This 1953 paper drink coaster promoted Delta’s new service to Havana, Cuba. Our other first international cities were Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica; Cuidad Trujillo (today’s Santo Domingo), Dominican Republic; and Caracas, Venezuela. We also acquired service to San Juan, Puerto Rico from C&S Air Lines.

In 1953, Delta served 7 countries. Today, Delta operates service to more worldwide destinations than any airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 305 destinations in 58 countries. Delta has added more international capacity than any major U.S. airline during the last two years and is the leader across the Atlantic with flights to 38 transatlantic markets.

Marie Force

Archives Manager

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Again, part of my job for Akorri, a software vendor of performance and utilization management software, is traveling to different regions of the country and occasionally the world to set up sales teams and get regions off the ground. Knowing this includes a “healthy” amount of travel I try to make sure I get where I need to go in an economical yet timely manner … trying to minimize wear and tear. Delta has been there for me.

Been loyal for a reason

I guess being relatively loyal paid off, flying Delta 200,000+ miles out of some 300,000+ miles flown last year. As it stands, as I write this on a flight tonight, I have flown over 75,000 miles on Delta this year already. Again, service is a big component of why I fly Delta, but so is going to the places I need to go too. So being selected to represent all “road warriors” that fly Delta was an honor. It also put a bit of stress into my usually cool demeanor (so I am told).

The Call

Got the call from Delta while on vacation and the family had flown Delta to visit the kids grandparents and Uncle in Florida. When ever I get a call from the 404 area code could be two things; a buddy who lives there or I start to think there may be a travel issue with my flights. To my very pleasant surprise it was Delta asking me to throw out the first pitch, there was no hesitation. So now the pressure starts to build.

The Plan

My goal was to practice my pitch prior to the May 3rd game … well things did not quite work out for me in this part of my plan. I flew home from the west coast on Thursday night red-eye out of LA. Got in and after spend a few hours with my kids left before a day full of meetings. Got home later that night, spent quality time with my wife which did not include any pitching side work. Saturday was just the next day, and had little time to practice, besides it was raining.

Plan B … relax

So had to go to plan “B” aka try and relax. Not so easy when you keep thinking about the fact that 25,000 plus plus fans would likely be in their seats. In my job I am up in front of people speaking constantly, groups of all sizes, this was very different.

You get to Fenway Park at 6pm and they walk you down on to the field where you can watch the remainder of batting practice from the field, see the players come up to stretch and loosen up for the game. Note that the people I picked to go with me, my Wife Kristen, neighbors Kurt and Tara. Kurt who is a road warrior, Chairman’s Club on US Airways, and has been for a long time, remarked after taking the video from the field that there are a lot of positives being with Delta based on our comparisons of the two companies loyalty perks. Oh yeah he also did his best to make me even more nervous leading up to the pitch – thanks Kurt!

Now my nerves are in hyper drive for 45 minutes leading up to the pitch. One by one the guys you watch from the stands come out past you, Big Papi, Manny, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Beckett and Youkilis … given they are the reining World Series Champions it is quite amazing. Talk about feeling out of shape. Plan B consisted of me throwing the ball from the mound and neither bouncing it in front of home plate or sailing it into the backstop.

The Pitch

Pictures are better than words…

As you can see in the video mission accomplished but I am still getting grief about the fact that I was low down towards the grass – was told to stay away from the rubber by the Red Sox folks. I have to thank Buffi from Delta for make sure myself and the others that were invited to the box had a great time. Truly memories that I will treasure for ever.

Want to become a SkyMiles member? Earn 1,000 extra bonus miles from this link if you sign up now. Learn more about program benefits here.

Rob Strechay

SkyMiles Medallion Member

Delta is proud to be the Official Airline of the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.

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There are two great perks about being close to John Smoltz. The first is that he’s one of baseball’s greatest pitchers ever. Being teammates with him is a total honor. The other great perk about being on the same ballclub as John is that John has this unbelievable ability to get on the greatest golf courses in the world, and thankfully he lets me tag along. Next week, when we go to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates, he’s set me with a round of golf at Oakmont, a former U.S. Open course. Has anyone played there? I need some tips if I want to go out there and not make a fool of myself. But yea, John’s an incredible teammate and an even better person. (Not only do I want him on my baseball team for as long as he can play, but I also want him to stick around so he can help set me up with great golf around the country!)

Delta Day

Last week, before our game against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, May 3^rd, I made it down to the Delta Block Party at the company headquarters in Atlanta. What a great experience. It says a lot about a company when you basically shut down the entire complex on Saturday and have an Employee Appreciation day. I spent time with not only members of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team who were there, but also with country star Josh Gracin, who performed for the audience. I had never met Josh, and I found out that he’s a serious Detroit Tigers fan. He clearly knows his stuff when it comes to talking baseball. It was just a great experience for me to be in the presence of a country music star (click for pic).

Thankfully the people at Delta set me up in a booth and I was able to interact with employees and autograph some items for employees and their families. Over the years, I had the opportunity to ‘sign’ some crazy stuff that people put in front of me. I always sign a photo with my name, and then my jersey number (#7) after it. During the Block Party, a really nice family approached me with a 5×7 photo of me playing high school football and asked if I’d autograph it. I had never seen that photo before in my life (I graduated high school in 2002) so it made me laugh when I took a look at myself as a skinny 17-year old. In high school I wore #12, so I figured this time I’d sign that picture with my name, and then #12 next to that. I got a kick out of that.

