D1 Elevated Experience
 

No menus, no addressing pax by name, 3 beverages on a 10 hour flight (and nearly five minutes to bring the beverage once ordered), single tray meal service. inconsistent timing between left aisle and right aisle (person in my row on left aisle got food nearly 10 minutes before I did).

also there appeared to be someone on the crew that wasn't a FA. I think they said a customer experience person, but he was helping with service. and he was terrible. he was also wearing a pink dri-fit polo and not a standard uniform. it was NOT a good look for a premium cabin

I'm normally pretty picky about my in flight experience so I obviously had some gripes. my husband is far less picky about service on a plane and even he said it was garbage.

is this the new normal, or is this another case of "every flight gets a different level of service so just roll the dice and hope for the best"

also, kind of an elitist sounding complaint, but why doesnt DL hold the main cabin people from exiting the plane until all of D1 is out? VS does this for UC and it makes complete sense as just one more tiny. perk for dropping a few grand. would be really nice to see DL provide the service they are marketing

This is TNN!

That’s something you’ll see on a lot of Asian carriers, some European carriers, and definitely never on any US airline.

Was SOP on NW

I’ve experienced that on Delta D1 a few times even recently, but it does seem to depend on the crew. Aeromexico seems to do that consistently.

DL131 last Tuesday by chance?

Nevermind, same flight as the one with no drinks they actually did this during deboarding at ATL.

I've been on 757 flights on DL where crew blocked Y from departing until D1/F had deplaned.

I think it just varies by flight / station, and Delta is still bringing back some aspects. I was on a D1 flight today, eight hours, and the meal service was three courses, multiple pass throughs for drinks, cookie and pre arrival meal both offered, etc. Eight hours. No pre-printed menu though - passengers were addressed by name and when asked about their dinner order (most passengers ordered meals before the flight).

D1, however, has never been an “elevated” experience like some foreign carriers - it is a comfortable way to fly long distances while also earning MQM / burning SkyPesos. It is what it is.

Route? Domestic D1 is likely to have the meal served all at once, with fewer wine choices.

OP mentions a ten hour flight, but doesn't say anything about a second meal service (aka pre-arrival snack or breakfast).

If it was a ten hour flight, could it have been marketed as FC rather than D1, but flown on an aircraft having a D1 cabin with flat beds?

Ten hours is making me guess ATL-HNL, which is marketed as domestic D1.

This is a weak excuse. Simple matters of service shouldn’t require any sort of “phased approach” they should just be put in place.

Anyway, on my last TATL flight (mid-August) my meal was served in one course, even though I had requested through the pre-order to have multiple courses. There was also no printed menu. They really just don’t seem to care anymore.

Is a preprinted menu that big of a deal, especially when most are preordering? I’ve preordered on all my by D1 flights this year.

It’s not super refined service but it’s not something that would make me book away from D1 when the price/route is right.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zorak (Post 34652590)

I've been on 757 flights on DL where crew blocked Y from departing until D1/F had deplaned.

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had this happen yesterday (Sun 2 Oct) on DL452 JFK-SEA
if I had to guess, around half of the pax on 452 had actually pre-ordered

selecting “Food and Drink” on the IFE menu brought up a QR code and a message to scan the code when connected to the wifi; the QR in turn brought up the full menu (this is how I learned about the “salad”)

Also, if you preorder, you get additional choices that are not available to order on the plane. Reasonable trade for not needing that menu…

I wonder if blocking is less likely when they know a high percentage of passengers have tight connections at the destination.

I wouldn’t generalize on the basis of one flight, but we arrived close to 20 min early

The whole post sounds like "an elitist sounding complaint".

FIVE MINUTES to wait for a drink????? OH, THE HORROR!!!!

Some of the plebes got off of the plane before their betters???? What is the world coming to???? Don't they know their place??? I bet some of them even drink PBR!!!!

For the record, October is recognized as breast cancer awareness month by Delta, and the pink clothing options are part of their fundraising effort for breast cancer research. https://news.delta.com/tags/breast-cancer-awareness

That pink polo is probably a better look than what you have going here.

I don't work for Delta, but I feel like I can speak for all of your inferiors when say that I apologize that you didn't get your butt kissed to your satisfaction. Must be a hard life.

The one word summary is DYKWIA, saved you some typing next time someone posts these

I don’t care if someone is wearing a pink tutu. If they’re helping with service, the end result has to be marginally better. As to letting the front cabin get off first—I think it’s a nice benefit when someone has dropped a lot of money on a flight. On my past Delta flights, it has varied depending on crew. However, in the end, the more comfortable seat to where I want to go is the most important thing with a PDB a plus.

If anyone wonders why service on US air carriers (and elsewhere) declines further and further, despite a premium being charged, it's this, unique to the West, perverse exercise in 'conspicuous virtue' that insists "I'm willing to accept a greater decline jn standards than you, therefore I'm superior".

