Sky Club Food Getting Better
 

I haven't traveled for a little while, so maybe things got better a while ago, but I was mildly impressed by the food offerings in both my Sky Club visits yesterday.

It was hot and humid in the FLL SC yesterday morning at 5am (probably as it just opened at 4:45am), but the choice of breakfast snacks made up for it. Enough for a nice light breakfast for sure.

Last night around 5:30pm, the T gates SC at ATL had a very nice soup and other offerings.

Still a ways away from the best clubs worldwide, but a very positive move in the right direction. Still think they need flagship Delta-One clubs at a minimum in ATL and JFK for international business class customers.

This has been the case since last August. And I for one find the food offerings to be a mixed bag. The soup varies and is sometimes better than others. Same story with the salads. I very much enjoyed the chicken salad as well as the couscous salad that was offered some time ago, but I was less than thrilled with the corn salad that was circulating around last year.

The new(ish?) Thai-style chicken and rice soup is quite good, I've found.

That's the one I had !

Although the complexity of the salad, aka Romaine lettuce with your choice of Ranch or Balsamic, is pretty pitiful. I guess you can chop up some of the carrot and celery sticks to add in yourself...

I'm glad they have some snacks, and I hope they are getting positive feedback to adjust accordingly!

I concur with the posters above, in that the SC offerings sometimes can be a hit or miss. I loved their cranberry chicken salad, and although it has been removed from a majority of the SC's, I believe on some occasions you can still find it in some SC's/ Same with the soup-I loved the lentil soup they had.

That said, considering I take the T-CON JFK-LAX almost every month, I believe that they are doing something really awesome for their D1 pax. Way to go DL.

If mods/FT'ers want, this can be made into a thread and D1 pax can post their SC meal experiences on T-CONs.

Menu and pic of the dish I had (Tofu):

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/447/18...b4d38cbf_c.jpgIMG_5170 by AvidFlyer1990, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/340/18...cf4022dd_c.jpgIMG_5169 by AvidFlyer1990, on Flickr

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/321/18...bfb16334_c.jpgIMG_5181 by AvidFlyer1990, on Flickr

I wish that they would add kitchens to other major lounges, so that real food could be served. I get having to charge for some things, but they should still be able to do some hot options other than soup.

I like the idea of giving Delta One customers free premium drinks and meals in the lounges. Ideally, Delta should do what AA has done and offer a separate lounge for premium route customers.

That's a nice looking snack.

Even served on the same trays as on-board!

Skyclub food nothing to write home about but at least it's something

Yeeppp....they sure were! I believe that they were trying to create a streamline experience of what you can expect on-board (giving a little taste of what's to come in the air, when you're on the ground)!

Yes, the point is, that DL is trying to improve SC offerings, food-wise. Especially rolling out the full meals for premium TCON pax at JFK T4 SC, is much appreciated. I wish that they expanded this to atleast all the SC's that serve international D1 pax.

Honestly a large tapas/sampler plate like pictured above would be great for late-night departures where people want something quick and efficient. Offering choice is good but for a late night flight quick and easy service is my preference. I know HA does a small plates style service with something like eight selections where you choose 2-3, B6 does this for Mint as well, and VX had something like this when they first launched (haven't seen it in trip reports recently so not sure).

It would be great if Delta offered a full meal in the SC, in exchange for declining meal service on the plane. This would be good for shorter Delta One flights (like JFK-LHR), or for business travelers who want to immediately get to sleep. The meal would obviously have to be superior to the one offered on the plane, however.

I think it's great that they are trying to do something for D1 pax. But I (and others traveling with me) were fairly underwhelmed by the new D1 SC complimentary light food offer. It was fairly tasteless and seemed to need a bit of salt. We could have caught them on a bad day though.

The free drink was nice but still a bit confusing as to what you can choose. I asked what was available, and was asked "what would you like"? Then went through drink after drink and was told each had a surcharge. It might be better if they could just say what's actually included.

It has already expanded to ATL E and F, and more Sky Clubs will be included in the near term.

I think it's great that DL is doing something for D1 passengers at select SC. I'll be at JFK next week on a D1 itinerary and I'll get to check it out.

With that said, DL should make all drinks and premium snacks complimentary for D1 passengers. Make it a true business class experience.

I find myself not getting free drinks at the bars in the SC's because I don't want to be that guy who asks.. well what's free?

