Earlier this week I wrote about Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s belief that people are ready to “reclaim” their lives and start traveling again. But when it comes to in-flight service, Delta will reclaim it on its own terms. That is finally happening. In a small sign of progress, Delta will restore some items onboard not seen for over a year.
Delta Restores Service Onboard…On Its Terms
Bastian told NBC News:
“As the case counts are coming down … and the vaccinations are starting to grow, people are ready to reclaim their lives. And, we’re seeing bookings pick up…They’re ready to reclaim that lost period.”
But when it comes to reclaiming in-flight service, Delta has been very slow and insisted upon doing it on its own terms rather than look to its competitors.
Currently, passengers are offered a snack bag with two snacks, a bottle of water, hand sanitizer, and a napkin on all flights. First class passengers receive a choice of beer and wine on flights over 500 miles and a snack box on flights over 900 miles. No cocktails, coffee, or tea are available.
Effective April 14, 2021, Delta is making a number of changes to its onboard service offerings:
- Beverage service will return in both cabins
- Select drinks will be available in 7.5 oz cans and served sealed
- Coca-Cola
- Diet Coke
- Sprite
- Ginger ale
- Coffee and tea will return
- Cocktails, beer, and wine will be sold in economy class
- Alcoholic drinks will cost $1 more than pre-pandemic levels
- Ice and cups will only be available upon request
- Two snacks will be offered
- Goldfish
- Biscoff cookies
- Almonds
- Clif Bars
No word on the return of meals in first class, even on premium transcontinental flights. Juices and other liquor will still not be available in either cabin.
In a memo to flight attendants, Delta said:
“We have not followed other airlines or reacted to the actions of our competitors. Rather, we’re launching the new snack and beverage service the Delta way – driven by our values, focused on safety and with exciting new offerings our customers will enjoy and appreciate.”
Delta has indeed charted its own course. But as Bastian claims it is time to “reclaim” our lives, it is also time to reclaim our inflight food and beverages…
CONCLUSION
I feel like this is a situation in which we are expected to praise Delta but to which I instead respond “too little, too late.” Even so, it is a step in the right direction.
Expect a choice of drink and new snacks onboard Delta starting on April 14th.
(H/T: Thrifty Traveler // image: Delta)
Too little too late is right – not even sure acknowledging the ‘on their own terms’ marketing spin was needed.
More vaporware from Delta while UNITED is rising.
@ Matthew — They really need to bring meals back to F. They are being cheap. I would think that 2020 was Delta’s best year ever after counting the giveaway of our money. They better not get another dime from the Feds.
So orange juice at 7am is still considered a safety risk? GTFO with that nonsense.
This is continued cost cutting, plain and simple.
I agree with Greg. It’s hard for me to say it, but United is back to full beverage mode and even is serving a hot sandwich on most flights in first now. DL used to lead the way on service and they are sadly falling well behind. They are also the highest priced now, too.
Thats why Im booking first class flights with American at least I get a sandwich.
I am a Delta flyer and am happy to see at least some degree of service return. I am not too unhappy about the missing meals in First class as they were often trash anyway. Someone described them as “TV dinner” which was quite fitting. Hope they introduce some real food soon but until then I will bring my own Chipotle on board.
Agreed with all these comments. It think Ed & Co. are drunk on their ‘high grade onboard disinfectant’ and have forgotten what made them the leading carrier in the first place – by providing what the customer wants not what they tell us we want ‘their way’. And sadly, most of the crew, which was another former Delta strongpoint are using the lack of offerings to offer practically no service at all other than the stupid ‘snack bag’ containing the micro water bottle.
@James
Delta is leaving money on the table by blocking middle seats. This isn’t some grand conspiracy to make a buck by denying you a 25 cent can of diet coke. Are you dense?
Am I the only one who couldn’t care less about the prison-grade meals on domestic F? They should resume alcohol service for the remaining cabins though.
All of those snacks are presently provided, just not for economy. The only real new thing is coffee/tea, cocktails and soda pop. Will they stock enough Diet Coke for more than one can per passenger in first class?
Delta has a huge problem. They have spent nearly a year telling passengers that flying in a middle seat on their aircraft or competing airlines was unsafe. Delta even hired PhDs and other scientists to produce videos saying so. These videos ran as ads on social media and other outlets. Delta is supposedly going to start booking middle seats at the end of April. This is problematic as the airline says, right now, that middle seats are unsafe. So, who wants to book a middle seat? Delta is going to have to figure this out. If I were Ed Bastian I would come up with a scheme to allow passengers to buy the middle seat for extra space or even a whole row of economy, particularly on long-haul flights, like Air New Zealand and some other foreign carriers do with so-called sky couches.
Delta’s middle seat initiative can be an opportunity as FNT put it to be truly innovative by offering the ability to buy the middle seat to give that extra space for Covid worries or whatever.
I would have First and Economy go back to the usual ‘middle’ seating, both with a purchase the middle (or next seat) seat option. Delta can price those seats based upon targeted route revenue and historical middle seat load factor in what is likely a simple formula for their revenue management system. Why First? Because we’re already far enough apart (duh – the original reason for First in the first place) and blocking seats there is simply an unnecessary step that takes inventory away from those seeking it for purchase or upgrade.
I would then keep Comfort middle seats open though and bump up the pricing for Comfort to achieve something close to the revenue per seat prior to Covid. Another angle would be to purposefully ‘upgrade’ elite status travelers to seats with the middle or side seat open.
In the meantime, bring back the real snacks, booze, and stop being stingy with the service and waters. At the end of a long trip and work week not having the old Delta level of service is a real downgrade.
Some of my worst in flight experiences have been with Delta flight attendants, in both Premium Economy (Intl) and 1st Class (Domestic). It will take a lot more than this to bring me back. I’ll enjoy my EXP status with American, they actually are happy to see me!
When will we get our Fresca back?