News and notes from around the interweb:
- “Premium” is a word Delta uses like a mantra, repeating it dozens of times in investor presentations. But they aren’t as reliable an airline as they used to be. And before the pandemic they were offering course-based meals internationally with welcome drinks and hot towels. Today’s Delta:
@delta Was on an 11-hour flight and the meals served were disgusting. Pics of my "Pasta" dish and Breakfast sandwich (someone ID the yellow on the bread/not egg), and on connecting flight I had to check carry on because my dedicated bin in comfort+ was given to someone else. pic.twitter.com/fTzXO2W5BT
— Justthefacts (@justthefacts850) December 21, 2023
- Already Taking Off, the Unlikely Story of TWA 800 Debris Washing Up on a NJ Beach Probably just theater seats?
@itsmatthewjacob Stay tuned for updates.
- Oh my.
Air Canada Jazz AC8684 experienced the detachment of its inside left main landing gear wheel during takeoff from Montreal
The flight landed safely
pic.twitter.com/H7e5Sd3g6G— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) December 21, 2023
- Some people are bored.
- We rate this claim as true:
Sorry, if you choose an aisle seat, the penalty is that you are ok with being woken up.
Lady just lost her mind when I asked to take my three year old to the restroom.
“I was sleeping!”
If you have to sleep, go with the window.
— StripMallGuy (@realEstateTrent) December 22, 2023
- Did we need any more indication of how much of a mess Marriott and Bonvoy are?
The Fairfield Hotels in Asia don’t offer complimentary breakfast as the properties in the Americas do, and it is not even a Guaranteed Welcome Gift option for Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador members.
Now, Fairfield branded hotels in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have their points earnings cut in half (5 per USD), and you only earn an elite qualifying night for every two nights consumed.
Marriott won’t award partial elite qualifying nights, so stays of 1 night won’t earn an elite qualifying night at all, and stays of 3 nights only yield 1.
If you have a young child who needs to get up to pee, maybe YOU should have chosen the aisle seat.
Premium, just premium.
I have never had a meal on a domestic airline in YEARS that was decent.
Had much better meals on international airlines, even regional ones.
@ Patti — I couldn’t agree more, except for perhaps AS. If the food is actually ever decent on DL, UA, or AA, I consider it a lucky day. Otherwise, I appreciate the help in keeping my weight down and just sleep.
There’s not a single U.S. airline that has decent food. One of the problems is they try to “church it up” too much. I’ve got 48 hours left to pick my D1 meal for next week. If I knew I could get a good meal during the layover I would skip it. But a couple of months back delays resulted in a dead run to make the flight. And 15 hours in the air is too long to risk. Tried the Sea Bass last time. Came out a boiling blob of fish jelly. And the Leek wrap I got once was probably a leftover from Guantanamo Bay. If one of the airlines would dumb down the food (think a slab of brisket and some potato salad) it would be a hit.
The “fish” in the water in the plastic bag is funny. I can actually see that working in the USA. No one, including TSA, wants to cause the death of an animal.
When given the choice I always select Asian Veg on American and have yet to be dissatisfied. Does Delta offer a choice of dietary options?
@Jason
The only vegetarian on my Delta flight next week is a mushroom pasta dish. I’m not that brave.
My father in law fished a seat cushion from that TWA flight out of the Atlantic. On the Fire Island shore. But to find something today. No way.
I’ve had zero expectation for any meals on domestic flights for years. Looks like this is spreading to domestic premium cabins as well. Figure on eating/snacking at a Priority Pass (or better yet, a Centurion, Capital One, or Chase) lounge if you have the appropriate premium credit card, or just buy something in the terminal. It’s that simple.
I have to give delta the benefit of the doubt or give them some leniency…
Not sure there’s a decent meal in economy out there (the poster said Y+ so I assume it wasn’t W)
Plenty of things delta does right and plenty they don’t but meals in economy always look like microwaved crap because they are
I have only ever special ordered Kosher , and thus end up with two meals . The good Kosher , and an extra premium meal . As I am a selective eater , I can scrounge perhaps one snack in total out of the two. I also eat heartily at whichever premium restaurant before boarding , and also bring Japanese rice crackers to have with my Kirin or German beer . Only international on JL or LH … never travel domestic except UA from and to Hawaii .
