Hawk Circle

He didn't care for his meal.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.c...lubs/#more-257

prosen

I just finished reading this and had come here to link it. Some of the comments below it are hilarious: "If enough customers complain, they will have to change!" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA.

francophile

Good point. A quality airline that is responsive to passengers would want to take into consideration of customer comments and complaints. But of course, we know DL or any of the other American airlines can't be bothered to do that.

mhbaker

The article does make a valid point--why does DL bother to put lipstick on a pig. DUH, it's airline food. You can try to gussy it up by giving me a printed menu and wine list and comments from the supervising chef touting the virtues of freshness and quality, but the fact remains the food is barely edible at best. To be otherwise would require an investment no airline, at least among US airlines, that anyone is prepared to spend. The best airline meal I ever had was on the Air France Concorde and it was "supervised" by Alain Ducasse for some special Air France celebration. That meal was adequate, but still far below the quality of a good restaurant. Airlines should simply acknowlege that the only purpose served by their meals is the avoidance of starvation. It's ridiculous to expect anything more.

TTT

Maybe I am just uncultured or something, but I have found the BE meals to be more than eatable, in fact tasty - and miles ahead of KLM's business class food offering (on the route I have flown).

RSSrsvp

I loved his comment, "They’ll be lucky to taste like Stouffer’s.". Actually in most cases Stouffer’s is superior.
BTW, I don't know about the rest of you but I would never order fish flying on DL.

He also had a valid point about the wines listed not being available. @:-)

elitetraveler

Some of DL's new ads also boast you will wish your flight was longer because of their AVOD - obviously tongue in cheek but still pretty dumb imho

orlandodlplat

I happen to like Frank Bruni, and I thought his blog entry was pretty funny.

I think he was right on with the ridiculous claim that this entree will help you sleep or that soup will help you work.

But in my experience, Delta's BE food is generally surprisingly good, even before the Bernstein dishes.

Don't expect too much and you'll probably enjoy it more.

sxf24

Realistic marketing is a good first step to managing expectations.

Robert Leach

The wine thing is frustrating. I don't know why they go to the expense to print the brochure.

Having said that, given that he was flying SVO-JFK, I wonder how the meal/wine would have compared on Aeroflot? (Although I would think you get some decent caviar on a Russian airline, an offering that sadly left us when Delta removed International F).

meh130

Who would ever order fish on an airplane, period? Shrimp and lobster should hold up okay, but I would think fish would not do as well.

Although I do recall some adequate seafood in coach on NW to Japan back in the early 1990s.

Brian286

What in the heck did the guy expect?

It's a freakin' airplane people...get real! The food...not gourmet by any means, is darn good for being served 35k feet in the air in a galley the size of a bathroom.

atl runner

My wife and I are both vegetarian, and actually have found the pasta entrees to be pretty good. We went through a spell where they were too loaded up with cheese or a cream sauce, but that hasn't been the case recently. Of course it doesn't rival a meal in a good restaurant, but it is more than adequate on a TATL flight.

Also, thanks to a tip from nbarve we special ordered the asian vegetarian meal and it was also fine. It is Indian in nautre, not Chinese, Thai, etc.

I do agree they don't have all, or any, of the wines specifically featured in the printed menu, but they are very good about letting you try sips of what they do have, so you can pick your favorite. We have always found a perfectly acceptable red wine.

And how could anyone complain about the "pretzel" bread rolls.

Of course, we're just ordianry people, not hoity toity food editors.

noturbulence

Fully agree - BE food might not be exactly Michelin star worthy but generally quite tasty and at the upper end of airline catering (apart from the incredibly stale bread rolls that is). Recently flew LH C and that was way below what is usually served in DL BE

Kahuna

In comparison to the food provided by SQ, BA and AF in premium cabins, BE food tastes and looks like a reheated school lunch. As for the wine, they need to do more research on the BE target market!