Delta Air Lines Brings Back Alcohol on Domestic Flights
Delta Air Lines will bring back some alcohol on its domestic flights. Back in March, most airlines severely curtailed food and beverage service in an effort to cut down on touch points between crew and passengers. Delta eliminated all beverages except bottled water on domestic and short-haul international flights. On its long-haul international flights, Delta has maintained a “full selection of beverages, including beer, spirits, and limited wine offerings.”
Choose Between Beer or Wine
Effective today, Delta Air Lines will offer a selection of beer and wine to customers sitting in First Class or its extra-legroom Comfort+ seats. The airline will limit alcohol service to domestic flights greater than 500 miles.
Choose from Heineken, Miller Lite, Sweetwater IPA, and Sweetwater 420. Sweetwater’s home town is Atlanta, same as Delta; my wife recommends the 420.
Delta will also offer single-serve bottles of red or white wine.
Main Cabin: No In-flight Purchases
Delta will not provide beer and wine to passengers in standard Main Cabin or Basic Economy seats; it remains bottled water only. This is totally understandable during the Covid-19 pandemic. Delta has put away its credit card readers and does not currently sell any of its onboard food and beverages. It’s just another way to reduce those touch points.
Thus, it’s easy to remember. If you’re sitting in a section where you’d normally pay for alcohol, you aren’t getting any. If you’re sitting in a section where it would normally be complimentary, you’ll have a choice of beer or wine.
Comfort+ upgrades are already nice for the legroom and the seating locations at the front of the main cabin. So go ahead and add the value of access to beer/wine into your value calculation.
What’s the Competition Doing?
Alaska Airlines
Delta Air Lines has been building a hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) for a few years and competes vigorously with hometown Alaska Airlines. Alaska never fully dropped alcohol service on its flights during the pandemic. And today’s move by Delta largely mirrors what Alaska has been doing.
For flights greater than 350 miles, Alaska’s First Class and Premium Class passengers can choose between red wine or beer. No white wine is available. Alaska typically serves Northwest wines from regular bottles, even in Main Cabin. But the virus has changed all that. On our last flight, in June, we received single-serve bottles of wine from Chile. That’s a bit more than in May, when only beer was available.
Alaska offers all its passengers a non-alcoholic beverage selection of bottled water, Coke, or Diet Coke.
American Airlines
American Airlines limits most alcohol to First Class cabins, and by request only. The exception is long-haul international flights, where alcoholic beverages are available throughout the plane.
United Airlines
United is the only major U.S. airline that still sells alcohol onboard during the coronavirus pandemic. They offer sealed beverages only, no “poured alcohol.” Beverages are only available upon request during shorter flights:
- United Economy — Flights under 2 hours, 20 minutes.
- Premium Cabins — Flights under 1 hour
For longer flights, United continues to offer a beverage service.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest does not offer alcoholic beverages at this time.
JetBlue Airlines
JetBlue has suspended all onboard food and beverage purchases, but Mint passengers still have a choice of complimentary beer, red wine or white wine in single-serve containers.
Final Thoughts
Flying is the safest way to travel, but there are still plenty of people who want a little “liquid courage” for the flight. But unless you’re flying United or your seat is in a premium cabin, in-flight alcohol isn’t an option for most.
Still, it’s great to see Delta Air Lines bring alcohol back to its domestic flights, if only in a limited capacity. Yes, it’s good practice to limit touch points between passengers and crew right now, and I applaud the industry for being proactive. But a sealed beer doesn’t offer any more Covid-19 risk than a sealed bottle of water.
So why not give the customers what they want?