businesstino

Has anyone else noticed an increase in the amount of flights that FAs decide to waive cabin service due to "rough air"? It was especially noticeable on my past two RTs, both within the last couple of weeks (ATL-LGA; ATL-MSY). On all four flights, FAs either provided no service at all or only offered water, despite there being very minimal turbulence for a just a few minutes of the flight, most of it coming during initial ascent when there is obviously no service anyways. Yesterday, on my MSY-ATL flight, the FAs came on to announce that there would be no service at all due to expected turbulence, and about 2 minutes later, the captain came on and said we should all expect a smooth flight and turned off the seatbelt sign! I know there is not much to be had from Coach or C+ service anyways, but sometimes I am looking forward to having a few Goldfish and washing them down with a Woodford.

deltalirious

It's difficult not to reply with anything too snarky, but yes.
This seems to occur frequently enough that I am often somewhat surprised when offered my requested goldfish swimming in bowl of Woodford.

FlyHappy33

I imagine that if the captain requests that the flight attendants remain seated or suspend service due to forecasted turbulence, they have no choice but to follow captains orders. Even if the turbulence never actually materializes, it's probably better to err on the side of caution in these situations. Having people getting injured over soft drinks doesn't seem worth it.

EDIT: Apparently I didn't read OP's post thoroughly. Strange that the captain announced a smooth flight while FA's said turbulence is expected. Definitely something fishy going on there.

sydneyracquelle

ATL>MSY yesterday full service. MSY>ATL quick water service not due to turbulence but due to short 64 minute flight.

JAXPax

From my airline days, especially on shorter flights, can attest that many times the discussion between Captain and Lead F/A before boarding: "You wanna work this leg or stay sitting?"

Lav Inspector

I’ll just say this, while there are certainly examples of, to put it kindly, “unmotivated” crews, I believe much of this is driven my management and liability reasons. There has been a rather drastic increase of turbulence related injuries over the years and management has made it an emphasis to reduce them. I do believe this has created an environment that tends to lean on the side of conservatism, from all involved. Part of this is driven by the weather app that the pilots have used for the past handful of years. The predicted turbulence based on environmental conditions and actual reports from other aircraft used in the app can be quite frankly hit or miss. It’s accurate enough that you almost have to always follow it, but inaccurate enough that it often gives a false picture. The problem is, if pilots don’t follow the app and an injury has occurred, much of the blame falls on them, thus it’s easy to see why they are conservative about it.

businesstino

I completely understand and appreciate this approach. And I should have mentioned that in my original post as well. Definitely agree that risk of injury is not worth providing snacks/drinks, especially on a short flight. Just seems to have increased in frequency recently, and curious to know if others have noticed the same.

businesstino

Why would there be service in one direction but not the other? Flight time is roughly the same.

readywhenyouare

US airlines are the worst about this. They use the seatbelt sign so much that no one pays attention to it anymore. They pretty much have it on the entire flight.

Duke787

Happens from time to time on RDU - ATL/ATL - RDU and RDU to LGA/JFK.

I find most of the time they'll still serve F but then opt out of the rest of the cabin due to "turbulence" -- or they'll do 1 run in F but serve doubles and then sit back down

sydneyracquelle

Flight time shorter eastbound.

readywhenyouare

Delta decides service levels based on mileage though.

PHXflier

Flight crews deciding that they do not feel like doing a drink service are not Delta-specific. Other airlines have the same issues. Turbulence has been getting a lot worse these days... must be climate change, eh? If flight attendant inactivity is too egregious, I send in a note to customer service, so that the airline knows that at least one of the passengers does not like the trend of the times.

JoeDTW

Flight crews in general have gotten lazier in recent years. This is also why they are locking 787 windows in the darkest setting from takeoff to touchdown, and insisting that window shades stay fully down for an entire flight; if the cabin is completely dark, then passengers are more likely to go to sleep, and less likely to irritate flight crews by visiting the galley for snacks or drinks mid flight.

flyerCO

Weather at takeoff can be vastly different even in cities close together.