m flying with my wife. While only one of us are sitting in united polarize business from EWR-LON. Can both of us get in? If were on the same itinerary. Meaning only one of us got upgraded. Or are the sticklers about bringing my partner in the lounge? Whats your guys experience.
Sticklers.
We flew in July 23 and plan to fly again Polaris in September. It was believe it or not our first time getting Kosher hot food in Newark. Either we have brunch flying from Dulles or from Terminal B which made it a pain to shlep to Terminal C for the Polaris lounge. So…. it was amazing. Not only hot fresh food but I told like 3 other passengers who had no clue. The sign about Kosher is embarrassingly small and even though I knew it was available I had to look twice. Even a babka was hot.
So your flight was EWR-IAD-TLV and you were able to access the Polaris Lounge in Newark? Although your flight departing EWR was domestic and from a different terminal?
Our flight was nonstop EWR-TLV
I’m flying next week EWR-TLV Polaris. Do I need to order kosher food for the lounge before the flight? Also is there a Polaris lounge in Tlv for the return flight?
No, available on demand.
No.