A social media influencer is getting a lot of attention for her advice to steal food from airline lounges to save money and eat well when you travel, declaring “If you’re not taking takeout or to go containers with you to the airport lounges, you’re getting ripped off.”
There is so much food in the lounges for you to eat – hot food, cold food, sandwiches, veggies, meats – they only give you a limited time to sit down and enjoy the feasting. And food on the airplane can be small portions and expensive.
She advises bringing takeout containers with you to the lounge, plate a bunch of food, and stuff your container to the brim with snacks – then enjoy it once you’re up in the air.
I’m not sure I see the point, though, since not only is this against the rules of the Delta Sky Club at LAX where she does this – but if she eats in the lounge then probably she won’t be hungry on the plane? At least she won’t be hungry yet once she’s immediately up in the air when she eats (and when you’d want to eat, while the food is still reasonably fresh). So what does this accomplish?
The Delta Sky Club at LAX, where this woman turned the buffet into a DoorDash takeout experience, is pretty nice. There are two separate buffet areas in that lounge and an outdoor deck.
The buffet there doesn’t change much – it was the same in her video as this photo I took a year and a half ago. I’m surprised she doesn’t advise scaling her suggestion and bringing several tupperwares, loading them up with food, and selling them onboard – undercutting Delta’s pricing.
It’s hardly new that flyers are dumping buffet items into their carry-on bags.
Here’s one that quietly filled three plates wiht ribs, garlic chicken an cookies – then dumped them into a bag for his flight. I think it’s the smell of the ribs in the confined space of the plane’s cabin that I’d object to more than taking the food to go, honestly.
Some just see it as a way of getting their money’s worth – especially as Delta raises fees and limits access to its lounges. One woman shares video of herself taking salami: “If you get 36 slices of salami per Delta sky club lounge visit, you break even on your annual fee after just 30.5 lounge visits.”
One passenger at the New York JFK Chase Sapphire lounge was spotted maybe taking what amounts to a record for food removed from a lounge?
The couple next to me filled up two duffel bags worth of food. They basically shoved entire plates of desserts, prepared food, etc. and ordered six Sapphire Burgers, etc. and put them in their duffel bags inside empty boxes they had brought. There was a huge pile of empty plates they stashed behind a plant.
Six Sapphire Burgers Were Shoved Into A Duffel Bag
Capital One has actually really leaned into this, introducing high quality grab and go food and drink in their lounges, and placing it by the entrance. You’re supposed to take food with you, or stop in just to grab something to go.
United now has its own ‘Club Fly’ to go stops in Denver and Houston, and Delta has offered to go food on the condition that a passenger entitled to the lounge doesn’t actually use it. So maybe the trend is now this is actually ok? And yet Delta passengers get scolded just for stealing a banana from a Sky Club.
(HT: Live and Let’s Fly)
Ban that woman from airline lounges. Enough of these so called social media influencers. Most of them are con artists trying to get you to pay sites.
When did everyone get so greedy and entitled? Act like you’ve been there and belong (regardless of where you go). There are certain social contract expectations related to dress, behavior etc that people should adhere to. Hopefully DL identifies her and puts her on their no fly list (which they can legitimately do for little or no reason as no one has a right to fly a specific airline but in this case encouraging theft is more than enough reason to ban her)
Piggish, disgusting, selfish behavior.
“If You’re Not Stealing Office Supplies From Your Employer, You’re Getting Ripped Off” is the next post. Then, “If You’re Not Stealing Towels From The Hotel, You’re Getting Ripped Off” Then for the kids, “If You’re Not Stealing Money From Dad’s Wallet or Mom’s Purse, You’re Getting Ripped Off”
Yes, please do only focus on ‘the bottom,’ the petty theft, the so-called ‘welfare’ queens. Continue to vilify the poor, needy, and the lesser than. Blame the ‘influencers.’ Most importantly, keep the ‘culture war’ alive; we must ignore the ‘class’ war, so that the super-rich may keep pillaging billions from our public lands, resources, and coffers. As Sheev Palpatine said: ‘good, good… let the hate flow through you!’
Airport lounges are now glorified buffets, and this is an age-old buffet problem.
“Here’s one that quietly filled three plates with ribs, garlic chicken and cookies – then dumped them into a bag for his flight.” To paraphrase Forrest Gump: “Tacky is as tacky does.”
Not sure where 1990 came from, but as one with airline lounge access is very likely above average income and doesn’t have to steal food from a lounge.
Sure many of us grab a cookie or banana occasionally, I don’t see an issue with that.
For this “take all you can” trash, I’d ban her and if I saw it I would get pictures and post along with notifying the lounge staff.
People like here help drive up operating costs.
@Doug — Where’d you come from? Oh, wait, that doesn’t matter. For lounges, we pay for access (one way or another, credit cards, class of service, etc.), so you bet most of us want to extract some value in-return when we travel, visit a lounge. I’m not suggesting be excessive, but there aren’t really ‘rules’ so much as common sense (don’t shove all the food into a bag, you’ll look silly, ruin a bag, and harm your fellow travelers if they run out). I understand finite resources, sir. So, you want to limit something, then make and enforce rules. Cookies? 1/person? Post it. Have someone monitor. Is that communism? Fascism? Naw. It’s freaking airport lounge. Sheesh.
