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We just returned from a quick weekend in Mexico City to celebrate my wife’s birthday. This was our second trip and we had a blast. To get there, we used a Delta Companion Certificate from my Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. This is a good reminder that Delta expanded the use of these certificates to include certain destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.
We took advantage of the option to purchase First Class tickets as the price differential between coach and first was less than $300 or $150 per person. For a 3 hour and 25 minute flight, we thought it was worth the splurge. With that bit of background, let’s dive into what Delta’s First Class catering between ATL and MEX is like these days.
I’ll note that we were on Delta’s O-L-D 737-800s both ways with the tiny seatback IFE’s for the flight down and the larger replacement ones on the way back. The plus of this aircraft type is that the seats, particularly in first class, are generously padded, unlike some of the new slim-line seats. The minuses are that these interiors are really tired, and the overhead bins are terribly small, making for slow boarding and deplaning with lots of last-minute gate-checked baggage. This delayed us by 10 minutes on our flight from ATL to MEX. Other than this disclaimer, I’m not going to cover the aircrafts.
Before the Flights
Ahead of the first flight from Atlanta we had technical difficulties in putting in for our special Gluten Free meals. The Fle Delta app allowed us to make the selection, but it always failed to save. I eventually gave up and ordered the Beef Short Rib as I’d done prior research, and the entree is generally considered gluten-free, though the bread and dessert that come with it clearly are not. My wife decided to wait until the flight to make her selection.
For our return flight from Mexico City, we had the same technical difficulties in selecting a special meal. This time, we both elected to order ahead based on the descriptions we thought that we would probably have enough on our trays that we could eat that it would be fine.
ATL to MEX
We boarded our flight and were offered pre-departure beverages (PDBs). I requested a Chardonnay and my wife requested sparkling wine. A few minutes later my Chardonnay was delivered while my wife was informed that they had failed to cater any sparkling wine on our flight. My wife just opted to share my Chardonnay at this point.
Meal service began quickly after the seat belt sign was turned off. The flight attendant came around with linens, confirmed my meal order and took my wife’s and she also took our drink orders. The choices on the flight were the beef short rib, a cheese-filled ravioli, or a chicken salad. Our drinks arrived shortly after – a Cabernet for me and a Sauvignon Blanc for my wife. The flight attendant also offered the snack basket at this time. Unfortunately, it was very limited and only featured the breakfast selections with only one gluten-free option, a chocolate breakfast bar.
Not long after we were served the Beef Short Rib. is a big fan of this entree, as he explained in May. As mentioned before, the Beef Short Rib should have been gluten-free. In our experience, we believe that it was. It was served with cooked carrots and a mixture of cabbage, red peppers, and onions. All of which were cooked nicely and paired well with the beef. The salad was simple with lettuce, tomato, and Parmesan cheese. This, fortunately, was also glute-free. And for dessert, there was a creamy lemon cake that was decidedly not gluten-free. Overall the food was excellent.
MEX to ATL
We boarded our flight and were offered pre-departure beverages (PDBs). I requested sparkling wine and my wife requested sparkling water. A few minutes later, both arrived. Fortunately, on this flight, they catered the sparkling wine.
Meal service on this flight was also served quickly after takeoff. The flight attendant came around with linens, confirmed both of our pre-orders – the chicken salad for my wife and the cheese and meat plate for me. The only other option on the flight were a vegetarian pasta. My cheese and meat plate was a limited selection and was only available to those who had pre-ordered. I was extremely pleased with the variety of meats, cheeses, fruit, and nuts. This was also served with a basic salad, a glutenous cracker, and a bread roll. The cold chicken salad was very basic, with the only noteworthy item being figs. This was served with a watermelon and pineapple fruit salad and a bread roll. Overall we were happy with our choices for a flight of this length.
About an hour before landing in Atlanta the flight attendant came through the cabin again offering refills and a typical daytime premium snack basket.
Final Approach
Delta’s First Class catering between ATL and MEX is on par with what you’d get on a non-DeltaOne trans-continental flight. It’s good but nothing to get too excited about. To be honest, when we flew this same route on Aeromexico a few years ago (during the pandemic) and we remember the food being a bit better. Now I want to get back on an Aeromexico flight to do a head-to-head comparison. Have any you had Aeromexico first class catering on this or a similar route recently? What did you think? – Michael
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A few things:
1) I remember when not long ago Mexico City had Delta One-style printed menus and even pillows and blankets even if the seats were domestic first-class seats. I think this was 2019 or 2020 before the pandemic.
2) I don’t believe your wife actually received a sauvignon blanc. Delta does not cater sauvignon blanc.