The reason standards are so much higher on Asian carriers is precisely because it's understood the customer base would complain immediately at any move backwards.

Continuing to characterize every protest against slipping standards as 'First world problems' means we'll soon find ourselves living in the third world.

The holdup when deplaning is never the number of people who can get through the door, it is waiting for the window seat passengers to get their bags out of the bins.

Deleted as surplus to requirements

I have experienced that with Delta One many times.

If you pay thousands of dollars for a ticket, it's perfectly reasonable to expect an elevated service. I find it bemusing that so many US flyers are willing to excuse abysmal service.

Taking the OPs points:
- 3 Beverages in 10 hours is not enough.
- Single tray meal service should have been consigned to history with Covid. It was always a dubious "health measure", it's now just an excuse for laziness.
- If you have a uniform, stick to it. Particularly on international routes where not everyone flying Delta is going to recognise that crew members are wearing pink shirts for a given cause. A badge would be more appropriate and polo shirts in any colour are a big "no no".
- If you're flying in Delta One, you have every right to expect priority boarding and disembarkation. Airlines recognise that this is an added value for passengers, which is why they charge extra to select seats at the front of the economy cabin.

What's the conclusion here, anyway? That those who pay thousands of dollars for a ticket are just supposed to sit there, accept dreadful service and be thankful that some power-crazed FA doesn't shout at them for using the call button? If you excuse bad service, you can expect bad service to become the norm.

The OPs complaint is not "elitist", it's commensurate with the level of service he/she would expect (but didn't receive) in Delta One.

I think it's fair to expect a standard level of service, and consistency.

It is nice if you're treated a little differently in Delta One, as you've likely paid a multiple of the main cabin fare to get there.

Delta always asks you to comment on your flight experience. That's the place to put this kind of comment, in addition to flyertalk.

Also, don't be so captive to the frequent flyer program that you don't consider alternatives, and don't shop just on price. If you're a captive consumer, you take what you get, and your service provider will eventually forget how special you are.

I was sitting in PE for an American domestic widebody flight and the FAs held main cabin from exiting. Definitely not the norm, though.

We just flew KLM business class from AMS to MSP. Hands down best service we have ever had. I thought Air France had a good business class product. KLM was so much better. Delta should take a lesson from them for D1.

Maybe the cabin crew was prioritizing service to the NRSA's.

The thing is, pre-pandemic, DL tried to make an effort in matching service with their JV partners. Most notably, they tried to at least match their catering and service. For example, on trans-pacific flights to East Asia, DL would have local Korea restaurants cater for their flights to ICN to match the Korean food quality on KE.

KL/AF can occasionally have a miss in service based on my experience, but it's usually good and back to service/hospitality that was there pre-pandemic. Most surprisingly is AF where they had a lot more "chic" and more distant FAs pre-pandemic, but they've become more friendly these days at least in my opinion.

Delta is definitely more casual with its guests I’ve found…. I always get addressed as “Mr.” on United , as I should be… and certainly not by someone wearing a Dri-Fit polo on United!

your concerns are quite valid !

I preorder whenever possible, but it's nice to have something handy to refer to, to remember what all the components are. Sure, I can pull the menu up on my phone, but sometimes a simple piece of paper is more convenient.

I flew WBC on the NW 744 fairly often, and the FAs always held back the unwashed masses until everyone (upper and lower decks) in WBC had exited the plane. It was good to get a jump on getting to Immigration at NRT.

So let's separate the 'valid" from the DYWIA complaints and then you send a formal complaint to Delta

So you complaint is that for 10 hours they really did not provide good service Stick to the facts on not providing you with the menu, and poor ongoing service. Leave out the "elitism and they served someone else before me whines"

Those sitting in judgement of which elements of bad service constitute "elitism" is just passive aggressively boasting about how superior and enlightened they are to the OP.

All are free to live with whatever poor service they feel like tolerating, but nothing qualifies them to silence someone else making a respectful, thoughtful post on their experience.

I'm mostly curious as to how else people are addressed. I get the whole "Mr." thing all the time on DL too, but now I'm curious about any alternatives. Do they just blurt out your first name only?

As an elitist, "m'Lord" is my preferred pronoun.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0a5991a6e.jpeg

Accidentally clicked "Mster" instead of "Mr" one time and didn't realize the mistake until the person checking me at the airport actually called me "Master" :D

I’m still waiting for BA to recognize Lairds in wee Scotland. ;)

Note;; I didn't judge them as "elitism" the OP posted that "This is elitism" The OP has admitted that so I am not passing judgement.

But thanks for letting me know that only YOUR judgments count. You accuse me of judging using words in the original post and then claim I am "boasting about how superior and enlightened" I am. In other words "your judgment" not just "passive aggressively boasting about how superior and enlightened" you are : Thanks for the laugh!

OP never used the term "whines".

That was your flourish, being distinctly non-judgemental.

AMS-SEA. not domestic.