matchbox20_is

Updated list:

Sad box - PHX*, IAD, DFW, EYW, AUA, AUS, OAK
Plated food - SNA, MIA, DEN, MSY, RDU, PDX, MCO

* - Seems to be narrowbody aircraft only

kmersh

You can MCO to the plated food list.

I asked in the SkyClub at DFW about the continuation of sad boxes, firstly the employee got a chuckle out of the pet name for the boxed meals (and she agreed that they are indeed sad).

She said that she had heard two different reasons as to why the sad boxes continued ex-DFW but had no idea if either reason was true or not.
1) DL had cancelled it catering contract ex-DFW and thus was double catering the boxes which are easier to double cater out of the hub station until a new contract could be established (but she admitted it seems like it is taking a while if indeed all it required was a new catering contract).
2) The DFW airline caterer (which would mean that DL still has a contract) is still burning through their stock of boxes and once they are burned through they will switch to plated meals.

She was honest that those sorts of decisions are not shared with the frontline staff generally, so take the two reasons with a grain of salt.

tubesoxs

MSP - AMS Braised short rib. I think everyone has had it but this one was in need of some additional sauce in the bowl.

AMS - ATL - 0820 departure. Bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant. This was a preselect only option with the other options being an egg quiche and overnight oats. I was happy with my choice.

Prearrival burger. Not good. Found several chunks of bone (I hope that is what it was) in the burger patty.

jamiel

Could part of the differential between the cities (plated versus non) be attributable to that each catering kitchen needs to be relatively balanced on "dishes in" versus "dishes out"...I'd think PHX might be in that situation of unbalanced where nearly all inbound (MSP/DTW/JFK/ATL) flights are meal flights but a significant portion of the outbound flights (redeye to MSP/DTW/ATL, for instance) would not get a meal catered; thus leading to the imbalance? I've always been very curious about inflight catering (started at Michigan State in Hospitality Management...) but wonder if this could be a factor.

Synapseturquoise

D1 June 4th AMS to DTW. Braised short rib.

and the meal before arrival

desserts (the ice cream was the best)

MSPeconomist

No cheese?

aacar

Sad boxes only on DTW-OAK (7:45 PM departure), did not follow FEBO

xliioper

No exactly a shock they don't have catering in OAK as this route only operates for a grand total 11 roundtrips (3x weekly from 6/9 - 7/1) and the return flight is a red-eye and doesn't qualify for meal service. SLC/LAX-OAK are under 900 miles and the ATL-OAK route is currently not being flown.

matchbox20_is

It doesn’t matter. Routes are being double catered from hubs if it’s deemed worthy to do so.

diburning

To be fair, the short rib is probably the best cut of beef that can hold up to the cooking and reheating process. I've had it on multiple airlines and on Amtrak, probably for that reason.

spudley007

You can add ELP to the Sad Box and FLL and TPA to the plated food.

xliioper

ELP, ABQ, and TUS have been mentioned here before (also mentioned on DL Pro site as SPML requests were apparently not available from them pre-Covid due to catering limitations).

xliioper

If it were simply a matter of double catering, it would seem these numerous routes with meal boxes would have hot meals instead. I would guess it's more involved than that and there needs to be facility contracts at the remote side to at least deal with the plating, utensils, and so forth from hot meals (vs. the meal boxes where everything can just be thrown away). There's no need to even double cater on DTW-OAK as the return flight is a red-eye which doesn't qualify for any meal service.

matchbox20_is

Thanks everyone for the reports!

Updated list:

Sad box - PHX*, IAD, DFW, EYW, AUA, AUS, OAK, ELP, ABQ, TUS
Plated food - SNA, MIA, DEN, MSY, RDU, PDX, MCO, FLL, TPA

* - Seems to be narrowbody aircraft only

No1racer

On Friday, I flew Delta One from Honolulu to Atlanta. Many of the options were interesting. Given that it was very individual to the route, I chose the Kalua Pork option. Overall, these were two enjoyable meals! Here is the menu:


Online Delta One Menu (HNL-ATL)


Five (5) Delta One Menu Options



Beautiful Honolulu rainbow over our right wing during pushback

Kalua Pork and Hawaiian Mac & Cheese Entree
**Note: Not pictured is the Dulce de Leche ice cream cup that came later from Haagen Dazs


French Toast Breakfast