nerdbirdsjc

According to today's news release, Delta is adding complimemtary meals to Economy Comfort on transcon flights:

http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=43&item=2239

Will United match to remain competitive?

Always Flyin

That's an easy question. Show me one thing that United has done recently that is customer friendly.

As a result, the answer is, "No."

JetAway

These aren't real meals. Just the BOB "healthy" sandwiches which are now gratis for the E+ pax. Lots of "health" buzz words in the description, meaning they likely aren't very tasty. But, no, UA won't follow.

mahasamatman

Remain?

spin88

I noticed this too. And they will not be serving the @@@@ food UAL serves (fatty and cheap), they have made the point of pairing with a quality brand

"Each flight will feature two sandwich wraps from the following menu:

Luvo Quinoa Crunch Wrap (360 calories) - Fresh crunchy vegetables, quinoa, avocado, edamame hummus, black rice and bean salad in an olive oil-whole wheat tortilla with a side of seedless grapes and a multi-seed coconut chocolate chip cookie.
Luvo Grilled Chicken Wrap (400 calories) - Spiced grilled chicken, crisp romaine lettuce, avocado, cherry tomato, vegan herb aioli, in an olive oil-whole wheat tortilla with a side of seedless grapes and a multi-seed coconut chocolate chip cookie.
Luvo Roast Turkey & Havarti Wrap (440 calories) - Sliced roast turkey breast, havarti cheese, black rice and bean salad, arugula, edamame hummus in an olive oil-whole wheat tortilla with a side of seedless grapes and a multi-seed coconut chocolate chip cookie.

The new transcontinental menu follows the successful launch of Luvo snacks currently offered on the 15-times daily Delta Shuttle flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco International airports."

And I might add that DAL is highlighting their quality wines (as UAL is going for $10 plonk...).

"Additionally, customers in BusinessElite on transcontinental flights will continue to enjoy the Delta WineMaker Series with new selections for 2014. Since its launch in 2012, the series has featured high profile and sought-after California wines curated by Master Sommlier Andrea Robinson. The first two selections for 2014 are a 2012 Sauvignon Blanc from Matanzas Creek Winery in Sonoma County and a 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon from Arrowood in Sonoma County. Customers in BusinessElite will continue to enjoy multi-course meals developed by Napa Valley-based Chef Michael Chiarello."

Both are good wineries and these are quality wines.

Does anyone else think that folks are sitting in Atlanta watching what UAL is doing with their "2B in cuts" and intentionally looking for ways to highlight how they are going the opposite direction.

demkr

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 7_0_4 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/537.51.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0 Mobile/11B554a Safari/9537.53)

United can't figure out how to use proper glassware or serve meals on RJs. They have shown no desire to compete on soft product...

goalie

They'll charge double

^

Zappity

Should be clear that they're only talking about JFK-LAX/SEA/SFO, not all Transcons.

LarkSFO

Delta Points... Who is 'as big a cheerleader for DL' as there is in the blogger community.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...-ec-seats.html

No chance of an unsupported upgrade for elites, we'll give you some free quinoa instead.

For the JFK-LAX/SFO routes, with the heightened competition, it would be nice to see UA up their game. I am not holding my breath though.

fjfv19

Match? They usually downgrade / downgauge in the face of heightened competition.

GBadger

Did DL take away CPU on these routes? I used to be CPU'd all of the time on SFO-JFK as a DL PM/DM.

fjfv19

Yes, they end as of 1 March, 2014.

spin88

But Lark, that is the point. Delta is thinking about the entire picture. They clearly did not want to give away FC as they went lie flat on JFK-LAX/SFO/SEA, and they followed UAL in not allowing CPU on that flight. AA is different as only EXPs get unlimited upgrades, and they clearly figured it was worth it to keep offering them (unless I missed it and they cut back on that too) and in any event, they get a free BOB and a drink if in Y anyway.

Yet, this change resulted in some traffic in the back of the bus, Delta did not want to see unhappy DM/PMs who used to get upgrades - EVEN IF THEY HAVE NO PLACE TO GO - and so they toss them a health BOB to them. Its a small gesture, but small gestures go a long way.

Delta is building a service culture, and trust me, everyone who flies DAL and gets a free healthy sandwich and has IFE on their plane, will recall the ride as being ok. This is not the culture UAL is building with no IFE, no ETOH in international Y, no "peanuts" with the drinks in Y, poor quality meals, etc.

Believe it or not, people remember, and tell others about how an airline treated them. You and I both live in the bay area, when was the last time you heard someone NOT ON FT. say something nice about UAL? I can recall once in the last year, and I have lost count of the folks who have recounted bad stories.

FlytheTail

I agree completely, although wanted to point out that Delta will only permit "Global Upgrades" on these JFK-LAX/SEA/SFO flights; the newly created "Regional Upgrades" cannot be applied and of course, no CPUs either. The Globals will only be available to Diamonds (125K miles + $12.5K/year) and they will only get four of them. Can still burn miles (12.5K/way) to upgrade though, from select fare classes.

PTahCha

Why give away quinoa when you get ice cream sundae Sundae SUNDAE in BusinessFirst?