Drink Up: Delta Crews Will Collect Pre-Departure Drinks Earlier, In “FAA-Driven” Change

Delta flight attendants are being told that they’ll shortly have to prepare the aircraft cabin for takeoff earlier than in the past, and that specifically impacts collecting service items. While the airline claims this is an FAA-driven change that applies across the industry, I’m not sure anything is actually changing, other than perhaps an increase in enforcement. Delta flight attendants will collect service items before pushabckAre FAA policies actually changing, or what’s going on?Bottom line Delta flight attendants will collect service items before pushabck JonNYC flags how Delta has sent a memo to flight attendants, telling them about some policy changes as of September 1, 2026. Specifically, flight attendants are being instructed to collect all Delta provided service items before pushback, calling it an “FAA-driven change” that applies across the industry. Here is the memo: What’s happening: Beginning Sept. 1, flight attendants will be required to collect all Delta-provided service items, including both disposable and non-disposable service items, before pushback. Why it matters: This FAA-driven change applies across the industry and requires airlines to collect and stow service items before pushback. On flights that offer pre-departure beverages in disposable serviceware, customers may have less time with their beverages before collection, so consider opportunities to begin service earlier in the boarding process when possible. As a point of comparison, currently you’ll find that many flight attendants will collect service items (including pre-departure drinks) during taxi, coinciding with the final announcement from pilots about flight attendants needing to prepare the cabin for takeoff. Are FAA policies actually changing, or what’s going on? As you can see, Delta claims that this is an industry wide change driven by the FAA. However, I haven’t seen a similar memo from another airline, and for that matter, I haven’t seen any updates to Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). Technically, it would appear that this policy has actually been in place since 1992, as FAR 121.577 (a) reads as follows: No certificate holder may move an airplane on the surface, take off, or land when any food, beverage, or tableware furnished by the certificate holder is located at any passenger seat. So I’m not sure if airlines have been informed by the FAA that there will be increased enforcement of this policy, or what’s actually triggering this. It’s also worth acknowledging that the actual policy seems to be a bit more nuanced than the above FAR. For example, airlines also place bottles of water at seats that passengers can consume during the flight, and it’s not supposed to be a violation of FARs for the airline to not collect those, as they can be consumed at any point during the flight. For that matter, a lot of crew members will just let you hold onto a drink that they’ve served you for takeoff or landing, assuming it’s in a plastic cup. In theory that should be no different than someone bringing on their own drink, but it also gets at the technicality of something being airline provided vs. not. But if you’ve been enjoying a drink during the flight, generally crews are happy to pour you a “roadie” to enjoy during the descent. Either way, if there is updated enforcement, I wouldn’t be surprised if this leads to a reduction in the number of crews serving pre-departure drinks, given the time crunch. Admittedly Delta crews are great about serving pre-departure drinks, so I’d expect this to be more of an issue at carriers like American. Delta pre-departure drinks will soon be collected earlier Bottom line Delta flight attendants have been informed that they’ll soon have to prepare the cabin for takeoff earlier, and that particularly impacts collecting service items, like pre-departure drinks. As of September 1, cups will need to be collected before pushback, rather than just before takeoff. While the airline suggests this is an FAA-driven change, I suspect this is just updated enforcement of existing rules, as this isn’t an area were enforcement has been strict. Then again, as written, the FARs don’t necessarily make a lot of sense. What do you make of this Delta policy change?