Food-delivery robots have flooded L.A., and elsewhere, Uber Eats and DoorDash bring any cuisine you can imagine directly to your home or hotel. Now, United Airlines is testing its own version of a food-delivery service at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
Passengers on select flights can order food, drinks, and travel essentials through the United app and have them delivered to a designated shelf at their gate. The initial rollout covers nine gates in Terminal C (C125 through C138), serving both domestic and international departures.
How United’s food-delivery service works
Eligible passengers will get a push notification or email before departure with a menu of food and drinks for purchase from restaurants in the terminal—for now, Nonna’s Kitchen & Bar (for Italian comfort food), Victory Grille (for American pub grub), and Cibo Express Gourmet Market (which sells your standard snacks). Also available for delivery are travel essentials like over-the-counter medicine, travel pillows, and charging cords.
Orders are delivered directly to the gate, and passengers are welcome to carry them on board. A United spokesperson tells Afar that a “small service fee” applies, so pricing won’t exactly match what you’d pay walking up to the counter. However, a 20 percent food discount will be applied during the pilot period, when the new service is being tested.
“The time right before boarding is one of those moments when customers want quick, easy access to food without added complexity,” David Kinzelman, chief customer officer at United, said in a statement.
Kinzelman called EWR “a high-volume connecting hub” where there may be little time between stepping off one plane and boarding the next. (As someone who has made a run for it at Newark before, I know that these are the exact conditions under which people make bad food decisions—or skip eating altogether.)
After you order via the United app, your bag will be available at a designated pickup shelf.
Courtesy of United Airlines
This isn’t the first time delivery orders have been fulfilled at the airport, though. OTG, the concessionaire United is partnering with, has offered order-ahead pickup and gate delivery at EWR via QR code for several years. In addition, travelers have been able to order ahead at airport Starbucks since 2021; more than 230 airport Starbucks take app orders today, which travelers can then pick up at the designated outpost, eliminating the need to wait in line.
However, this is the first time food delivery sits within the United app, a tap away from your mobile boarding pass. Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) joins the airline’s delivery pilot later this year. Feedback from both cities will determine whether the program will continue.
If the test succeeds, the airline plans to build ordering into its seatback screens on board. That could not only be a game changer on a tight connection but also ease the end of a long travel day, allowing you to have a real meal within minutes of stepping off the jet bridge.
A new standby option, too
Separately, United rolled out an app feature on September 1 to help travelers whose plans have been disrupted. Those who have been rebooked on a later flight (after a delay or cancellation) can now join the standby lists for up to three earlier flights to the same destination. The airline will monitor availability in the background and text you if a seat opens up.
Previously, standby was available on only one flight at a time. United, which says more than 85 percent of its customers use the app on travel day, is calling this specific waitlist feature an industry first.