Delta pilots will need a modified Weight & Balance chart when these cows stampede out of the lounge and onto their planes.
@Alan — Bah! *MTOW warning* ‘Sorry, folks, we got too many fatties on-board… gonna have to get some more fuel and a longer runway…’
With her name & photo posted, she should be banned from Delta Lounges. I don’t see see anything wrong with taking a bag of chips or a piece of fruit but telling other people to do it and “loading up” is wrong. Especially the ordering 6 hamburgers and the bag of ribs.
That’s what causes all of our annual fees to go up—people like her! And the guy ordering the 6 hamburgers or bag of ribs.
@Linda — Ribs… by the bag! Bah! The real question is would that ‘method’ make ribs more or less messy? Gonna need a bib and a lot of wet wipes, either way.
That said, I doubt the excesses of a few lounge goers is the real reason for those increased fees (it’s mostly corporate greed, seeking more profits, our current system of ‘forever growth.’)
She’s encouraging others to steal. Yes buffets have had a petty theft problem before, but selling known wrongs on morally bankrupt media is another level of wrong and deserves punishment.
“Social Media” is the leaded gasoline, asbestos and Freon of our era. It will take decades to clean up the consequences…
@Denver Refugee — As was the printing press, newspapers, telegrams, radio, and television before it. Sure would be nice if we could skip the Thirty Years war, learn from history without facing brutal consequences, and skip ahead to the equivalent of the Treaty of Westphalia. Or not, we can just eat each other alive. How fun!
@1990 you’re wrong. You say they’re aren’t rules? It’s a moral compass you’re missing. And please invite us all over to your lair so we can steal from you!
so-called influencers are the cancers of the internet
on youtube I just can’t stand these people pretending to be experts in the destinations they just discovered themselves
Mostly, the way I justify lounge access (sadly, AA in my case) is by not purchasing stupidly priced airport/airline food.
I don’t need to take it with me to justify that. And even in DL lounges, the food isn’t SO GOOD that it’s worth stealing, nor will any meat keep for >1h or so… she may end up regretting her choices, for a few reasons.
I remember under King Newsom, we had to take food to go from the lounge AND wait to be on the airplane to eat it while in his Kingdom a few years ago.
Now its faux paux to do this?
Im lost.
If I’m in steerage or its a long flight, Ill discretely take a carry-out munchie with me. Or if Im traveling thru an Alaska Airlines city with a lounge, Ill fill up a takeout coffee cup full of that yummy cajun-ish snack mix.
But tupperware.. thats a bit too far.
Stealing is wrong. You eat and drink while your there – that is the purpose of the lounge (along with free wifi). Bumming a banana is one thing like at a hotel breakfast but you don’t take a days worth of food. A few bad apples…
@haolenate — Forget California, we in NYC are on the precipice of free buses and breadlines! Yippie!
@boilers — Ah, let’s do as the Japanese do and make it uncouth to drink/eat on-the-go. Like, there’s a reason Tokyo is so clean; it’s because folks eat at restaurants, and there are no garbage cans…
IMO anyone over 12 who uses the word ‘veggie’ is an idiot. This woman proves my point.
Lounge food is mostly tripe anyway. I will do a take-away coffee 90% of the time, though.
Balance and reason- not excess…
I would ban this “influencer” so their followers would go up ha!
Trash. Just trash. I wonder if she does this when she’s at the local hibachi buffet?
These are the kind of lounge users who are wrecking the joint for the rest of us. This is what happens when you let anyone and everyone into an environment that was designed to be intentionally exclusive.
@1990,
Um, no. It has nothing to do with where they eat nor the lack of garbage cans. It’s a cultural thing. It’s considered shameful to litter. They are taught early to clean up after themselves and take responsibility.
@Fathiss — One might consider that ‘honor’ (not just wanting to avoid ‘shame’). Clearly, we have no ‘shame’ in the United States of America (and many other countries)… or ‘honor’ (anymore) *sigh*
Why the hell would you want to eat slick meat buffet food let alone take it with you to consume later. Bad food, bad business model, bad experience. Can’t wait!
The other thing to consider is perishables since there’s no fridge on the plane. I’m usually full after I leave the lounge so I’ll save my to-go bag items for a snack/meal later. You can potentially do sandwiches that have been out of the fridge for several hours but for some items that’s a no go and then it’s just a waste to throw out (or a really bad time)
Cap1 as Gary mentioned is nice because they encourage takeout — the one at JFK even takes your takeout order and preps it for you. They eventually halved the size of the takeout bags which I always thought was interesting.
@1990 — for some reason I found it amusing you used his full name, “Sheev” ha. Don’t try to steal from the Death Star Lounge or you’ll get Naboo-t!
@L737 — “You were the chosen one! …you were supposed to bring balance to the (lounge buffet), not leave it (empty)!”
