Gotta say I'm impressed, DL seems to be one of the only carrier to consistently improve the experience for Y customers.

Customers can expect to be impressed on board Delta’s international routes* starting this November when the airline debuts its industry-leading Main Cabin experience. Free “Welcome Aboard” cocktails featuring Bellinis to start, hot towel service and mix-and-match options for premium appetizers and larger entrees are just a few of the ways Delta is differentiating its international Main Cabin service.

https://news.delta.com/welcome-cocktail ... ernational

An improvement would be less cramped seating on delta.

Dougie must be fuming! DL will force his hand into actually investing in LCC's product now. Horrible day for him.

kiowa wrote:

An improvement would be less cramped seating on delta.

Space on an aircraft costs serious money. People who want to pay for it have First/Business and Comfort+ and/or Premium Select on over 90% of DL/DL Connection aircraft. Modest improvements in long-haul coach meal service (greatly overdue, IMHO), not so much $.

Not flown Delta International in a long time. Does this mean they no longer have a breakfast service on overnights? Or has that been gone for a while?

Always good to see the improvement in the back. Pushing to decommodify their product will help as they look to chase higher yield/differentiate.

What happened to UA’s multicourse economy trial?

FlyingElvii wrote:

Not flown Delta International in a long time. Does this mean they no longer have a breakfast service on overnights? Or has that been gone for a while?

I am curious as well. However i flew Intl in May on Delta and had both courses.

I've flown main cabin international on Delta a number of times and the product they had was really nice. This looks like a bit of a downgrade for the meal. Last time I flew on them there was an appetizer, salad, entree, roll and dessert and cheese and crackers. It was all on a single tray but seems to have been more than what they're showing here. Also, is the bellini going to take the place of the first beverage service with the snack mix/nuts or is it in addition to? Will there still be a mid-flight snack and arrival meal on most flights? Improvements are always a good thing but the product they had was probably one of the better international services in main cabin from the U.S.

They trialed this about a year ago on their PDX-NRT flights. At the time of the trial, the starter was offered as an entirely separate course. Looks like they combined the starter and main course into one for the sake of time.

Regardless of what one thinks of DL, this is impressive for a YCL service, let alone on the US3.

IIRC, DL is the only US3 also providing amenity kits and free liquor in Y.

Wow. I was impressed enough by Delta's international economy service when I flew with them across the Atlantic a year or two ago. "Industry leading" is no exaggeration.

The tray served with meal on the picture and presentation is exactly the same as Etihad's NEW meal concept , except that EY does not serve any starter with main meal service. Also Breakfast service is replaced to only pack of pretzels and a drink on Etihad.
Hopefully Delta will keep normal Breakfast as they have now .....

Very impressive. retaining 3-3-3 in 777s, doubling down on PTVs, and a main cabin product that borders on SQ quality. Delta continues to impress in improving the main cabin experience.

FlyingElvii wrote:

Not flown Delta International in a long time. Does this mean they no longer have a breakfast service on overnights? Or has that been gone for a while?

I flew DL ATL-MAD last year and there was a breakfast service and there still is on almost all overnight flights. IMO DL is very good at keeping Y passengers fed on long haul flights

I've never taken a DL long haul flight I haven't thoroughly enjoyed (all in Main Cabin). It is becoming very clear Delta's mission to separate themselves from the rest of the US3 as far as their economy product goes. I'm sure Polaris is great if you or your company have $10K, and quite honestly nothing spectacular comes to mind when I think of AA long haul, premium or not (aside from warm nuts). But DL's focus on the common economy flier will pay dividends. This, coupled with their increasing number of hub and focus cities, which gives more of a point-to-point network illusion while maintaining hub economics, can help them sprint ahead of the pack in the US.

Now if they can just eliminate "basic economy" on an international flight, that would be nice.

9w748capt wrote:

Dougie must be fuming! DL will force his hand into actually investing in LCC's product now. Horrible day for him.

That was the first thing to come to my mind!

