Pre-ordering Meals on Delta, the Definitive Thread
 

Delta soon to allow 1st class & D1 to preselect meal choice at booking

Per Delta rep Catherine Sirna

“Delta passengers in First Class or Delta One will be able to preselect the meal of their choice when booking, or up to 24 hours prior to departure, via Delta.com.”

Source is my blog post: BREAKING NEWS: Delta will soon allow preselection of 1st class meal choice at booking! - Renés PointsRenés Points

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An update from Delta 25APRIL17 can be found in post #362 that says:

“At Delta, we are continuously making thoughtful investments to elevate the on-board experience based on our customers’ feedback. Our customers have told us that they value having more control over their experience inflight, specifically around selecting their meal options in advance to ensure they receive their first choice. As a result, we are conducting a pre-selection test April 24 through May 24.During the month-long test period, a subset of customers traveling on select international flights in the Delta One cabin will be asked to participate in the test via an email and/or text message. Throughout the test, customer satisfaction scores and flight attendant feedback as well as operational aspects will be closely monitored. We will share our plans beyond the test period after we review all the results and our go-forward plan has been finalized.” – Delta representative Catherine Sirna

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Update: From December 2018 $DAL investors day this goes LIVE end 1Q19:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30534514-post692.html

Nice to see DL catching up to AA on this one, and that worrying about whether or not FEBO is followed will be a thing of the past. Or knowing ahead of time that the meal on board is garbage and I should get something from the terminal.

About time

1. What's the timeline for implementation of this? All flights at once of phased introduction?

2. This won't be very helpful to those who are upgraded at the gate. In fact, it will decrease the chances of getting one's choice as there will be fewer unclaimed standard meals loaded per flight on average.

3. DL playing copycat is new. I guess competitive pressures and market forces still do work somewhat in the airline industry.

Sample data point from flying first class a few times on american this yr due to delta not valuing my loyalty I havent seen anyone not get their meal choice. Also why should someone who got a comp upgrade get to choose before someone who paid for first because they are on an odd or even numbered flight? It makes no sense.

Elites have paid for their "comp" upgrades over the years, even if the upgrade isn't instrument supported. It's not free to earn DM. Plus, I don't think I'd like having FAs know what I paid for my ticket and making this clear to everyone around me.

Yeah I'm curious as to how this will work with day of departure upgrades for RUC/GUC. Does that mean for D1 you will just get the 'leftovers' of what isn't already picked?

I know this is delta we are talking about and i may be asking for the world but on aa you can choose upto 24 hours ahead of time....could they not stock equal amounts of options for the remaining seats ....on an american flight i was on this year for example 737 800 16 first class seats everyone got what they wanted and it was like 14 tenderloin to 2 pasta ....delta may not be able to pony up the cost for the extra meals so everyone gets their choice 😞

I'm missing something apparently. How does this indicate what you paid for your ticket? All it indicates is that somehow you were confirmed in a FC/D1 cabin more than 24 hours in advance of the flight. You could have purchased a full fare ticket ten months in advance or the cheapest (non-E) ticket and were upgraded 36 hours prior to departure.

(I guess people who heard, "I see you ordered the chicken" will know that you were not given an op-up.)

Even more of an incentive to actually pay for the service desired.

I was responding to someone who said that anyone on a comp upgrade (whenever and however) should pick last. It could create a two class system among revenue passengers in FC.

An AA F/A showed me her official "rules" book (don't know what it is called). FEBO is out and it is E/W N/S -- but she admitted that many of the FA's forget and just do FEBO even though the flights are no longer Odd/Even on same routes.

It was interesting -- she was in a mood to dump on AA since the merger and I got an EARFUL. Lots of "inside baseball" stuff.

I wish they'd make everyone wear a name badge with a "Hello, my name is_____, I paid _____". Sure would solve a lot of the DYKWIA. Sort upgrades, boarding, everything by the number. :D

What is E/W N/S --???

BTW, she probably violated her employer's policy in showin your her "rule book" (my term), so don't post the flight and date anywhere unless you want to get her in trouble.

As a hub captive, I generally face high fares so this would probably be good for me on most flights.