mersk862

My apologies for linking this instead of just posting it, but much news for DL flyers here. Many thanks to hnewman for providing this on the NW forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/north...arch-30-a.html

Highlights:
- Service on cross-fleeted planes will be that of the operating carrier. Thus, if you're on ATL-FCO on the A330, it'll be Pepsi products and free booze all the way. Good for DL folks.
- Meals. Flights over 900 miles will get a cold meal. Threshold for hot meals will be 1550 miles. A bit of a positive on the shorter flight side, but not good on the longer flights - no more hot meals on those MSP-LAS flights for me...
- Beer is going down in price if you're in Y! $5 for beer, $7 for wine and the hard stuff
- The new First Class snack basket is: Peanuts, Biscoff, Twix, Pretzel Crisps and fresh fruit. No more sunchips or granola.

Bit of a mix of good and bad news in there.

TravisMT81

Mostly positive things, though I dislike Pespi products.

Kentski

I'm most psyched about the fresh fruit in the snack basket ... though I'm wondering what they're going to do when people start stuffing banana peels and apple cores in the seat pocket (and I guarantee it'll happen often).

Not a beer drinker so not an impact. Like the fact of a cold meal on shorter flights. Prefer Pepsi over coke.

So for me,

clarence5ybr

NW's been serving bananas for years, and obviously didn't find peels in the seat pocket a big enough issue to cause them to ditch serving them. My guess is that apples will be individually wrapped like those in the CRCs, so there will be a ready-made wrap for the core.

ttjoseph

Looking forward to the fresh fruit myself...I've begun to get tired of Biscoffs, even though I only eat them on DL flights.

tjisnumbaone

Thanks for the update. I get it now...NW plane, food, crew while a DL route. Little bit weird but will deal with it. The FC snack basket is messed up. I enjoyed the sun chips very much. Now I will just have to stick with peanuts, and maybe try Biscoff cookies. What in the world is pretzel crisps?

mersk862

They're pretty similar to pretzels - they aren't too bad if you like pretzels. I had a bunch of them on a recent MEM-FLL flight that was outside of the meal window.

atldlff

That won't last long... best said, as I overhead a FA tell a passenger one day on a DL flight when they asked for Pepsi... "Honey this is Delta, we are from Atlanta, and we only serve and will always serve Coca-Cola products!"

SchmutzigMSP

I've never seen that in all my years flying NW and all my flights in FC. People usually eat the banana and leave the peel on the center console next to the drink, on the tray table, or (like me) stuff it inside another wrapper from the Sun Chips, pretzel chips, pita chips, etc.

Maybe it's a cultural thing, though. Do you feel there's any reason why DL fliers would be prone to sticking a banana peel in a seat back pocket?

mersk862

DL has a contract with Coke until 2010 at the earliest: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...1703352&EDATE= (this article is from 2002).

atldlff

Thanks for the update. I can almost guarantee that Coke will go out of their way to get that contract renewed with Delta. It is almost impossible to find local business in ATL aligning with Pepsi, unless it is a national contract like a franchise. Not saying it can't or won't happen, but not too likely. But then again, stranger things have happened.

mersk862

I didn't know it was legal to consume Pepsi in Georgia

atldlff

SHHHHH... It has been know to happen. In the days gone by I heard it was shoot first and then destroy the evidence. Saves on all kinds of legal expenses later! I can't even begin to imagine the uproar of Delta not going with Coke products.

ttjoseph

Well, DL could threaten to go with Pepsi to extract better pricing or terms out of Coke. Just like they could threaten to move some connecting traffic out of ATL to get concessions from the airport.

atldlff

I think they will do just that... play the game to their advantage, and I think they should, it is a very smart business move. They have already threaten to move traffic from ATL for that very reason in light of increased costs at ATL, but not sure it has yielded the results that they are looking for yet. At the end of the day, they will probably get a good deal out of Coke, including some good joint marketing and promos too. So they should absolutely work it to their favor.