Flew DL to LHR last moth in Y. Pretty good service. More legromm is always appreciated but for the $$ it was a very good value. Came back to SEA on BA. nothing to brag about other than the staff was nice.

jreuschl wrote:

Now if they can just eliminate "basic economy" on an international flight, that would be nice.

Why? People have asked for it, and continue booking it.
Besides, once on board, there is no difference between Economy and Basic Economy.

I just flew Korean A380 from JFK to ICN and then flew DL A359 from ICN-ATL. This was in Main Cabin, and by far, DL was better. Better food. Better alcohol. Better FAs. Better in flight entertainment.

Even compared to EK the year before going to MCO-DXB-MLE, I’d say it is neck and neck economy products (EK better in some. DL better in others).

Hope Delta can put minimum seat pitch of 32 inches across all aircraft.

Let's take a look at how this differs from the current international main cabin offerings :

1. Bellini service replaces the first full beverage service that came with cocktail snacks. So if you want a diet coke or a gin and tonic, you're gonna have to wait for the beverage cart that accompanies the meal. Also, no snacks served with the bellini.

2. Although a choice of appetizers has been added, you actually get less than what you get currently since the fruit and cheese and salad that are currently served with the meal are being removed.

3. Dessert will now be served separately following the meal so if you're trying to maximize your sleep on the flight, you're going to have to wait a while longer if you want a sweet treat before your slumber.

4. Hot towels are currently offered after take off and landing so no change there.

5. Chocolates are currently offered before landing so no change there either.

Seems like a lot of brouhaha over nothing. If anything, main cabin passengers are getting less, not more. But Delta is excellent at putting a positive spin on these things and kudos to them for being able to do that and have people buy into it.

And I would point out that Delta has retained 9 across in the 777s.

Its fascinating to me to see airlines slowly but consistently, year after year, put back in all the things they took out when they were hemorrhaging money during the lean years.

Sounds similar to KLM main cabin service. Coincidence?

It seems the new bistro-style meal service concept is becoming more and more popular amongst the airlines. Does anyone have experience with this new meal service style as a passenger or a crew member? I don't really get the point of it. It seems to be more work for the crew and less food for passengers. However, I may be wrong. So how is it?

TransWorldOne wrote:

Let's take a look at how this differs from the current international main cabin offerings :

1. Bellini service replaces the first full beverage service that came with cocktail snacks. So if you want a diet coke or a gin and tonic, you're gonna have to wait for the beverage cart that accompanies the meal. Also, no snacks served with the bellini.

2. Although a choice of appetizers has been added, you actually get less than what you get currently since the fruit and cheese and salad that are currently served with the meal are being removed.

3. Dessert will now be served separately following the meal so if you're trying to maximize your sleep on the flight, you're going to have to wait a while longer if you want a sweet treat before your slumber.

4. Hot towels are currently offered after take off and landing so no change there.

5. Chocolates are currently offered before landing so no change there either.

Seems like a lot of brouhaha over nothing. If anything, main cabin passengers are getting less, not more. But Delta is excellent at putting a positive spin on these things and kudos to them for being able to do that and have people buy into it.

A couple of observations:

On #1 - I did not see it as taking away the first beverage service. It says "welcome" drink, which means to me that they will still have the first beverage service. Now, will they serve the little snacks? My vote says yes. On any DL flight I've been on, the FA has always been liberal on the snacks.

#2 - I agree, but the question is, would you rather have the cheese/crackers/fruit or a larger portion of the main meal? I guess that's for each person to answer.

#3 through #5 - Agree

Overall, I agree there is not much changing, but I would rather have the bigger main meal than the cheese/crackers/fruit. The big question (which is really not answered in the graph) is are they going to cut or downsize the mid-flight snack and/or pre-arrival meal? Remember that UA moved to this concept a couple of years ago. However, when they announced it, they got rid of the mid-flight snack on longer flights and replaced it with purchased snack boxes. It went over so well that they put the mid-flight snack back on the longer flights. I don't think DL will go this route, because that's not really their style, but I find it interesting that the mid-flight snack and pre-arrival meals are not in the graph.