The world’s #1 premium airline could serve you pig slop and it’ll still be the world’s #1 premium airline. You all should be thankful that Delta even exists!
Only exception to all the comments above is JetBlue Mint. I’ve purposefully skipped a meal on the ground a half dozen times!) just so I was hungry enough to eat all the good food they give you. It’s the only domestic airline that you can reliably count on to deliver every time.
Is this what they are serving the illegal aliens they are flying around the country?
Those seats clearly have legs meant to sit on a floor for stabilization. Not a seat track. Plenty of other simple clues too.
@ AndyS — No, this food is saved for the racists.
@andys
In fairness, no
Ever since CO left the industry there hasn’t been a decent domestic economy meal anywhere
Those were the days
But I remember LAS-IAh and getting a half turkey sandwich and being so surprised
Gone now on everyone
sCO forever
Romanian operator Legend Airlines has had a flight detained in France during a resupply stop on a flight from the UAE to Nicaragua. On board the flight, a lot of Indian citizens suspected to be illegal immigrants headed to the US. The French authorities got a tip and had flagged it as a human trafficking operation. The flight operator says it was hired by a reliable repeat customer to transport the passengers from the UAE to Nicaragua.
Daniel Ortega has long had both a thing for India and a thing for wanting to annoy the US Government.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/23/europe/romanian-plane-grounded-france-human-trafficking-intl-hnk/index.html
Thomas,
Thank you for putting out there that Fire Island also has some breeders.
@MaxPower … How could they get half-a-turkey on a sandwich ? Must have been a huge sandwich.
@alert
Talk to Panera
I don’t make the half sandwich rules 😉
but it was better than anything you’d get today on LAS-IAH, LAS-DFW or LAS-ATL
it kind of sucks that DL & NW got to dictate domestic standards to everyone else but they did… they merged first then UA-CO copied them, then AA-US had to copy them as well because DL made Wall street believe lack of service in economy made profits.
If we want to point fingers, sure… UA and CO could’ve chosen to keep a service that the the new mega carrier said was too over the top (a half sandwich)…. but DL/NW had already set the standard of the mega carrier and they were the profit leaders and UA/CO was definitely not the ones to be dictating profit items vs DL/NW at the time.
We all know who to blame but point your finger in the right place. Everyone had to follow the first mover, Delta…. god help us all on their cost cutting and fleet densification (and yeah… the delta entire airbus and 757 retrofit was more dense than anything anyone had done, especially as a mega carrier, as they were the first). Frankly, their airbus retrofit still is the most dense thing anyone has done because it’s the only retrofit they’ve done aside from the 752 retrofit which is also the most densification among AA/DL/UA
So many carriers get lauded and have fingers pointed fingers at… but it’s important to remember who started it all… Delta started the fleet densification and still has more seats on every airbus CEO and they eliminated any real meal in economy (or rather didn’t add it to compete with CO post bankruptcy) and UA/CO felt compelled to follow them since DL was far more profitable.
People forget who started the current industry norms everyone complains about… it’s the first mover… delta, and their marketing team loves to help people forget
No one else started this freefall to the bottom except Delta. Sure, Delta fanboys will blame US Airways but they were a bit player trying to survive, not merging to become the largest carrier on earth like DL. There’s one carrier to blame for a fall in service norms… Delta does a lot of things right… but everyone should also blame them for their own industry-leading choices
Gary you gotta do something about those long thin text strings (or whatever they’re called).
@Gene
Being against people openly breaking federal law by crossing the border illegally is racist? Being against the federal government aiding, abetting, subsidizing, and even encouraging federal law breakers is racist? Being opposed to allowing law breakers to have less screening on flights than law abiding citizens is racist? Refusing to pretend that it’s not a security threat to not vet people crossing the border is racist?
