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Background
I’m Gluten Free. Not because it’s trendy or because I think it will make me lose weight (it hasn’t) but because my body simply can’t deal with gluten. If I eat even a small amount I feel miserable. So I’m careful with what I eat on land, at sea, and in the air. I’m also careful when I select my special meals on flights that serve them. That includes screen shotting every confirmation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to show these on board a flight. With that let’s get into how Delta Air Lines Messed Up My Gluten Free Meal.
Before the Flight
We were out in Scottsdale for a family double birthday celebration. On the flight out we opted not to pay more than $700 to upgrade the flight to first, instead accepting our Comfort+ seats across the aisle from one another. For the return flight I was coming home solo and was thrilled to see that 24 hours before the flight I was upgraded to First Class. This was a bit more exciting than a “normal” upgrade because I was flying on an A330-300 for the roughly 3.5 hour flight back to Atlanta. This meant a lie-flat seat, bigger TV, complimentary beverages, and lunch on board.
I went to the Special Services portion of the Delta app after receiving the notification about the upgrade and was pleased to see that it provided me the ability to select a Gluten Free meal (or Kosher, low sodium, bland, etc). I selected the Gluten Free meal and of course took a couple screen shots to document my choice.
I was also able to see the regular menu for the flight:
On Board the Flight
I was seated in 9J in the last row of first class. This isn’t a seat review, but here are a few photos. These are clearly pretty tired. Hopefully Delta gets around to replacing these with the same seats as the new A330-900Neos being added to the fleet.
This meant that I was the last one to be visited by the flight leader to take my meal order. He told me that unfortunately by the time he got to me the only option remaining was the meatballs. I informed him that I was Gluten Free and had pre-ordered the meal and the meatballs were not Gluten Free. Had my meal not been loaded? He said that it hadn’t and with 16 minutes until pushback there was simply nothing he could do about getting me a meal. He said that he’d try and get me a second salad if possible. He asked to see my confirmation screen shot and took a picture of it and walked away.
I wasn’t thrilled with the interaction for a couple of reasons, the most striking of which was there was absolutely no attempt at an apology on behalf of the airline for the mix-up. That was much more upsetting about not having a hot meal that I could eat on board. The flight crew was Atlanta based and I might be a bit biased, but I feel like Delta FAs from Atlanta are typically among the very best. There is clearly an exception to every rule…
The first snack service began with a choice of Sunchips, snack mix, and a Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Sea Salt bar. The same flight leader came down my aisle and I said that I didn’t think any of the snacks were Gluten Free, he said he thought the bar was an dropped one on my tray. The bar from 88 Acres is in fact Gluten Free, unfortunately I don’t eat chocolate. But it was something I guess.
Next came the drink service when I ordered a glass of Chardonnay. It came along with the table cloth.
Then my tray came with a single side salad and some sort of dessert bar with berry preserves, a creamy layer, all on top of what looked like a shortbread base. I raised an eyebrow at the FA and she just walked away.
The flight progressed and eventually we were on final approach. The flight leader never came back, never indicated that he’d opened a case with Delta, didn’t offer compensation, etc. I’d like to say this is the first time that I’ve had this issue. It is not. But in every other case the purser/flight leader has always provided compensation in the form of miles on the flight and offered extra snacks, etc. I went online and logged my complaint with Delta Airl Lnes using their customer service site. I included a short description of the issue and the screen shots and photo of my sad lunch tray.
After the Flight
This morning I received a call from an unknown 800 number. I didn’t answer but received a long voicemail from a Delta customer service representative reading from a script. She did apologize, acknowledged my Diamond Medallion and Million Miler status, and indicated that they were going to issue me a $75 Transportation eCredit. She also indicated that the feedback of the incident would be brought up with ground services as well as with the flight crew.
Within an hour I received an email from Delta that was similar to the VM followed by another email with the $75 Transportation eCredit.
Final Approach
I’m a bit torn here. Starting with the facts – Delta Air Lines Messed Up My Gluten Free Meal. I’m still disappointed with the customer service on board because I expect Delta to do better when things go wrong. The attitude of the FAs principally the Flight Leader was dismissive and careless. Post flight Delta was quick to respond and to grant compensation. I am not doing backflips over a $75 eCredit because it expires in a year and I consistently forget to apply these when I’m booking a flight, usually because I am booking quickly on the app for a business trip. It’s not clear to me that $75 is adequate compensation as I’ve received more than 7,500 Skymiles for things like broken IFE screens and seats. Not being able to eat anything but lettuce and salty snacks for lunch was worse than a broken IFE in terms of the quality of the flight experience. What do you think about how Delta handled the situation? – Michael
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This is regularly an issue. Despite being woke Delta is very insensitive about catering, both the Sky Clubs and in-flight. The food is very heavy on meats, including pork. Often in Detroit, which has the largest Arab population per capita outside the Middle East and a large Jewish population, the only meat options in the Sky Club are something pork. And, of course, the kosher special meals that are available by request in the Sky Club are never available.
