United Airlines hitting some turbulence with new catering company on flights at SFO

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- United Airlines passengers traveling through SFO may be in for a surprise as they board their flights. The airline says after switching catering companies last week, it's facing food and beverage shortages on some flights.

"They came through and I asked for a couple of things, and they said they didn't have anything. They simply said the catering has changed," said traveler Brian Walker.

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At SFO, several United passengers told us they had experienced the catering issues.

One frustrated traveler named Taylor showed us a text she received from the airline before flying back to the East Coast Tuesday.

"It's going to cost at least like $15 to get snacks at the airport to take on the flight. I mean, I don't get home tonight until almost midnight, so I'm going to have to buy food," she said.

It was last week when United switched its catering provider to a company called LSG Sky Chefs.

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"It sounds like, to me, United may have cut over caterers a little too soon. So they've got to get this resolved. And, unfortunately, it sounds like this is going to drag on for some weeks," said Clint Henderson, an airline analyst at travel website The Points Guy.

In a statement, LSG Sky Chefs says they recognize the problems that have come with this transition and are working to resolve them as quickly as possible.

United said most of its flights will have normal catering services.

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The airline told ABC7 News: "Whenever we know an expected meal won't be available, we are reaching out to customers before their flight to let them know."

But some passengers, like East Bay resident Jake Decker, say that wasn't the case when he flew to Denver over the weekend.

"It was just when we had gotten on the plane that we found out, and it feels like it would have been minimal effort to let people know," Decker said.

Decker says while it was a relatively small inconvenience for him, he worries more about others who might have other circumstances.

"I can imagine like seniors or traveling families that are expecting to feed their kids or people who would have to take medication, those are situations that are much more serious than the annoyance of not getting food," said Decker.

There is currently no set timeline of when the catering issues will be fully resolved.