jdrtravel

Wow, I'm really surprised at these reports. With the amount of marketing DL has done on this, you would think they would get the rollout right. I'll be curious to see if this is just an issue of it being new or if it is a bad process design. I know they tested it on select flights for a while, so one would hope that they have experience with it working well, and with positive customer feedback.

ethernal

I think that the one thing that perhaps didn't come out on my review (which probably was more critical than positive) is that overall the presentation and process seemed more "premium" which I assume was Delta's primary objective with this overhaul. While not my cup of tea, I could totally get a once-or-twice-a-year international traveler enjoying the more drawn out process and slightly less cafeteria-style presentation.

As someone that spends over 600 hours a year in a plane, I care that there is a decent amount of food, it is of sufficient quality to be edible, and that the service is efficient (if I am not trying to sleep I will have my laptop out so the more time a tray is blocking the table the less happy I will be). So my guess is that I may not be the target demographic for this "enhancement".

ja70

CDG-MSP yesterday

one less full drink service during meal which I don't hate, often you'd get the first drink service and 10 minutes later be getting the second one with your food before finishing your drink

total amount of food was less, entrees didn't seem bigger. appetizer seemed to be combinations of things you used to be able to get. prosciutto and melon dish was the old fruit cup mixed with prosciutto.

received caramel ice cream as dessert.

service was good and seemed to be quicker than normal dinner service to be honest. was asleep not two hours after take off but smaller plane. service overall was great, lots of passes by flight attendants checking if you needed anything extra, water runs, warm cookie, etc.

didn't hate it, was just different.

AANYC1981

How are the Bellinis? Too sugary?

also are they also available in later beverage services?

bennos

Just experienced my first version of this (and actually my first DL Y flight in a really long time) and I'm actually quite happy with it. With the exception of the Bellini service being after departure and the presentation, I actually thought the F&B was better than the VS Premium Economy product.

The Bellini is a little sweet, but not too bad. It's served from trays, so the service is very quick. This appears to replace the initial drink service, and I wouldn't be surprised if at some point the add a non-alcoholic version. They weren't explicitly offered later in service, and I suspect they're not available from looking at the drink cart (though I can't say for certain).

A bottle of water was handed out along with an explanation of the placemat, which as stated above is otherwise not obvious at all. (It's basically a glorified disposable napkin.)

The drink service actually followed (closely) the meal service. The appetizer and entree are served together, so at least they don't have do two runs for that. While small, the fruit and cheese option had decent quality cheese, good quality fresh fruit, and decent olives and almonds. (The other option was Prosciutto and Melon.) I had the gnocchi for the entree (other choices were marinated chicken or chicken caeser salad). I also had gnocchi in Y on VS in the other direction, and this was about 10 times better. Not quite restaurant quality, but good by airplane standards.

Ice cream was served via a separate run, and was pretty solid when served. I let it sit for 10 minutes or so.

Pre-arrival was a choice of veggie or chicken pizza wraps. These were again quite good for airplane food. The chocolate mousse for dessert was better than any of the options I found in the KLM lounge this morning.

Overall, the service was only slightly slower than I remembered. Maybe about an hour? Definitely not 4. I watched one Rick and Morty and part of ST: Discovery (against my better judgment).

One note: They did not walk the snack basket around (or if they did I missed it), but it was available in the rear galley.

In summary, I'd say DL Y (all around, not just F&B) far exceeds any of its JV partners in quality.

FC flyer

I just experienced the new service Tuesday, NRT-SEA. I will start out by saying we had a great crew, trying hard to make this work, but I saw it as a complete failure. First, the Bellini service--fine if you like thick sweet drinks. If you don't, there is no substitute offered. Bellini or nothing. Next, more than an hour into the flight came the drink cart and dinner. I don't eat airline food, so can't comment on the food. Our daughter said it was ok, maybe a little better than normal. Then came clean up, then dessert and final clean up. we are now 3 hours into this short 8 hour flight. This left us 3.5 hours for sleep before they wake you for your pre-arrival meal of a sweet roll and fruit. There is no sleeping before the end of meal service due to noise and activity. Want to use the lav? Can't for most of the 3 hour service because the carts are in the isles blocking them. I fly US-Asia on a regular basis, and have never been so limited on sleep before. Rating is A for effort, F for practicality.

wlau

Ha, you wrote exactly what I was thinking... I do constant US-Asia flights as well, being DL is pushing a lot of SEA routes, to NRT, ICN, and PVG, the flight time could be as short as 8hr coming back. These dragged out services leave very little time for uninterrupted sleep. I am not sure who DL is marketing this to, definitely not the frequent flyers because you nail the exact issues.