TransWorldOne wrote:

Let's take a look at how this differs from the current international main cabin offerings :

1. Bellini service replaces the first full beverage service that came with cocktail snacks. So if you want a diet coke or a gin and tonic, you're gonna have to wait for the beverage cart that accompanies the meal. Also, no snacks served with the bellini.

2. Although a choice of appetizers has been added, you actually get less than what you get currently since the fruit and cheese and salad that are currently served with the meal are being removed.

3. Dessert will now be served separately following the meal so if you're trying to maximize your sleep on the flight, you're going to have to wait a while longer if you want a sweet treat before your slumber.

4. Hot towels are currently offered after take off and landing so no change there.

5. Chocolates are currently offered before landing so no change there either.

Seems like a lot of brouhaha over nothing. If anything, main cabin passengers are getting less, not more. But Delta is excellent at putting a positive spin on these things and kudos to them for being able to do that and have people buy into it.

Ok, I’m VERY impressed! My first question is cost. Any airline could make this happen too, but multiplied by the numbers of passengers- how much (about) might this cost Delta annually? (Assuming Delta doesn’t raise ticket prices to offset the costs) Or does the ROI come in the form of taking more passengers away from AA and UA and international carriers?

TransWorldOne wrote:

Let's take a look at how this differs from the current international main cabin offerings :

1. Bellini service replaces the first full beverage service that came with cocktail snacks. So if you want a diet coke or a gin and tonic, you're gonna have to wait for the beverage cart that accompanies the meal. Also, no snacks served with the bellini.

2. Although a choice of appetizers has been added, you actually get less than what you get currently since the fruit and cheese and salad that are currently served with the meal are being removed.

3. Dessert will now be served separately following the meal so if you're trying to maximize your sleep on the flight, you're going to have to wait a while longer if you want a sweet treat before your slumber.

4. Hot towels are currently offered after take off and landing so no change there.

5. Chocolates are currently offered before landing so no change there either.

Seems like a lot of brouhaha over nothing. If anything, main cabin passengers are getting less, not more. But Delta is excellent at putting a positive spin on these things and kudos to them for being able to do that and have people buy into it.

Yeah, the people in marketing at DL are definitely earning their pay. It’s just an attempt to make DL a little more palatable as a travel option to international passengers who often had superior Y options in the past.

BWIAirport wrote:

It is becoming very clear Delta's mission to separate themselves from the rest of the US3 as far as their economy product goes.

I'd say they've been successful so far. I recently paid extra to fly DL on a SAN-XXX-AMS-YYY-TUS trip, largely because of the great experiences I've had over the last few years flying Delta in international economy. They didn't disappoint.

All great Y seating options on international flights on DL, 3-3-3 777s, 3-3-3 A350s, 2-4-2 A330s or 2-3-2 767s, winners all around, no 3-4-3 777s or miserable 3-3-3 787s, that plus the enhanced meal service sounds great for Y, well done DL, hope others follow.

I just flew DL ATL-BCN MAD-ATL in early June and this service was already in place. I have to say it was fantastic. I couldn't believe we were getting hot towels and a post departure beverage service. Very nice!!

MIflyer12 wrote:

kiowa wrote:

An improvement would be less cramped seating on delta.

Space on an aircraft costs serious money. People who want to pay for it have First/Business and Comfort+ and/or Premium Select on over 90% of DL/DL Connection aircraft. Modest improvements in long-haul coach meal service (greatly overdue, IMHO), not so much $.

I'd happily pay 50% more for 50% more space. I'd even pay 75% more. The problem is they want to charge 500% more for 50% more space.

afgeneral wrote:

MIflyer12 wrote:

kiowa wrote:

An improvement would be less cramped seating on delta.

Space on an aircraft costs serious money. People who want to pay for it have First/Business and Comfort+ and/or Premium Select on over 90% of DL/DL Connection aircraft. Modest improvements in long-haul coach meal service (greatly overdue, IMHO), not so much $.