Everything you disagree with you just claim to be racist, because your positions are otherwise indefensible, and you know it.
You seem overly obsessed with airline food. The US airlines don’t seem to share your sentiment — probably because nobody actually buys airline tickets based on the food served onboard. This is particularly true now that most truly frequent flyers can usually get “free” decent airport meals in lounges and such. I’d note the coach food featured in this rant actually looks quite edible and better than I usually see.
@Gene
If you’re not then you’re not paying attention.
@ Mantis — No where did I say that I favored illegal immigration; however, your hateful comment is clearly racist. “Illegals” are human beings list time I checked.
did you break your back going through all of those contortions to blame Delta, Max?
there is a reason why a true analyst just told Gary that he doesn’t want his name or work associated w/ this site because of the low-quality anecdotal click bait stories and the commentary that they evoke and you, Max, jumped right in with your juvenile response to yet another clickbait story.
@Tim Dunn – you and your contortions, you dissed him when that same analyst said that American AAdvantage earned more revenue than SkyMiles
https://viewfromthewing.com/delta-skymiles-on-verge-of-being-left-in-the-dust-by-american-aadvantage/
You don’t do anything more than mood affiliate with those who are on opposite sides from whomever you’re disagreeing with at the moment. Nothing so low quality intellectually as that. Sad, even.
Gene – arguably, but more importantly they’re criminals.
Gary
His reason for not wanting his name or work affiliated with this site had nothing to do with math-his or yours-and this story is exactly why, just like all kinds of anecdotal stories you write.
And I have no problem w your or his valuations of loyalty programs. But all those are esoteric and require lots of assumptions. The revenue contribution of loyalty programs to the income statement is clear cut but you never want to show a side by side comparison of loyalty program financials as disclosed by each carrier. Those numbers clearly show Delta in the lead.
@Tim Dunn – ” The revenue contribution of loyalty programs to the income statement is clear cut but you never want to show a side by side comparison of loyalty program financials as disclosed by each carrier. Those numbers clearly show Delta in the lead.”
That is false, airlines break out very little about their loyalty programs directly in their financial disclosures. They’re generally folded in with other categories. (Up through ~ 2016 the American Airlines 10-Ks were very revealing.)
You’re just making stuff up about the financials.
@ Gary — But you forget that Tim has more data than anyone else…
Gary,
I didn’t even bother to open this article – which, again, is about anecdotes and customer video/photos which is exactly why the analyst you cited said he didn’t want his name associated with this site – until I saw how much it had grown and then saw Max’s comment basically blaming Delta for the decline in meal service because of the NW merger. THAT IS beyond a stretch and just highlights the low quality of so many posts that stem from anecdotal stories which the author cited.
And AA, DL and UA ALL cite the amount of awards they give from their FF programs, the value of travel they give, the value of the their FF liability, and the amount of revenue from their loyalty programs they had to their income statements. You just don’t want to show it because it doesn’t tell the story you want which, as much as you and others might dislike, shows that Delta has done a better job of monetizing their FF program even though the award story is pretty similar across all 3 airlines.
And no I dno’t have any more data- I just read and cite what is available instead of twisting it with my bias.
@ Tim — Literally, EVERYTHING you write is biased.
Gene,
your comment is beyond hypocrisy BECAUSE it comes from you.
guy was right. Low class articles produce low class comments.
@ Tim — “Nothing so low quality intellectually as that. Sad, even.”
Nobody has told me not to cite their work
@Tim Dunn – no, they have.actually banned you
@Tim Dunn—if Delta’s FFP is so great why do people refer to their SkyMiles as SkyPesos? Just curious.
wow, just wow, Gary.
there is absolutely nothing on a.net that is worth citing.
you do realize your bud the backward airline guy left a.net too?
sorry to have to say it on Christmas day but the sooner you learn to accept legitimate criticism instead of lashing out at others, you might have a site that other people, not me, will agree to have their work cited on.