wlau

I am surprised they actually rolled this out. They did some trials early on this year and I was NOT impressed. FAs are all complaining about it as well. DL marketing and cabin product team clearly have no clue what long-haul passengers are looking for. They try all sorts of things but they almost always undo these changes. I guess marketing and cabin product teams have to pretend they are doing work and coming up with new things and ideas. I like the "older" service but my biggest gripes are:

1) those super colorful main cabin menus - all tossed after one flight but a lot of waste for paper and ink. Menu is good but trim it down, no need to waste that much paper.
2) that new super thick meal napkin - too thick and too strong, they are not comfortable to use and not very absorbent. I actually just keep the meal napkin and use it to wipe own my luggage after arrival as they are super durable... and use the cocktail napkin for eating.
3) entree container is too large for the tray compartment, so it's always sitting with one side elevated which can cause the it to slip or tip over and slip off the tray table

Give the new service a few months and I am sure it will disappear like everything else.

Tine Rod

made me chuckle.

Tine Rod

Surprising feedback , but does paint a logical description of why it falls short. If the welcome drink (which I wouldn’t want - Bellini , bleh!) cause the main drink service to start over hour later - definitely a let down for me. Yes I care that much about cocktails while flying. It sounded really ambitious to me and I bet the FAs weren’t all in . I did imagine the cabin would be constantly buzzing with this change.

The service tested well, but testing in the wild you get once in a whilers and leisure travelers. You don’t get us so deck is already stacked.

FlyerTalker324193

I experienced it on FRA-JFK // JFK-FRA and was impressed.

I am not a fan of eco food. But presentation and the details of the service do make a difference.

Over on a German-language forum, there's a long thread complaining about recent enhancements by LH.

I don't think DL's Peach Bellini is particularly good. I don't think the food represents a paradigm shift (and I will often forgoe an economy meal), but, I still appreciate having a choice of appetizers and appreciate that the dessert is served in a separate rotation (otherwise, premium ice cream wouldn't make too much sense).

But, for the most part, I recognize that DL tries to make the main cabin experience a little more civilized. Whether it's the free WiFi messaging, the bottled water, or the chocolate and thank you at the end. It's good to see in times where all Lufty and co. seem to think about is the implementation of enhancements.

ethernal

Agree with your comment that the food was high quality (perhaps quantity is lacking) but I just don't believe this unless you were flying a 3/4ths empty plane. Even the old service took over an hour on flights and this service definitely takes longer (although I'm sure FAs will get faster at it). What plane type was it?

bennos

763. Y/Y+ was almost completely full, maybe 10 empties total. 2 FAs handling each side (one set of carts per aisle).

There's really no reason for this service to take that long. The bellini run is very fast. Then a cart run with water and placemats, again very fast. Then drinks and meals, more or less like how it used to be. I guess the FAs have to plate two dishes per person instead of one, but the crew on my flight seemed to handle that very quickly. Finally, one more cart run with the ice cream, again very fast. We actually had a supplemental water/tea/coffee service before the ice cream, and then again with the ice cream.

Thinking back, we had about 5:40 left in the flight when the service was done. There was a bit of delay in starting the service, so maybe it was 90 minutes total, as I'm pretty sure I didn't start Rick & Morty with the bellini. Definitely not significantly more.

Part of what people could be experiencing is just flight crews adjusting to the new service pattern. My crew did seem really on top of things.

alggag

I flew DL75 AMS-ATL yesterday and had this for the first time. I thought the bellini was decent even though it's something I would never order on the ground as I hate peach flavored stuff. Food service did seem slower but the prosciutto appetizer and gnocchi main were pretty decent for economy meals. No opinions on the rest of the services on the flight as I was sleeping then later declined the pre landing meal.

WillSkiGT

Most of my TATL flying is ex-JFK, and although this service enhancement does sound nice, it basically means that you won't be sleeping for more than an hour or two.

DL is one of the worst TATL airlines in terms of turning overhead lights off late/on early (other than maybe AF), and I still cannot sleep well with a mask.

Wife and I flew JFK-CDG in D1 last winter - due to winds aloft, the flight time was right at 6 hours. By the time we reached cruising altitude, ate dinner/dessert/drinks, had tables cleared, and lights went out, there were 3 hours left in the flight. Then, they cut the lights on over 90 minutes before landing for breakfast - how in the world am I supposed to be hungry for breakfast 1.5 hours after dinner? Total lights off time was right at 1.5 hours, which is beyond ridiculous. Basically negated the entire point of D1, which was to sleep so we would arrive at least somewhat fresh.

It's a good idea in theory, but they should focus more on speed of service for TATL flights of 8 hours or less. Goal in normal conditions (no turbulence) should be 2 hours from wheels up to lights out and 60-75 minutes from lights on to touchdown. That way you can at least get some sleep.