rmp_king

Thank you to everyone on this forum for sharing your knowledge, it has helped me numerous times.

I tried to search regarding this topic but didn't find the answer. My apologies if this has been addressed before and if it has please point me in the right direction.

I'm only a Platinum Medallion member so don't travel as frequently as most of you but have a question regarding first class meals when travelling domestically. My husband is vegan and never expects to eat a meal on the plane however on our last domestic flight the flight attendant suggested he should contact Delta and request a special meal. I was under the impression that special meals were only available on international routes. Is requesting a special meal an option on domestic flights?

Thank you in advance for your help!

TTT

You can request a special meal in domestic F. In your reservation there is a "Special > Add" within each passenger's details link that lets your choose.


You need to be booked in F and request the meal at least 24 hours in advance. Hopefully goes without saying, but you can only request special meals on flights with regularly scheduled meal service.

jeet

As TTT mentioned you can make your meal selection at any time after booking - upto 24 hrs before departure and there is a 'Vegetarian Meal (Non-Dairy)' option available for vegans.

MSPeconomist

Is it 24 or 48 hours?

Also, AFAIK this doesn't apply to "meals" that are designated as snacks on certain domestic flights, nor to nonmainline flights (RJs).

SDQBound

24 hours. I believe any flight over 799 miles will have them (last year I had special meals on LGA-MCO and MCO-DTW)

CatchFlightsNotFeelings

This :-:

Although, keep in mind that theres an 80% chance of a special meal actually getting loaded, and then a further reduced chance of the special meal actually being what its supposed to be, and an even further reduced chance of it being proactively offerred to you.

If youre in F, ask as soon as you board -- hopefully catering carts are still there. The FA will check, and coordiante with catering if necessary. IME, the biggest pain point here is when catering *has* the special meal but fails to actually hand it off to the flight in need. This happens far too often - and I've saved over a dozen ___-style meals in the past two years by verifying its presence with the FA during boarding and when not there the FA asking catering (while still loading) to hand over the meal as theyre supposed to.

TL;DR - catering often are lazy cows, they liuke to forget handing off special meals esp on domestic flights. Who knows why? I'll leave that to your imagination .

MSPeconomist

Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. The same holds for laziness.

TTT

Also keep expectations pretty low on many domestic routes (especially for out-and-back flights where catering is done at the hub for both outbound and return). I recall ordering a Vegetarian meal RDU-SLC and got two slices of bread and three strips of grilled summer squash as a "dinner" meal.

Often1

If you change within the 24 hours, whether voluntary or involuntary, e.g. IRROPS, SDC, VDB, do not expect the special meal to follow you.

flyerCO

It's 24hours and special meals can be ordered for regional flights. Snacks I dont believe is a term DL uses anymore (at least in regards to meals, there's still the snack basket).

Its 900 miles or longer. I know this because you can tell they picked this length with great thought. Many flights are just above 850 miles or so and thus get no meal. For example SAT/AUS-ATL are 875 miles and thus get no meal. There are exception routes, ATL-NYC being one that get meals regardless. Also theres a window between 1330-1600 where the length goes up to 1400 or 1500 miles.

OP, read the forum, if I remember there's an issue with DL having the two types of vegan meals backwards. Ie you order the non-dairy vegan meal and get the regular and v.v. I dont know if this is still a thing as I'm a meat eater and thus have not had reason to be concerned.

bennos

There are three types of meals to consider: AVML (Asian Vegetarian), VGML, and VLML. AVML is sometimes, but not reliably, vegan (usually depending on whether catering goes east asian or south asian). VGML and VLML (theoretically vegan and ovo-lacto, respectively) IME get swapped from time to time. I also got an LSML once consisting of a chicken breast when I ordered a VLML. The FA gave me some miles for that one.

anon2k2

I’m a fan of the Hindu meal. Usually a vegetarian curry with naan and other accompaniment. There was that one weird flight SEA-JFK where the guy sitting next to me was Indian and I ordered the Hindu meal and he didn’t. The flight attendant was a bit confused.

edit to add that I’m not Indian or Hindu.

Zorak

There were a number of reports of this on the main food thread, IIRC, so definitely something to watch out for when you receive your meal in-flight if you ordered one or the other.

Atlantarita

The advice on 'how' has been covered, but I completely agree with managing expectations. I have a food allergy, and the results are very hit and miss. Mostly miss. So, always have backup food on long flights (and most people with eating restrictions do). Unfortunately, Delta also doesn't equip the flight attendants with a ton of information, either, if you have questions about what is provided.

jeet

+1!
Out of SEA particularly, both the Hindu and Halal meals are best. In both you basically get the same thing -

• A piece of naan,
• steamed rice
• Veg curry usually cauliflower or paneer(cottage cheese) - substitute with chicken curry if its Halal meal
• Dal

There was a time few yrs ago when I was doing SEA-MSP regularly sometimes more then once a week and I cycled thru all meals (except baby meal) and these 2 were best. I don't know whats the quality and contents from other stations