Robert,
first, if Gary would actually post real data from AA, DL and UA 10Ks, the average award amount between the big 3 is pretty similar.
Just as Gary loves to find one messed one anything from a customer and draw all kinds of conclusions from it, he uses the barometer of peak business class awards as the metric of whether Delta has a competitive Skymiles program. Given that the average award level is pretty similar between the big 3, obviously there are plenty of people that redeem Skymiles levels for competitive levels – and Delta simply does not discount its business class cabins as much as AA or DL and since all of the airlines use dynamic award pricing, if fares are high, so too are award levels.
and second, you and others look solely at award redemption levels – even if jaded by anecdotes. Loyalty programs for any company do not exist to maximize what is given away to customers but to reward loyalty and incentivize repeat behavior.
It really is all fundamental – but when you focus on anecdotes, as is common on this site – you lose all kinds of perspectve.
Merry Christmas to you all
@Tim Dunn “sorry to have to say it on Christmas day but the sooner you learn to accept legitimate criticism instead of lashing out at others” oh that is priceless of all things coming from you.
Gary,
1. the reason “guy” said he didn’t want you to cite his work on your site is because of the click-bait nature of many of your stories that elicit low quality responses. Other readers including over the past week have said the same thing and admonished you to change direction.
2. I have repeatedly said that you love to focus on anecdotes in an industry that serves hundreds of millions of customers and you draw conclusions that are simply not supportive by data where it exists or common sense.
3. Your title to this article is not only click-bait but also resulted in the exact low quality responses esp. from some of your usernames that do nothing but come along to mock others.
as much as you want to argue otherwise, there are a number of people that read your site that find those methods low quality and like a tabloid.
4. I am more than happy to admit where I am wrong and need improvement. I am not willing to back down from facts because someone doesn’t like them. The reason I got banned from a.net is because I repeatedly argued about AA’s financial coming demise in the decade of the 2000s – which ultimately culminated in a bankruptcy filing which they tried to avoid long after every other airline had been though chapter 11 at least once.
5. I continue to use data and facts to back up what I say – and there are people that argue incessantly I am wrong – but don’t present their own data – or, more often of late, just engage in endless personal attacks since they can’t or won’t use facts and data.
6. airlines are very tribal organizations – both for customers and employees. I get loyalty but I don’t hesitate going after reality as it exists instead of what some believe.
7. In the interest of peace on earth, let’s take this conversation offline. I will drop it. You have my email address.
Sometimes friends tell each other tough news.
You can do better with the content of this site because I have seen you produce really good, well-prepared material.
Since you don’t cover airline news as other sites do, you clearly have to generate clicks somehow – and I don’t deny you the freedom to come up w/ your own format.
But when you focus on the lowest quality of behavior in a world of 8 billion, you not only will get low quality responses but you shortchange what you are capable of doing.
Sometimes it isn’t admirable to scan the internet for the most bizarre thing just so you can write another article.
Happy holidays, Gary.
All the best to you today and always!
@Gary. You really should ban Tim Dunn solely so he can spend more time with family and friends. A guy who spends his days writing inaccurate statements is a guy with no life. Give him his life back Gary. I’m sure his wife, family and friends would appreciate it.
hey jr,
if only you would challenge what you say with facts and data instead of trying to ban people that you don’t agree with, we would be in far better shape as a human race.
but let’s face it – people in the highest positions of government and society propose exactly what you want.
And shall we deduce you and Gary have no family and friends since you too manage to read and post on a holiday? or is it, hypocritically, ok for you to post but not others?
@tim dunn is today a holiday for Gary or Jr?
why should anyone presume any day is a holiday for anyone?
some people feel like it is their duty to tell others when and how much they can post on this and other sites, tho
“ The reason I got banned from a.net”
After years of yelling at me for lying about his a.net ban and he finally stops lying
Thanks tim: aka worldtraveller and likely others I could share before your IP addresses were also banned…
Ready to admit to being fired by delta yet?
Another item you say I’ve lied about even though MANY of your delta friends have said it
They actually love to share it