rylan

I bet that any complaints to the bartender about the new 'enhanced' selection won't go anywhere either. Since its outsourced management and staff and cost is clearly the driver, they have no incentive to care or provide good quality anything.

MS02113

I wouldn't go that far, lest we attract BiggAW into this thread.

Either that, or Delta has some sort of marketing agreement with JD. I recall a decent amount of in-flight promotion (AVOD, Sky magazine, cocktail napkins) when JD launched its Tennessee Honey offshoot. Should the relationship end, I'm sure Delta will drop JD in a heartbeat for Diageo swill.

Right. Which is why equivalently priced Diageo brands Johnnie Walker Red or J&B would have been the pleasant options, not Scoresby.

Perhaps complaints to the Delta employees at the Sky Club check-in and flight assistance desks will go further.

rylan

I'll be sure to say something to them, however at this point I honestly don't think that DL corporate really cares about what their customers think. The air service was turned into essentially a non-differentiated commodity and the skyclub is now the same thing as well.

us2

Nor do they much care at AA or UA where things are no better. Welcome to the brave new world of three US global supercarriers who now know they're too big to fail and also know that nobody in their right mind would invest the billions it would take to start up a new major global network carrier from scratch. It's now an oligopoly and things will probably get worse rather than better from here on out and I suspect this will be a race to the bottom.

rylan

Totally agree with you there. Its not going to stop getting worse until the business cycle goes back in the crapper.

BenA

If Delta needed to cut costs, I would far have preferred they do so by limiting quantity, not quality. I'd rather have one decent beer than three Budweisers - and, honestly, I'd rather my seatmates only have one decent beer than three Budweisers, too.

If the backlash to this change is as big as I think it is, perhaps the folks at the Sky Club management can consider a chit system. I'd be happy if I was handed one drink ticket at check-in good for a midrange drink (the old liquor quality or a microbrew), and further drinks require paid buy-up. You could always offer additional complimentary drinks from the newly limited selection, too...

us2

Then they have an excuse to make more cuts...

By the way, I just got back from a trip to the grocery to grab something for dinner and made a pass through the liquor aisle. The handle bottles of Gordon's gin/vodka and Scoresby's are plastic, something not generally associated with premium spirits. As my black friends would say, that's just ghetto...

bigx0

And you have done none of these things. The lack of local beers as well as the cheapening of the the other brands is disgusting.

Spiff

Not quite.

AA gives drink chits good for premium drinks to its premium-cabin international passengers, AA Platinum and Executive Platinum passengers traveling internationally in coach, and non-AA Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald passengers who have been admitted to the Admiral's Club.

Herb687

Uh huh, so you got a mass of customers saying things like "Delta, please raise the club membership fee and stop serving decent booze. I really like the Sky Club but your free booze selection is just too good. Please downgrade your beer and spirits selection."

Why do airline official reps post on here at all if they are just going to post condescending BS that insults our intelligence?

JACK DANIEL'S IS NOT BOURBON.

us2

Another way to cut costs is to eliminate free booze altogether and offer a selection of decent but not great stuff at a reasonable price as an alternative to the high priced stuff. Back in my days flying US, that was the policy in the US clubs and I was fine with that. That was awhile ago, but I think they charged something like $4 or 5 for a decent drink (Tanqueray and so forth). Cheaper than the bars outside the club and an even better deal if you got to know the bartenders and left a decent tip.

Personally, I've got no problem paying for drinks. What I have a problem with is there seemingly being no middle ground between free swill and overpriced high end stuff. The "luxury bar" menu actually has some very good single malts on it and it's a nice option to have if I feel like indulging myself. But in the course of traveling, I'm usually content to settle for a Dewar's and soda or two. Likewise with vodka, Skyy was fine. Not what I usually keep at home, but perfectly serviceable for a post-redeye Bloody Mary.

rylan

How long has the "luxury" bar been around? A couple years? Didn't take long for our predictions to come true that the well brands would be reduced to swill in order to try to sell more of the overpriced stuff.

us2

A fair point, but...

once Doug ("LCC") Parker gets his hands on AA, things will change there, too. I really hope I'm wrong on this, but my experiences following the HP/US merger (i.e. "let's try charging for soft drinks") tells me otherwise.

timmy83

I feel similarly. To pay $12 for a glass of viogner (which retails for around $18 a bottle) at a high-end restaurant is fine, but at the club, it just feels like a slap in the face when you've paid for admission and they're giving $7 wine away for free.

Does anyone know if the luxury bar is pulling money in from anyone other than the few people who accidentally order from it on their first visit and are too embarrassed to say no?

Deemus7

Currently sitting in the A17 SkyClub in ATL enjoying one last Skyy on the rocks before the clubs move to Gordon's. You should see the commotion going on behind the bar as they are packing up all of the unused liquor. It sounds like May 15th will be a hard and fast deadline.

(Even more amusing is the gentleman at the bar right now complaining about spending $130k per year on Delta and now being asked to pay for drinks in the SC)