I'd happily pay 50% more for 50% more space. I'd even pay 75% more. The problem is they want to charge 500% more for 50% more space.

This.
I've considered splurging my own money when I fly international. But when I see the differences in costs for what you typically get, it's not worth it. Economy plus is a lot more money for a little more space. Business is fantastic but can be 5x-10x the cost.

USAirALB wrote:

They trialed this about a year ago on their PDX-NRT flights. At the time of the trial, the starter was offered as an entirely separate course. Looks like they combined the starter and main course into one for the sake of time.

Regardless of what one thinks of DL, this is impressive for a YCL service, let alone on the US3.

IIRC, DL is the only US3 also providing amenity kits and free liquor in Y.

I can confirm that they were already doing this on the PDX-NRT-PDX flight. I flew the route in late March and early April and they were serving bellinis and did have the option to pick your appetizer which was great. Nice add on for the economy experience!

I'll give it to Delta, that's some masterful marketing.

Delta is just the latest airline to adopt the meal service pioneered by Qantas about 5 years ago and since adopted by several others, most recently Etihad.

It's a passenger unfriendly move as it reduces the amount of food. What I find particularly alarming is that at least QF and EY both made a big song and dance in their PR about increasing the size of entree/main (to compensate for everything taken away, but of course the marketing didn't mention that) but Delta doesn't even do that which makes me think it will stay the same. Prepare to be hungry!

RyanairGuru wrote:

I'll give it to Delta, that's some masterful marketing.

Delta is just the latest airline to adopt the meal service pioneered by Qantas about 5 years ago and since adopted by several others, most recently Etihad.

It's a passenger unfriendly move as it reduces the amount of food. What I find particularly alarming is that at least QF and EY both made a big song and dance in their PR about increasing the size of entree/main (to compensate for everything taken away, but of course the marketing didn't mention that) but Delta doesn't even do that which makes me think it will stay the same. Prepare to be hungry!

One difference is that QF and EY don't offer anything else but the main hot dish whereas DL offers a choice of appetizers in addition to a choice of the main course.

RyanairGuru wrote:

I'll give it to Delta, that's some masterful marketing.

Delta is just the latest airline to adopt the meal service pioneered by Qantas about 5 years ago and since adopted by several others, most recently Etihad.

It's a passenger unfriendly move as it reduces the amount of food. What I find particularly alarming is that at least QF and EY both made a big song and dance in their PR about increasing the size of entree/main (to compensate for everything taken away, but of course the marketing didn't mention that) but Delta doesn't even do that which makes me think it will stay the same. Prepare to be hungry!

The DL press release states the entrees will be larger fwiw.

kiowa wrote:

An improvement would be less cramped seating on delta.

Because 3-3-3 seating on the 777s and 2-3-2 on the 767s are soooooo bad.

MIflyer12 wrote:

kiowa wrote:

An improvement would be less cramped seating on delta.

Space on an aircraft costs serious money. People who want to pay for it have First/Business and Comfort+ and/or Premium Select on over 90% of DL/DL Connection aircraft. Modest improvements in long-haul coach meal service (greatly overdue, IMHO), not so much $.

I agree only somewhat. There's a huge difference in price between between Y and Comfort+. Most of us only want an extra inch of pitch. That's it. And for that I'd be willing to pay for it but not the $300-$400 different to get 3 extra inches. That I won't do because I don't need it.

Quite the upgrade in Y. I doubt DL's partners Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic do anything like this?

It's definitely why DL is my preferred carrier. The cocktails after boarding is going to be tough for the F/A's to serve and clean up before takeoff I would imagine.

N649DL wrote:

Quite the upgrade in Y. I doubt DL's partners Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic do anything like this?

It's definitely why DL is my preferred carrier. The cocktails after boarding is going to be tough for the F/A's to serve and clean up before takeoff I would imagine.

If you read it closely it says the cocktails are after departure, so more that it's either in addition to or replacing the initial drink service

Also, it will likely be just Bellini in the beginning as I don't think they can replicate the J service of allowing customers to pick.