Even when the kosher meals are available, they are absolute trash – both onboard and in the SkyClubs. I don’t rely on an airline for quality dining or healthful food but the disparity between the “special” meals and the regular catering is embarrassing. I understand the challenge for the airlines but there is definitely room to improve without much effort if they really wanted to.
Woke? What does that mean? How is Delta woke?
Here’s what everyone really thinks about this article: The passenger got upgraded withing 24 hours. Your gluten insensitivity is not life threatening. Complaining about a last minute special meal not delivered is ridiculous, especially as any normal person who can’t eat gluten should bring gluten free snacks in case of any unplanned eventuality (flight diversion, landing after midnight, etc) or even a downgrade. This complaint has no merit whatsoever.
@TM – Fair enough if that’s your take, but I thought that others might benefit from the story. I think that I laid out the fact pattern with minimal whining. I’m curious if you would feel any differently if I had paid the $800+ that Delta wanted to sell me the upgrade that I earned with my DM status? How about if my upgrade had cleared a week before? What if it was a 12 hour flight?
As a medically necessary GF person I do carry snacks. Would you tell everyone in first class that they need to bring their own snacks. How about those that are Kosher, Halal, nut allergy, shellfish allergy, etc.?
I feel for you Michael, I really do, as the gluten allergy may have arrived on my wife (waiting for confirmation from all the recent tests) and it’s a big change from not having that allergy. Also as a waning DM (~2.5Mm) the service has gone from a gentle decline to full on nose dive in the past few years. If DL really cared there would be no such thing as a MQD as that just reeks of a sales comp plan and the ‘What have you done for me lately?’ line of sales. It all started I feel when Richard left and Ed took over. Ed may as well make the pre-flight msg a take on Snoop’s Gin & Juice with him rappin’ next to Snoop, “I got my mind on my money and my money on my mind.” as it sure isn’t ‘I got my mind on my clients and my clients on my mind.’.
Hi, TM. Thanks for the comment.
You don’t speak for everyone. And I know Mike — he’s completely normal.
I am sorry you didn’t get your meal. But I agree with TM these are First World Problems.
I have a shellfish allergy. I have an EpiPen. I am closing on 3M miles with Delta. I have been offered Shrimp on numerous occasions and have also been served it with a meal as an appetizer where I have told the FA not to include it or give it to my wife. I don’t worry about getting something for a minor issue. Maybe this is why upgrades are some hard to come by as they would rather sell them for “peanuts”.
Get over it and be glad you got upgraded. Bring your own food on board if you can’t wait to eat until you land.
Good luck.
I flew PHX-JFK on an int’l-configured (next stop, Dublin) 767-300 in Delta One. My special meal didn’t arrive either. The cabin service was scanty on a 4-h flight. No pre-departure beverage, or immediately after. Only offered a beverage with meal. Only one offer of a bottle of water. Very disappointing.
Flying on a wide body up front is always fun. On domestic non-DeltaOne routes it feels like it’s a mixed bag when it comes to service. PDB’s are easier because everyone isn’t walking through the cabin (surprised you didn’t get one on PHX-JFK), but the large gallies also seem to allow for FAs to hide during the flight resulting in worse service during the flight compared to a single-aisle where you can make generally make eye contact with the FAs in the galley.
I sympathize since I require kosher meals and like you, cannot eat a regular meal. I think that $75 is very generous. I would be happy with that
I don’t think you can order kosher meals less than 24 hours in advance. This is my main issue with special meals when it comes to medallion upgrades. If you get upgraded at the last minute, or on the day, you end up going without a meal. Delta needs to figure out how to ensure upgraded customers with special diets can get a meal. American in the past was able to do it with 2 hours notice at the airport, with a call to catering
In the past I haven’t consistently been able to order a special meal when upgraded around the 24 hour mark on Delta. The fact that I could do it with the app made me hopeful, but the fact that it didn’t even end up in the flight paperwork makes me wonder if the failure was in the app. It seems like they should be able to figure this out, at least at hubs. I get that at an outstation it might be a lot more difficult.
You definitely can’t do it if it’s one second earlier than 24 hours. I just did it myself for a future flight. It could be worse, Virgin Atlantic requires 48 hours for Kosher Meals.