Originally Posted by
FlyDeltaMD88
Nope was a thing before COVID, even more ridiculous on routes like ORD-MSP where DL was only "coffee & water only" while Southwest, American, United etc had full drink service in Y.
I believe it was introduced to appease the FA's not to unionize.
Under PMNW, MSP-ORD and vv were FastTrack (shuttle) routes, with convenient gate assignments and a cold meal/snack buffet in the boarding area. On mainline aircraft, FAs managed easily to serve beverages to everyone, often with refills offered.
When drink vouchers were paper, I would hope that a FA would serve the customer from FC stock when possible, but I'm not sure the FA has the possibility to accept any form of payment on a coffee/tea/water flight.