Still better than nothing

I frequently fly a mix of DL and AZ on JFK-FCO-JFK to visit family and have found my recent flights with DL far superior. Hot towels, mid flight snacks, and even menus in economy make for a very pleasant flight. Good job DL

TransWorldOne wrote:

Let's take a look at how this differs from the current international main cabin offerings :

1. Bellini service replaces the first full beverage service that came with cocktail snacks. So if you want a diet coke or a gin and tonic, you're gonna have to wait for the beverage cart that accompanies the meal. Also, no snacks served with the bellini.

2. Although a choice of appetizers has been added, you actually get less than what you get currently since the fruit and cheese and salad that are currently served with the meal are being removed.

3. Dessert will now be served separately following the meal so if you're trying to maximize your sleep on the flight, you're going to have to wait a while longer if you want a sweet treat before your slumber.

4. Hot towels are currently offered after take off and landing so no change there.

5. Chocolates are currently offered before landing so no change there either.

Seems like a lot of brouhaha over nothing. If anything, main cabin passengers are getting less, not more. But Delta is excellent at putting a positive spin on these things and kudos to them for being able to do that and have people buy into it.

AGREED!!

Anyone that thinks DL is spending more $$$ on this lives in fantasy land. DL is very very good at the presentation of things. With that said, it presents very very well, people (on a.net) will buy into it and continue to believe that DL Y (and DL overall) is better than SQ, EK, KE etc LMAO!!...hysterical.

I am not saying DL is rubbish! Far from it, I think they have done an exceptional job, granted they had a massive head start over AA and UA mergers, and had excellent mojo from NW without a doubt. BUT no, I don't buy any of this. DL is about making money, and this will do just that. Very smart at DL HQ, and ummm, well people will believe.

9w748capt wrote:

Dougie must be fuming! DL will force his hand into actually investing in LCC's product now. Horrible day for him.

Nah. He’ll remain in the race to the bottom — remember, why offer the customer more when the customer will not pay more?

While I applaud DL for the enhancements to coach, it would be nice if they could stop ignoring the continual deterioriation in the quality of the soft product in D1. The food is HORRIBLE now. It’s like coach food served on a plate. DL & KL have the worst food in Business class. This is absolutely where they could stand to learn something from the ME3, specifically QR. Heck, even KL on certain rotes has a dine-on-demand offering. Why can’t DL get with the program and offer this in D1?

VC10er wrote:

TransWorldOne wrote:

Let's take a look at how this differs from the current international main cabin offerings :

1. Bellini service replaces the first full beverage service that came with cocktail snacks. So if you want a diet coke or a gin and tonic, you're gonna have to wait for the beverage cart that accompanies the meal. Also, no snacks served with the bellini.

2. Although a choice of appetizers has been added, you actually get less than what you get currently since the fruit and cheese and salad that are currently served with the meal are being removed.

3. Dessert will now be served separately following the meal so if you're trying to maximize your sleep on the flight, you're going to have to wait a while longer if you want a sweet treat before your slumber.

4. Hot towels are currently offered after take off and landing so no change there.

5. Chocolates are currently offered before landing so no change there either.

Seems like a lot of brouhaha over nothing. If anything, main cabin passengers are getting less, not more. But Delta is excellent at putting a positive spin on these things and kudos to them for being able to do that and have people buy into it.

Ok, I’m VERY impressed! My first question is cost. Any airline could make this happen too, but multiplied by the numbers of passengers- how much (about) might this cost Delta annually? (Assuming Delta doesn’t raise ticket prices to offset the costs) Or does the ROI come in the form of taking more passengers away from AA and UA and international carriers?

No doubt these changes were all made in a cost neutral way. The idea is... Create the perception the customer is getting more/something special without spending more money yet increasing revenue.

I’m not bashing Delta. They’re doing a great job marketing their products/services and making a lot of money. That’s a successful business model.

questions wrote:

No doubt these changes were all made in a cost neutral way.

Why is there no doubt? You've seen the financials at the very highest levels of the organization?