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Will Delta ever restore complimentary economy meal service on transcons?

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Will Delta ever restore complimentary economy meal service on transcons?

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Old Sep 21, 2022, 3:55 am
  #16  
 
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Complementary no. Complimentary maybe.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 6:59 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by ryw
Pre covid, the meals in coach on those transcon DL flights were a nice differentiator, especially on JFK-LAX/SFO and LAX-DCA for my own travel patterns at the time. I think my first experience with it was on an SFO-BOS flight. I’d really like to see this return!
Does DL view *coach* on the domestic D1 flights as a different product compared to coach on regular domestic flights (of a certain length)? I could see DL thinking of certain routes as requiring better meals (this applies to domestic FC and certainly made a difference preCOVID-19 in terms of domestic FC catering) but should coach passengers pay attention to whether they're choosing a flight marketed as D1 rather than regular domestic FC for these longer domestic flights?
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 9:24 am
  #18  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Does DL view *coach* on the domestic D1 flights as a different product compared to coach on regular domestic flights (of a certain length)? I could see DL thinking of certain routes as requiring better meals (this applies to domestic FC and certainly made a difference preCOVID-19 in terms of domestic FC catering) but should coach passengers pay attention to whether they're choosing a flight marketed as D1 rather than regular domestic FC for these longer domestic flights?
Or is it D1 vs certain competitive routes? I know I flew a fair amount in 2018 and 2019 between ATL and SFO/SEA. I don't recall receiving a complementary meal in Y in 2018 or 2019. The linked article seems to indicate this was a trial between JFK//LAX/SFO, as well as certain transcon AS/B6 routes.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 9:38 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by gitismatty
I dont think UA has meals on the EWR-HNL in main cabin, so I dont think any of the carriers are rushing to do this

I remember in the mid-2000s CO was the only airline still offering meals to all Y passengers and it was a huge marketing campaign for them. I remember flying them for a mileage run when they were still sky team and I got the meal. and let's just say it wasn't anything worth clamoring for
UA added meals on long haul Hawaii last year for Y
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 9:47 am
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by emma dog
Or is it D1 vs certain competitive routes? I know I flew a fair amount in 2018 and 2019 between ATL and SFO/SEA. I don't recall receiving a complementary meal in Y in 2018 or 2019. The linked article seems to indicate this was a trial between JFK//LAX/SFO, as well as certain transcon AS/B6 routes.
I just found a https://www.inflightfeed.com/delta-airlines/]site describing rotes DL served complementary meals pre-covid. Seems like it never really expanded beyond those in the 2017 press release @Adelphos linked to above.

​​​​​​​Delta Airlines offer free meals on these routes:

New York (JFK) to/from Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), San Diego (SAN), Seattle (SEA), Portland (PDX)
Washington D.C. (DCA) to/from Los Angeles (LAX)
Seattle (SEA) to/from Boston (BOS), Raleigh-Durham (RDU), Orlando (MCO), Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
Boston (BOS) to/from San Francisco (SFO), Los Angeles (LAX)
Atlanta (ATL) to/from Honolulu (HNL)
New York (JFK) to/from Honolulu (HNL)
Minneapolis (MSP) to/from Honolulu (HNL)
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 10:04 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by emma dog
Or is it D1 vs certain competitive routes? I know I flew a fair amount in 2018 and 2019 between ATL and SFO/SEA. I don't recall receiving a complementary meal in Y in 2018 or 2019. The linked article seems to indicate this was a trial between JFK//LAX/SFO, as well as certain transcon AS/B6 routes.
I don't think I've had a complimentary meal in coach on an ex-ATL transcon since the mid-2000s - I recall them trying the buy on board meals back in 2004. It does seem to be based more on competition than the length.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 10:12 am
  #22  
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Traditionally, it might have been based more on whether the route is high yielding (business rather than leisure oriented traditionally) rather than competition. DL certainly wouldn't offer meals in order to compete with LCC/ULCC carriers, although DL might decide to compete by matching or at least lowering fares.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 10:42 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by Adelphos
I am guessing Delta doesn’t serve an economy meal on ATL-HNL now. Kind of a joke. The introduction of JFK-HNL and ATL-OGG would be a good occasion to bring back economy meals on these routes
They have kept meals ATL-HNL through the pandemic.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 11:24 am
  #24  
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That's really absurd.

Flying small regional airlines in Asia has been quite an eye opener. Thai Smile, VietJet, Airasia etc manage to provide hot meals on $35 fares for flights under 2 hours.

Even during covid, your meal would be handed to you upon exiting the aircraft, boxed, bagged, and hot.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 1:38 pm
  #25  
 
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To be honest the meal quality has greatly diminished over recent times. At least in economy TransPacific - TransAtlantic. As such, I would rather not be charged for something I would rather not eat when flying Trans-Con. That is the meals are not complimentary nor are they complementary to flighting. As flight times are known I will pack a picnic or get something at the terminal or lounge ahead of time. I realize that is not always possible and why I always have a couple of granola bars or similar in my bag when traveling. Sometimes they get eaten sometimes not. Either way they are in my bag.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 3:34 pm
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by Mountain Explorer
I could be wrong, but I don't think UA ever had complementary economy meals on transcons (in modern times). Not sure about AA
UA did serve meals (very basic) in Y on transcons for a while before COVID.
9/28/2018 EWR-SFO breakfast

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Old Sep 21, 2022, 3:37 pm
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by gitismatty
I dont think UA has meals on the EWR-HNL in main cabin, so I dont think any of the carriers are rushing to do this

I remember in the mid-2000s CO was the only airline still offering meals to all Y passengers and it was a huge marketing campaign for them. I remember flying them for a mileage run when they were still sky team and I got the meal. and let's just say it wasn't anything worth clamoring for
UA do serve light meal on the EWR-HNL route in Y.
They just forgot to load the main course on my flight lol....
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 3:53 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Ghoulish
That's really absurd.

Flying small regional airlines in Asia has been quite an eye opener. Thai Smile, VietJet, Airasia etc manage to provide hot meals on $35 fares for flights under 2 hours.

Even during covid, your meal would be handed to you upon exiting the aircraft, boxed, bagged, and hot.
Yes, but I’d think Europe is probably ahead of N America in where service standards are going, and Asia behind. Europe is basically Ryanair service now; even pre-COVID BA switched to BOB where not even water was complimentary. (Understand that changed during COVID, but in large part because at the time it was deemed the BOB service kept the FAs in too much contact with the passengers.)

Spirit and Frontier have been doing fairly well it seems… because it’s been shown time and time again that a large segment of passengers will just book whatever is cheapest.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 4:49 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by dw
Yes, but I’d think Europe is probably ahead of N America in where service standards are going, and Asia behind. Europe is basically Ryanair service now; even pre-COVID BA switched to BOB where not even water was complimentary. (Understand that changed during COVID, but in large part because at the time it was deemed the BOB service kept the FAs in too much contact with the passengers.)

Spirit and Frontier have been doing fairly well it seems… because it’s been shown time and time again that a large segment of passengers will just book whatever is cheapest.
The US has gone back and forth down this road before, and it seems that soft drinks and water are pretty much expected by pax flying the big 5. US tried to charge for a can of coke starting the summer of 2007 and it lasted only nine months after taking a lot of flack.

Beyond cultural acceptance of LCCs vs what we see in the US, European flights are generally a lot shorter than US flights so there’s less backlash for diminished service.
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Old Sep 21, 2022, 5:35 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by Unitedloyalflyer
UA added meals on long haul Hawaii last year for Y
Presumably for competitive reasons: Hawaiian Airlines
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