As a reminder, Delta announced Delta One Business Class Expanding to More US Domestic Routes, with New York (JFK) to Seattle (SEA) returning to a Delta One business class route and New York (JFK) to San Diego starting on April 1, 2018. Then, New York (JFK) to Las Vegas will also become a premium Delta One business class route starting on May 1, 2018.

With this announcement, they also added Delta Medallion Upgrades Return on Transcontinental Flights which we thought would be good news, however we’ve since learned it’s not without sacrificing their service on-board these routes.

We wrote how starting April 1, Delta will retire Delta Comfort+ sleep kits, dedicated mid-flight snacks, water bottles, pillows and blankets on flights between JFK-LAX, JFK-SFO, BOS-SFO, and LAX-DCA, as these flights will transition to “domestic long-haul flights.

However, fast-forward to my first transcontinental flight since April 1, between New York (JFK) to Los Angeles in Delta One. I found out that as they’ve allowed for complimentary Medallion upgrades, and expanded Delta One to other domestic routes, Delta has now gone ahead and cut a flight attendant on these routes.

On-board my 757-200 flight, normally the transcontinental flights have 5 flight attendants on-board, however they’ve reduced staffing to the FAA minimum of 4 flight attendants. The same is also true to their 767-300 and 767-400 aircraft which have all been reduced as well.

You might not think that removing one flight attendant makes a difference, but rather than having 2 flight attendants in the premium cabin, now it’s just the flight leader. Additionally, they’ve also eliminated the appetizer course in Delta One on their transcon flights, and just serve it all together, similar to other domestic flights.

Expect a full flight review coming shortly of the new Delta One service on transcontinental flights.