We’re seeing airlines make drastic cuts to inflight service. We’ve seen Southwest Airlines suspend all inflight service, and we’ve seen American Airlines suspend most inflight service. Now Delta is joining in as well.
Delta Air Lines inflight service changes
For flights as of today (Wednesday, March 25, 2020), Delta is reducing inflight service. There’s no end date for this new policy, though service is expected to be brought back once the COVID-19 situation stabilizes.
What’s changing to Delta inflight service?
Service changes on flights under 1,000 miles
For Delta Air Lines flights under 1,000 miles, the following will be changing:
- In economy there will be no service on flights under 350 miles
- In economy there will be a bottle of water and packaged snack on flights of over 350 miles; there will be no Comfort+ snack basket
- In first class there will be a bottle of water and packaged snack inflight, and no pre-departure drink or other drink service
Service changes on flights over 1,000 miles
For Delta Air Lines flights of over 1,000 miles, the following will be changing:
- In economy there will be a bottle of water and packaged snack; there will be no Comfort+ snack basket
- In first class there will be a bottle of water and Flight Fuel Box, and no pre-departure drink or other drink service
How this compares to American’s policy
Delta is taking an even stricter approach in first class than American. American is still serving meals all at once, while Delta is just serving a packaged snack box in first class. Furthermore, American is serving alcohol and other drinks in first class, while Delta isn’t.
In economy there will at least be a proactive bottled water service on Delta, which isn’t the case on American on flights under 2,200 miles.
Stop being ridiculous, folks
Gets on soap box…
Look, I’ll be the first to hold airlines accountable when they’re being crappy. But this isn’t one of those cases. Reading the comments section of the previous post about American cutting service is leaving me shaking my head:
- No, flight attendants who are “too chicken to provide normal service” shouldn’t take unpaid leave
- No, this isn’t an “excuse to cut costs”
- No, airlines shouldn’t be “reducing the cost of tickets” because of this
- No, airlines aren’t being “punitive to passengers,” and this isn’t because flight attendants “typically suck on passengers’ leftover ice cubes or nibble on their last pretzels”
Stop being ridiculous, people. You’re being the wrong kind of selfish. I’ll admit I’m being selfish. I’m staying at home and not interacting with anyone because I want this to be over so that life can return to normal.
Maybe some of you aren’t aware of this, but:
- We currently have a “Level 4” do-not-effing-travel warning, and many places (including where I live) have “shelter-in-place” warnings
- Nobody should be flying right now unless it’s absolutely essential
- Airlines are losing literally billions of dollars right now, and they’re even losing money on most of the flights they’re operating
- Flight attendants are at high risk of getting COVID-19 due to the fact that their job entails doing exactly the opposite of social distancing
Once things are back to normal and if service doesn’t recover, I’ll be right there with you and will call out the airlines.
But if at this very moment your biggest concern is whether you can get some (probably pretty crappy) wine, or that you want airlines to lower a fare in first class by $3.50 because you’re not getting some nasty cheese lasagna or brisket meatloaf, well, I don’t have much to say…
…gets off soap box.
Bottom line
Airlines are cutting inflight service, and that’s the right thing to do. Flight attendants need to be able to take all necessary precautions, and reducing service is part of that.
This really should be a non-issue, since unless you’re traveling for “essential” reasons, you shouldn’t be on a plane. And if you are traveling for essential reasons (because you’re medical staff or whatever), then surely you realize the gravity of the situation, and appreciate this, rather than being bothered by it…
As I said above, if this leads to long term service cuts, let’s cross that bridge when we get there. But this is not the time.
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