Does DL SC accept meal vouchers?
 

Had two different SCs (different airports) tell me that they don't accept them, then begrudgingly entered them in "this one time."

The first bartender seemed to have no idea what was going on ("those are for on the plane" then after my rebuttal "those only apply to food, not beverages, and food here is free"), but the second seemed to know exactly what they were and she was convinced they couldn't take them.

What meal vouchers are you referring to?

Are you referring to the “In-Flight Drink Vouchers” that you find on Delta’s app voucher section? These would be for in flight use as indicated by the name.

On the other hand, if you are referring to meal vouchers given for IROP situations, there is no food for sale in the SC so not sure what you are trying to accomplish.

Do the T&C of the vouchers specifically prohibit alcohol? Do they say that they are good in airport F&B outlets only?

It's the voucher in irop situations. The vouchers say they are good for food and beverages, but no other terms that I could find.

SCs sell "premium" liquor.

So OP is trying to use IRROPs meal vouchers to buy premium drinks in the SkyClub. Interesting. I think Delta just started to send these out, so there probably isn't a published policy.

It wouldn't even occur to me that Sky Clubs would accept such vouchers and they would almost certainly be limited to airport vendors (pretty sure that all the DL Sky Clubs are independent of the various contractual vendor programs at airports). The intent is to meet your basic sustenance needs during IRROPs events, not for boozing it up.

FWIW I remember trying to use one of these vouchers at a vendor at JFK to buy a slice of pizza and a beer, and the vendor said vouchers could not be used to buy alcohol

Some may consider a drink or two as basic sustenance… specially during IROPs :)

If DL wants them to be for basic sustenance they can certainly add restrictions to the voucher to make it so. If the voucher terms allows for it be spent on alcohol, then it is both fair game, and none of your concern what someone chooses to spend it on.

You are missing my point entirely. It would likely require additional effort and overhead to allow Sky Clubs to process these (unlike something like a debit/gift card) beyond the airport vendors. I would not expect DL to put in that effort for Sky Clubs to be able to process these given they would only be useful for booze at Sky Clubs. I'm not passing judgement on how people actually use them, only trying to think how DL would view the effort from their perspective. If they are useful for booze at airport vendors, I don't really care if people use them for that. I just wouldn't be at all surprised at the fact that the Sky Clubs are not set up to process these and it's doesn't really seem worth to it try to argue with agents over this if they aren't able to handle them.

The voucher is like a virtual credit card - it has a Mastercard Cc number, cvv, expiration, billing zip code. Any merchant that accepts credit cards can run this charge. My guess is there's an MCC restriction forcing you to use it at a place coded as some sort of food or beverage establishment, though I didn't try at any other place.

Ultimately, they did accept it in the SC, and printed out a receipt so I know they didn't pretend to charge it, so they already have the ability to accept it.

As for whether or not to use it for alcohol, I have no reason to believe that Delta does not want its passengers to use it for alcohol. I also have no reason to care whether Delta wants its passengers to use it for alcohol as long as it's not specifically excluded. If I were Delta, I'd rather have someone use it in the SC where Delta only actually has to pay 25c on the dollar compared to a restaurant not owned by them where they probably have to pay dollar for dollar.

It's not limited to airport vendors. We used it for breakfast at a lodge near the airport (i.e., not even an airport hotel).

Yup, especially when you're on a call with DL reservations for over 3.5 hours to try to get you on a flight the next day and all the reservations agent's solutions have you paying anywhere from an additional $1,500-$6,000 in addition to a downgrade from D1 to coach because we only purchased PS and used a GUC to upgrade. (We ended up going with an option proposed by the SC agent that only cost us an additional $700).

I have received IROPs lodging and food vouchers from Delta 4 times in the last year or so. Every time I have used the food vouchers, I have been told alcohol has to be paid separately.

The one thing I’ve learned from Flyertalk is that a lot of Delta flyers can’t go more than about 30 minutes without a drink. So if you’re that addicted I can see where a drink in the sky club could be considered sustenance.


After all apparently failure to get a preboarding drink will send some people into withdrawal😂