Last week I flew Delta One (business class) from Los Angeles to New York. Before the trip, I took advantage of Delta’s pre-select meal option. At least I thought I did…
Delta supposedly sends out an email to first class customers in advance of flights:
Customers confirmed in the First Class cabin in eligible pre-select markets will see an email from Delta three days prior to their flight asking them to pick their first choice meal. All that’s needed to participate is a valid email address, listed in the customer’s SkyMiles account or in their passenger record.
Problem: I never received one.
So about 25 hours before the flight I reached out to Delta via DM on Twitter to try to reserve a meal. The following conversation ensued:
I was all set. Or so I thought…
When I checked in, my boarding pass indicated a “special meal” had been requested:
Onboard, flight attendants distributed menus before takeoff. I noticed there were three choices on the menu: meatballs, chicken parmesan, or polenta marsala. That was different than beef, fish, pasta, or salad.
When flight attendants took meal orders after takeoff, I asked if my pre-select meal was loaded.
The flight attendant frowned and apologized. He showed on the manifest that I had ordered fish, but said this was not a dinner flight, but a snack flight. That made sense due to the late hour, though when booking, Delta indicated this would be a dinner flight.
So I head meatballs.
CONCLUSION
Lis Bauer, Delta’s Vice President — On-Board Services said:
Our customers tell us they love the peace of mind that the pre-select program provides heading into a flight, because it ensures their first meal choice will be available on board. It also streamlines the process for our flight attendants, giving them more meaningful time to spend with customers.
Sounds good. In theory. Unfortunately, it did not work for me.
I’m curious, since I so rarely fly Delta, what your experience with Delta’s pre-select meal program? It clearly is not as nicely laid out as on American Airlines, where you can easily order you meal when booking or by pulling up the reservation online.
It seems I just dealt with a misinformed Twitter agent. But I remain a bit confused about how Delta meal pre-selection works. I presume I would have actually received an email if my flight had been eligible for meal service pre-selection?
I’ve had it work quite well on many flights. Sounds like they had an issue putting this one together, but it has worked well each time I have flown First with Delta.
Occasionally, I have this problem. I have found it is helpful to ask Twitter CS what the specific menu items are. The first time this happened to me I got the same generic thing (fish, poultry, et al), and then the agent further noticed that specific menu items were available.
I don’t think they’re particularly well trained on this because the email is supposed to come automatically. But you should be able to (eventually) find an agent to pre-select for you if needed
I encountered something with my pre-selected meal. I flew round trip LAX to SJU via JFK in Delta One and First Class: I pre-selected all my meals. I was asked on both my my flights what I’d like to eat and looked at me like I was crazy when I inquired about my special meal. Why offer it when they can’t figure it out?
clearly the customer service person via twitter f’ed up.
I fly this route regularly and have never seen fish on the menu.
Should be noted that Delta is the only one that serves a full dinner on these flights (redeyes from LAX/SFO>JFK/EWR)
I’ve ordered gf meals on long haul flights on Delta at the time of booking. Most of the time this is uneventful, but last time they scared it up to the point I got sick because there isn’t a way to easily kidney everything I can’t eat in their online interface. They compensated me with Mike’s and suggested that next time u call to ensure everything is noted. Different from picking a first class meal, but I’d encounter the same problem in first class
That’s because AA serves much more food in the Flagship Lounge so you can actually sleep on your flight
JetBlue does as well.
I received an email request approx 3 days before my flight and had a choice of 2 selections for a dinner, and 2 breakfast selections for return trip. Plenty of food and tasty. No problems at all.
I’ve flown Delta One out of Atlanta to LAX, and have always received an email, and always gotten the proper request. Even first class small flights with 2 breakfast options have always come ahead of time and been fulfilled. I think it was just bad luck here.
This is somewhere AA trounces on the competition. Not only have they had it for years, it’s available 30 days prior and they also send out emails. 3 day prior email is a receipe (no pun intended) for forgotten or deleted emails and annoyed pax – like your experience
I ordered my meals through an email sent, never any problems. I did get the option to change it if I wanted as well once on flight (sometimes the flight attendants know which meals are tastiest).
I did a 24 hour change, and had a Delta One transcon connection more than 24 hours out from that
So didn’t get the email, but called to see.
Got the same generic chicken/beef/fish etc response from the agent. Asked for more details and the agent didn’t seem to know. Ended up just waiting for the flight, which had the usual 3 choices, no fish.
Another non transcon flight earlier I called in just before 24 hours, and the agent was able to see the specific two choices and read them out. Preslected over the phone and was noted on board.
I’ve flown DL F a lot recently, although mostly on BOS-ATL, so not in Delta One. So far I’ve never had a problem with selecting the meal or getting it on board, maybe that’s perhaps it’s domestic?
Matthew,
My wife and I flew JFK to BCN in Delta One in the spring, enjoyed the meal preorders as placed.
For a more recent trip DTW to SEA, my preorder got lost when we changed our flights to earlier in the day departures, hers carried over. I did the change via phone call, similar confidence inspiring responses that didn’t pan out on the aircraft. But they had what I had requested, so that all went well in the end.
Why do they cover all the food with cheese? That’s disgusting.
This will be my first flight using the pre-select on DL for a F domestic trip. Taking my mother to Oregon for Thanksgiving. My mother is a diabetic, so I was waiting to see if the emails arrived (both of us on the same PNR). According to numerous reports even though this “feature” has been around for awhile it is still a work in progress as happened to you Matthew and it’s a shame. The IT gods must have been looking out for us as at -T70 hours(from the meal flight) we each got our emails for pre-select. Either a “GRILLED CORNED BEEF REUBEN SANDWICH on marble rye” or “GRILLED CHICKEN & ORZO SALAD with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes”. I chose the sandwich and selected the salad for my mother as it sounds like a decent diabetic meal. One of the lingering questions if I should have chose a diabetic “special” meal for her?? Would she have gotten a nice piece of beef or chicken and vegetables or just slop…
Works really well for me all the time. Piece of mind I don’t have to stress out if by the time FA comes to my seat my preferred option is gone.
I have never had an issue with pre-ordering my meal on DL over the course of roughly 10 round-trip D1 flights. I find DL’s service delivery to be consistent and excellent.