The Daily Populous Wednesday May 6th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by jsonline.com and submitted by toomuchtostop

May 4, 2026 Updated May 5, 2026, 9:08 a.m. CT

If you're taking a short Delta Air Lines flight this summer, you won't receive food and beverage service.

The airline said it's making changes to its in-flight food and beverage service, including removing the offering from around 450 daily flights, or about 9%.

"Beginning May 19, Delta is adjusting onboard beverage service to create a more consistent experience across our network," a Delta spokesperson told USA TODAY on Monday, May 4.

The Atlanta-based airline carrier will no longer provide any food or beverage service on flights of 349 miles or less, including routes such as Los Angeles to San Francisco. Delta will also offer full food and beverage service on flights of 350 miles or more for Delta Comfort and Delta Main Cabin passengers, which is about 14% of its daily flights.

Delta First customers will continue to receive full service on all flights.

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"Even on the small number of flights without beverage service, our crew will continue to be visible, available, and focused on caring for our customers, like they do on every flight," the airline added.

Currently, Delta flights of 251 miles or more offer at least a complimentary snack and beverages to all cabins, according to the airline's website.

The airline joins other major U.S. carriers that don't provide in-flight service on short flights. According to United Airlines, snacks are offered on flights over 300 miles.

Meanwhile, American Airlines doesn't offer food and beverages on flights that are under 250 miles.

aestusveritas on May 5th, 2026 at 19:40 UTC »

These headlines are really going for reaction rather than context (nothing new). Previously Delta did not have service on flights under 250 miles (American doesn't for anything under 250, United doesn't for anything under 300) and then had a mid-tier band of flights that just did an "express water" service for flights between 250-499, and then full service on anything over 500 miles.

They're basically getting rid of the mid-tier and doing full service on anything over 350, because on flights less than 350 the flight attendants have like 15 minutes to run through the cabin to do service due to take off/touch down timing. This means they're actually ADDING full service to more flights (600) than the flights they're ending express water service on (450). So they're not taking away full service on ANY flights and adding it to a bunch.

I get that it's easy to be like "what the hell, we're being robbed" and I'm not saying this is a perfect plan by Delta, but it's a little more nuanced than just them stopping all service on short flights.

BlueHighwindz on May 5th, 2026 at 19:08 UTC »

Damn, I really liked the little Biscoff cookie, half a cup of soda, and nothing else they gave.

IvoShandor on May 5th, 2026 at 18:58 UTC »

The price of airport newsstand M&Ms just went from $13 to $18.