In all seriousness, thank you for your nuanced take here. While most others are quick to ‘burn the witch,’ you remind the rest of us that for the most part we’re just getting some food and trying to make the most of travel, not abuse anything. Capital One is unique; they seem to be doing it right!
This “influencer” should be banned from Delta lounges.
@1990 – “for the most part we’re just getting some food and trying to make the most of travel, not abuse anything.”
There is a sizable (and growing) cohort of people who I honestly believe do not see it this way. Your (our) take is that of the business traveler. For some, getting the most from air travel comes with a sense of entitlement that they can pay as little as possible and then have everything they want, they way they want it, when they want it. They have exchanged value for price and will get every last dime out of it.
The cultural norms of air travel have changed. What was once civilized and elevated has now become commoditized and undifferentiated and the lounges are no exception. People act like a bunch of wild animals in there sometimes…which is what happens when, as you discussed earlier, there is a lack of shame.
@RF – I’d say banned from airports (if not polite society) outright.
Anyone with a cellphone can be a “travel influencer” these days, but it takes a real pro to become a Greyhound or Amtrak “influencer.”
@Parker — I hear ya. That said, these lounges aren’t the Golden Corral… (anyone else remember that 40-person brawl in Bensalem over an alleged steak shortage in 2022? Good times.)
@Parker – I really think you hit the nail on the head. Things that were more expensive before and should still be more expensive now simply aren’t. This most definitely includes lounge access. Greyhound prices result in Greyhound behavior.
@1990 – “Golden Corral” (shudder). Only ate at one once, 20+ years ago, but still remember the violence it inflicted on my digestive tract for several days afterward.
An Instagram influencer named “HealthyJunkFood” recently visited a Delta Air Lines Sky Club® and advised her viewers in her video blog, “If you’re not taking takeout or to-go containers with you to the airport lounges, you’re getting ripped off.” She encourages her audience to indulge in Delta Sky Club food and take it with them on a future flight. If she were a pirate, the terms “pillage and plunder” would come to mind.
I disagree with this advice. Stuffing yourself with food from the Delta Air Lines lounge and filling multiple takeout containers with more mediocre offerings seems unnecessary. Most airline lounge food isn’t exceptional and can often be unappetizing. I’ve never heard a passenger say, “This Delta Air Lines Sky Club food was so amazing that I want to throw up and eat it all over again.” Have you ever seen a James Beard Award finalist® dining on lounge food in a Delta Sky Club?
Eating the food from the Delta Sky Club and storing it in takeout containers for later consumption on an unsanitary airline tray table is usually not a pleasant experience. Moreover, there’s nothing enjoyable about needing to use the aircraft lavatory as your private vomitorium before attempting to force down another bite of lounge food. And when the wait for the airplane restroom exceeds the wait to enter a Delta Sky Club, you might be relieved to know that a complimentary leakproof barf bag featuring the Delta Air Lines logo is usually available at every aircraft seat.
@Denver Refugee — It’s a ‘deal,’ for sure, but in the end, it might not be a ‘good’ deal. I feel the same way about Taco Bell. Oh, how many Chalupa Supremes and Cheesy Gordita Crunches with Fire Sauce will it take for me to learn my lesson… bah!
@Ken A — Thank you for your use of the word ‘vomitorium.’ You’ve made me (and @L737, I presume, also) very proud. As Hedonismbot would say: “Save it for the boudoir!”
I think this comment takes the cake — “If you get 36 slices of salami per Delta sky club lounge visit, you break even on your annual fee after just 30.5 lounge visits.”
A) If you’re flying over 30 times a year, well, flying itself is expensive and one would hope you wouldn’t have to carry off over 900 slices of salami to save money. Or are they just going to the lounge for some free meals even when they’re not flying anywhere?
B) I like salami but 36 slices? That’s a lot of salami.
(That’s ignoring the obvious objections that have been well hashed out already so I won’t rehashing them. I confess MAYBE I’d grab a cookie or some small item (like egg roll sized thing) to take with me and snack on in the airport. But bringing tupperware to fill, and calculating how much salami you need to break even? Get real.)
@hwertz — With all that salami, you’re practically an Arby’s, because you ‘have the meats’!
Thieves gotta steal. Interesting how she tries to rationalize her being a thief.
@1990 – well you New Yorkers are used to standing in long lines, I’m wondering how long this influencer had to wait (smirk)
I find it amazing we’re so focused on food in lounges… when I started (same time as Gary, I think) – I remember the United Red Carpet Club literally had only the King Snack mix and small pieces of prepackaged cheedar cheese. That’s it. The RCC was nothing more than a glorified, gated waiting area. Now we’re demanding restaurant-quality food before we get on an airplane, gourmet food on said airplane (only to complain about it), and manspread cause our asses can’t fit in the seats anymore.
Does American still have the coolers with paid to-go-food items in them in their hub ACs? I remember seeing them in CLT & DFW, and was mad I kept getting a sando and there was no mustard or mayo to go with them.
I’d think that concept would alleviate the “theft” of food from the lounges…
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