I'd like to see this in domestic FC on flights that are long enough for meals but depart after 8 pm, such as the last ATL-MSP flight of the night. It's not easy to eat before these flights, even if one is willing to have dinner in an airport restaurant.

I think at least some of the luxury bars sell full bottles of champagne. Should that be free for D1 passengers? My answer would be no.

Agree, there has to be a better way to do this.

Related, on my last two JFK SC T4 visits, the service from the food/drink staff seems to have improved quite a bit.

I wrote a note to DL complementing them on their nice breakfast and increased snacks, but added they need to do do better for D1 pax.

Got a nice (form) letter back thanking me for my comments, but they didn't mention that D1 pax now get better snacks / light meals.

But its good to hear the comments above that DL really is trying to improve teh D1 experience on the ground. Maybe the extensive discount business class fares I've been seeing recently have DL taking notice.

This seems like a contradiction. If business class fares are cheap, it's hard to see an argument for spending money to improve the service unless DL is trying to position itself above the competition. Being forced to match cheap fares should lead to service cutbacks.

BA used to do that, their F lounge had meals so you could spend all your time on the plane asleep. (They might still, it's just been a long time since I flew BA in F.)

DL matches some cheap fares, but I think their D1 product IS better than many airlines and therefore they can charge a premium. But if the lounge experience sucks, this degrades the whole D1 experience and pax may think twice about flying DL next time.

I now hear there's a dedicated Delta-One lounge at LAX Bravo DL for realizing the lounge DOES make a difference.

What time does the Sky Club menu change from breakfast to lunch?

At 11:00 a.m., I believe.

BA still does this for F and J at their US lounges, though it's a buffet with more substantial items (not a sit-down service like at the VS lounge).

Just now saw your reply from 6 weeks ago...

Maybe, I was thinking more along the lines of transcons either eastbound overnight or late evening westbound. Although for the former, unlike AA, DL serves a full meal of out JFK even for 9pm departures.

ATL-MSP is a fairly short flight, and is likely either right on the 900 mile band or is an exception market being hub to hub. Don't flights of that length on DL only get a choice of cold salad/sandwich and a packaged Dancing Deer cookie? Wouldn't something like the above be a pretty significant (and IMO unlikely) upgrade?

My mother always told me to substitute complimentary for free. Lest we be beggars on the streets (or sky clubs!)

The Thai soup is the best soup I think they have - though I enjoyed that Italian Wedding Meatball soup a few months back.

Finally had the clam corn chowder and it was muy bueno.☺

What company provides the catering for SkyClubs? I'd seriously buy that Thai soup for home.

The chicken thai and the corn crab (I think it's crab not clam?) chowder are both excellent. I'm a fan of the chicken salad too... Good stuff!

+1 on the Thai soup. I'll have that and the chicken salad and crackers for a lite dinner or lunch.

I really liked the Pumpkin soup they used to have.

Sky Club Food Getting Better
 

Anyone know if the Thai soup has milk/cream in it? I want to think its coconut milk, but you can never know. I'd just hate to make my seat mate feel uncomfortable after I've had a bowl of it :p

During my 3 hour SLC layover on Weds night the veggies looked like they had seen better days, but the cookies were yummy, and they had some mini pies and cheesecakes. Not too bad, had some popcorn to balance out all the sugar.

If only there were a thread or two about the current offerings in the skyclub that are free...

If only there were a printed menu listing the complementary drinks...

If only there were a way of ordering a drink like "vodka tonic" to avoid having to select a particular brand of vodka..

I was very pleasantly surprised with the Chicken Thai Soup as well, even went back for seconds. I hope the pumpkin soup will be back in the Fall. I like the tuna salad and am disappointed whenever I see the chicken salad instead (I realize I may be in the minority since I have not seen much posted about it). I typically have that with the marinated mushrooms or maybe some olive tapenade with crackers. Of course things could always be better, but I am actually reasonably satisfied with the snack options.

Sodexo provides catering to the SC's I have been in. Would assume they do all of them.

I was told the soups are made by Kettle Cuisine:

http://www.kettlecuisine.com/

What are the SkyClubs stocking for breakfast these days? I have a long day of travel to HKG and I have to get to the airport a bit on the early side; thus I'll have plenty of a.m. time in the MSP F/G SkyClub and wondered what I might get to munch on.

Hard boiled egg, bagels, toast, cereal, oatmeal, muffins, fruit, yogurt, and a BM.