3) Where are the bubbles in that sparkling wine? Presumably, that’s Une Femme The Betty canned sparkling wine that is supposedly a champagne method blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. Big emphasis on supposedly. I think it’s likely a charmat method.
Anyways, pretty disappointing if you ask me.
@FNT Delta Diamond – Thanks for the comments! Regarding the wine, and your second and third comments highlight it, the wine service on board wasn’t great. The FA presented the white as Sauvignon Blanc and my wife didn’t find the taste or aroma decidedly NOT sav blanc, thank you for the correction. The bubbles were rather scant in the bubbly. We weren’t sure if the can had been opened a while or if the temp (room temp-ish) impacted the bubbles.
Currently on DL 171. Confirmed with purser, 17 non Revenue in Delta One an additional 55 in Premium Economy, Comfort+, and Economy. Positioning flight to MSP had 84 Non Revenues.
PM, 2MM, pay for ALL tickets. No Business reimbursement.
STOP the Domestic +1 policy. ATL based and haven’t sniffed a FC/BC upgrade.
No table cloth in PE, NO ALESSI dinnerware.
$1.2 BILLON in profit sharing for non pilots.
Ed Bastian should just rename the airline,
Delta Employee Airlines.
NO more International flights with DL. SQ all the way!
At least with SQ, if any open seats in Business Class, they go out for bidding. You don’t have 38 Delta Non Rev’s.
Sitting at over 5(Five) million SkyPesos.
Will burn them in BC to Vegas the day of, to get my just reward of Companion+1!
Rant over.
I hear your rant, Bridge.
The non-revs in D1 irk me the most, especially when you’re actually buying the seats. It wouldn’t be as irksome if DL actually had an upgrade path on I18N flights. But since they don’t, I’m like you: just buy the seat I want.
Bridge, is this DL171, 3Jan, MSP-ICN?
As a DL employee of many decades, now retired, I couldn’t imagine these numbers so I looked it up. There were 12 nonrevs on that flight. One in DL1, five in Premium Select, 3 in C+ and 3 in Main Cabin. Let me know if you were talking about a different flight.
I do understand your frustration but your numbers are way off!
Just got back from Cabo, December 19. I had a credit from an AA flight and a Delta Platinum RUC that I was able to apply to our flight from BDL (Hartford CT) to Cabo. Our first class flight from Hartford to Cabo, connecting in Dallas was underwhelming. You talk about the smaller screens on the older Delta flights, how about no screens on AA. Food was inedible, no linens on meal service, and fa’s that were not very friendly. Throw in no free internet and I hate to sound spoiled, but not a first class experience.
Return flight Cabo to Hartford connecting in Atlanta on Delta first class was a dramatic difference. Food wasn’t awesome (pre ordered the short ribs) but the great service was what I expect on a first class flight. Free internet for all Skymiles members, nice screens with live tv, and flight attendants who acted like professionals. Good job Delta!
@Jeffrey Ehrlich – Thanks for the side-by-side comparison and reminder that even a below average DL experience is better than one on AA. 🙂
Sure, but Delta’s real competitors these days are Alaska and, more so, United.
AA still has the most flights to Mexico of any of the US airlines.
I think American has the most flights to anywhere in Latin America and the Caribbean, thanks to hubs in Miami and Dallas.
If anyone here knows what the gluten-free options are if one asks for a gluten free meal (aside from the beef short rib that is often offered) for both international Business class (Delta One) or first class non-international, I would greatly appreciate knowing what they were. And also if they were any good. Thanks in advance!
If you want to ensure that you’re getting the GF option on an international DL1 flight you can go into the Special Services and select a Gluten Free entree. On our most recent international DL1 flights the most common entree out of ATL and JFK has been a meatball with polenta or a stewed chicken.
Thank you. It’s the same in all fare categories, correct? Nothing different, correct?
Had the Ravioli last week-not bad and my husband loved the chicken salad.. Do you both have Celiac Disease??
LOL at “PDBs”. I think I’ll burn my AF Ultimate, AC Super Elite, and BA EC Gold cards the day I start peppering my speech in extremely specific (approaching on goofy) acronyms for something like a “pre-departure beverage”.
Funny, only one percent (1%) of people are actually in need of a gluten free diet but 30% of people THINK THAT THEY ARE GLUTEN INTOLERANT. I’m not necessarily referring to the author. Almost every product is gluten free these days. Of course they are, not everything is a wheat based product. I wish that the airlines did a better job of giving or having the correct meals as ordered previously or aboard the plane. The US based airlines can all upgrade their menu options & supply what is written on the menu and not continuously run out of menu options.
AM catering has been consistently getting better. Go to my instagram MilesMachine_ .. You can see some Aeromex catering offerings in the JFK-MEX-JFK for you to compare.