i've burned by this now twice in less than a month.
last month from ORD to ATL and today from MSP to ATL our original plane was replaced at the last minute by a delta plane that just arrived after serving as a private charter flight. today, we had the Atlanta Falcons plane after they were dropped off in MSP this afternoon for the game tomorrow. in both instances once we get on board a flight attendant says they are sorry they won't be able to serve food or drinks because the previous flight was a charter and they have nothing they can serve us.
if delta runs charter flights that earn them a bunch of money, they should be able to get it together to stock the plane for the return flight or not put passengers on it. if i paid for a first class ticket, i would certainly ask for a partial refund if this happened.
because of poor weather, the plane sat on the tarmac for several hours before we boarded. at no time did delta warn any of the passengers about this problem. a prior warning would have allowed people to purchase food/drinks before they boarded the plane.
when asked by a passenger why they couldn't stock up on food/drinks in msp, the lead flight attendant said because delta didn't have any operations in MSP this was impossible. they seemed to be unaware that delta recently purchased northwest and msp is a hub for them. i'm sure they could have procured some food and drinks with a little effort.
i've burned by this now twice in less than a month.
last month from ORD to ATL and today from MSP to ATL our original plane was replaced at the last minute by a delta plane that just arrived after serving as a private charter flight. today, we had the Atlanta Falcons plane after they were dropped off in MSP this afternoon for the game tomorrow. in both instances once we get on board a flight attendant says they are sorry they won't be able to serve food or drinks because the previous flight was a charter and they have nothing they can serve us.
if delta runs charter flights that earn them a bunch of money, they should be able to get it together to stock the plane for the return flight or not put passengers on it. if i paid for a first class ticket, i would certainly ask for a partial refund if this happened.
because of poor weather, the plane sat on the tarmac for several hours before we boarded. at no time did delta warn any of the passengers about this problem. a prior warning would have allowed people to purchase food/drinks before they boarded the plane.
when asked by a passenger why they couldn't stock up on food/drinks in msp, the lead flight attendant said because delta didn't have any operations in MSP this was impossible. they seemed to be unaware that delta recently purchased northwest and msp is a hub for them. i'm sure they could have procured some food and drinks with a little effort.
That is both funny and sad. I realize they are oprerating as separate carriers, but puhleeze - No ops in MSP? More like no brains in the ATL. Please send them an email from the DL.com site. I would think it would be fair of them to offer some miles or $$s off your next flight.
Wow, Im glad that I didnt switch my ticket to that flight. I almost had NWA sign my ticket over as the 4pm i was confirmed on didnt leave to 730pm. I was pleasantly suprised to find a hot sandwich served in F on a CR9.
Technically, DL and NWA are still separate entities operating under different OCs. If DL does not have any catering contracts in MSP, then they can't restock the galleys under NWAs agreement with the caterer.
As a cost saving move (and faster turns), many airlines only cater in their hubs and put on enough provisions for all legs of the trip until the A/C gets to another hub. I saw this first done by AirTran years ago and eventually DL adopted it.
...But yeah, it sucks that they did not alert the pax at the gate about the lack of catering prior to boarding.
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[quote=keeton;10943537]Technically, DL and NWA are still separate entities operating under different OCs. If DL does not have any catering contracts in MSP, then they can't restock the galleys under NWAs agreement with the caterer.
As a cost saving move (and faster turns), many airlines only cater in their hubs and put on enough provisions for all legs of the trip until the A/C gets to another hub. I saw this first done by AirTran years ago and eventually DL adopted it.
QUOTE] but that contract with the catering should have been easy to get something added. I understand at non hubs, but would think they did the hubs first.
I am struck by the statement "in both instances once we get on board a flight attendant says they are sorry they won't be able to serve food or drinks because the previous flight was a charter and they have nothing they can serve us."
Did the FA mean that the charter flight had consumed every last morsel of food or drink?
Or that "charter" provisions were too good for normal customers?
on the first charter from ORD to ATL to the only food left from the first flight was some lemon cake- they actually did distribute some of this to the passengers.
on the second charter flight (atlanta falcons), they said the football team brought all their own food with them and took anything that remained with them- leaving nothing at all.
on the second charter flight (atlanta falcons), they said the football team brought all their own food with them and took anything that remained with them- leaving nothing at all.
Well, I have heard that the NFL was experiencing some financial difficulties. But brown-bagging to reduce charter costs?
I kind of understand that they can't get catering from NWA just yet... but why couldn't they just stock the charter with enough provisions for the regular revenue flight back?
I kind of understand that they can't get catering from NWA just yet... but why couldn't they just stock the charter with enough provisions for the regular revenue flight back?
Could be that all of the carts and galley space was used with the food/beverages for the charter. No excuse, I know, but that could be why they didn't provision it for the return.
Having worked several 757 football charters, there simply is not room in the galleys for all the food for the players and food and drinks for a revenue flight. That being said, if they knew the routing of this aircraft in advance then there is no reason DL could not have contracted catering for a flight with a vendor at MSP.
Unless they weighed the cost of catering vs. dealing with complaints on the back end.
Having worked several 757 football charters, there simply is not room in the galleys for all the food for the players and food and drinks for a revenue flight. That being said, if they knew the routing of this aircraft in advance then there is no reason DL could not have contracted catering for a flight with a vendor at MSP.
Unless they weighed the cost of catering vs. dealing with complaints on the back end.
Bingo! We'll go math style to solve this one.
X = Cost to get catering in MSP
Y = Number of passengers on flight
Z = Total dollar amount per passenger that is awarded after the fact based on lack of catering
Delta will never do this because of the following equation
X > Y*Z
The reason that I can say that is b/c Z=0. Good luck getting anything
It's the same reason why most of the CR9s don't ever have alcohol. Very few people buy drinks on those planes, so why would they want to give them away for free to the people in F. No one complains enough, so it works for Delta to do it.
If they can't get alcohol onto a CR9 in CVG when it has been on the ground for 3 hours, when can they?
i've burned by this now twice in less than a month.
last month from ORD to ATL and today from MSP to ATL our original plane was replaced at the last minute by a delta plane that just arrived after serving as a private charter flight. today, we had the Atlanta Falcons plane after they were dropped off in MSP this afternoon for the game tomorrow. in both instances once we get on board a flight attendant says they are sorry they won't be able to serve food or drinks because the previous flight was a charter and they have nothing they can serve us.
if delta runs charter flights that earn them a bunch of money, they should be able to get it together to stock the plane for the return flight or not put passengers on it. if i paid for a first class ticket, i would certainly ask for a partial refund if this happened.
because of poor weather, the plane sat on the tarmac for several hours before we boarded. at no time did delta warn any of the passengers about this problem. a prior warning would have allowed people to purchase food/drinks before they boarded the plane.
when asked by a passenger why they couldn't stock up on food/drinks in msp, the lead flight attendant said because delta didn't have any operations in MSP this was impossible. they seemed to be unaware that delta recently purchased northwest and msp is a hub for them. i'm sure they could have procured some food and drinks with a little effort.
It does suck not to have provisioning for the aircraft, however, this was not a scheduled upgrade. This happened last minute otherwise catering provisions would have been made in advance.
The inbound flight from ATL was canceled, rather than canceling the MSP-ATL flight they decided to use a 767-300. The 767-300 was supposed to be ferried back but why ferry it back when there are displaced customers trying to get out of MSP?
Hopefully, the entertainment worked on the 767. Better than an MD-88 ride.
