Delta Is Bringing Back Free Meals In Economy On Select Transcon Flights

Hey, if you speak to the agent I did tonight in Manilla, you actually now can have a private chef in coach on Delta to Europe! (my daughter, while not picky doesn't eat chicken, which we all know is the ONE protein 100% of airlines serve.) On an 11 hour flight, food is a bit important with a tween. I am totally willing to pay for reasonable food, or bring it, but last year on a flight home from Mexico there was no way to bring it on, and they ran out of food in the 4th row of coach. It was not pretty. I paid $10 bucks for a soggy sandwich and felt lucky. At any rate, it was clear the rep had never flown and was putting me on hold for a simple question. But when he told me, "don't worry about the chicken, on that flight, you will have a private chef and you can tell the flight attendant what you need." Clearly, I called back and asked to speak to a rep in the states. If you offshore-at least train your reps. DL is improving. Perhaps they are serving food to keep the employees happy? It's tough being on a long flight with passengers who are hangry. DL is improving in many ways, but they need to tell people not to make up stories when they don't know the answer. I can only imagine a rookie flyer asking for the private chef.

Of the "big three", Delta is the one that has almost all planes with seat-back screens, a big plus, especially for travel with family. They understand travelers better.

Yes, people are going to choose Delta because of the meals. And because their planes are cleaner. And because their people are frendlier. And because their baggage delivery is fast. And ... It's called customer experience. It's made up of tons of little things, which taken individually any short-sighted accountant will recommend they be cut. The fact that DL is adding food on routes based on flight length, and not on whether they have competition in them, should give you a clue. That's leadership. BTW do you realize that people are already choosing DL over its competitors, and DL yields are almost 10% higher as a result? And they are also growing faster? Yes, people pay for a better experience. Duh! And people (outside of bloggers) don't care enough about the frequent flyer program: DL's devaluation has not hurt them one bit.

The attorney general in Guam was going after United for not offering food on the "international" flight between Guam, a US territory, and Honolulu. It's something like 7-8 hours. I believe United was finally forced into doing a meal. ]

I wonder how long this lasts. I remember when Continental had "meals at mealtimes" in economy when other airlines moved to buy on board - eventually Continental joined the buy on board pack. I'm not sure American will match. On one hand, adding free meals goes against Doug Parker's LCC mindset. On the other hand, he added free meals on DFW-Hawaii flights after Delta added them on ATL/MSP/JFK-Hawaii.