My favorite part of the day, however, was when Delta gave me about 200 tickets to the Braves – Mets game on May 22^nd and had me just walk through the crowd passing out free tickets (Delta is also the official airline of the Mets). I tried to sort of fly ‘under the radar’ when the Josh Gracin concert was going on and pass out tickets to every kid I could find. So I’ll definitely be looking for the Delta section on May 22^nd. Hopefully when I look up it will be a sea of young kids cheering for the Braves.

I had the chance to meet with Delta’s President, Ed Bastian, as well as Delta’s Vice President of Delta AirElite, Doug Blissit. Ed and Doug were great, great people. Doug and I actually spent a good bit of time checking out the new Delta AirElite plane – a sort of ‘corporate’ jet for Delta customers. I was blown away by how beautiful the plane was inside. Last year, my entire family and I flew to Bend, Oregon after the season for a golf getaway. The trip was great, but it was tough to get from Atlanta to the west coast of Oregon without having to make a few stops on the way. Now that Delta has the Delta AirElite, I’m can’t wait to look into seeing how I might be able to utilize that program. This could turn a difficult trip in terms of travel into a very, very enjoyable one. I’m definitely going to see what I can do with the AirElite program this fall. More pictures of me in the AirElite jet and at the Block Party here.

The Season

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks for the ballclub. After our trip through the state of Pennsylvania, we come home for almost two full weeks (unheard of in Major League Baseball) and play the Oakland A’s, New York Mets, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Those are three teams playing great, great baseball right now so we are going to find out pretty soon just how good we are.

Fly safely, and maybe I’ll see you in an airport soon!

Jeff

Delta is proud to be the Official Airline of The Atlanta Braves.

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In my first job after college, the fax machine ruled. Almost everything was done via fax, with the rest done through overnight delivery or traditional U.S. Postal Service. I even remember the first time I heard the term “World Wide Web”—I was at a board meeting of the North Carolina School of Science and Math Alumni Association, and I thought “I’ve got dial-up e-mail, but what are these people talking about?”

Now really, I don’t feel any older now than I did then. And I’m even driving the same car—(umm, I work for an airline!). But the way customers today do business, connect with others, buy goods, and carry out our daily lives has changed dramatically since I purchased my 1993 Honda del Sol.

Forrester Research recently reported at this year’s TravelCom conference in Chicago that 52% of U.S. households have Broadband, up from only 15% just five years ago. By 2012, they are projecting Broadband penetration to rise to 68% of the population. This has enabled today’s consumer to share experiences, plans, pictures, videos, and reviews with others—totally impacting the purchase decisions we make.

At the same conference, Forrester also reported that 19% of leisure travelers are reading traveler-written ratings or reviews monthly. Ten percent are reading travel related online forums with nearly as many (8%) visiting travel related social networking sites. Personally, I’ve had my own blog chronicling my travels since 2005, and a day doesn’t go by that I’m not on a social networking site, seeing what my friends are up to. They, in turn, can see where I’ve been, and what my favorite destinations are.

These facts are not going unnoticed by corporations. Recently, Financial Week ran an article entitled “Does Your Company Need a Corporate Blogger?” reporting that 11% of Fortune 500 companies now have Blogs, nearly tripling from just a couple of years ago. If you’re interested, you can find a list of Corporate Blogs here.

Of course, Delta has our Blog—allowing our customers and potential customers to look in behind the scenes—but also opening up that two way street, allowing you to give us your feedback.

The truth is we can use the Internet to simply sell tickets. But we can also use it to help you learn, plan, and dream about the places you want to go. For example, hopefully, you’ll be able to see video from my trip to Mexico City on the Blog soon. (That’s if my footage was any good—stay tuned!)

So let us know: how do you use the Internet for travel? How do you shop? Make plans? Organize with travel companions? Share your memories? And most importantly, what can we at Delta do to make the process easier for you?

Frank
Manager
Customer Insights & Analytics

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Cheers!

This year marks 50 years of highflying cocktail service on Delta flights.

In 1958, Delta was actually the only major U.S. airline flying dry on its domestic routes. To attract more passengers over new routes to New York and the Northeast, Delta started limited alcohol service on March 8, 1958.

At first the service was only on non-stop flights between Houston and New York City. Only two drinks per passenger were served, and only in a short space of time before lunch or dinner. Those ordering a drink received small bottles from the flight attendants and mixed their own cocktails.

The self-service program was a huge success: 65% of Delta’s passengers on the Houston-New York route ordered alchoholic drinks in the first month.

By September, Delta had expanded drink options on luxury “Royal Service” first class Douglas DC-7 flights to 15 cities. Complimentary champagne came with the meals and cocktails were available for purchase. Today we serve a variety of signature cocktails as well as quality beer and sommelier-chosen wines you can choose to toast your business successes or a well-deserved trip with that special someone.

Here’s to you!

Marie Force

Archives Manager

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When we arrived around 11am the party was already slamming with the tunes of Atlanta band Whild Peach. They covered some really cool songs. Apart from the liquid sunshine falling from the sky (which cleared up soon), everyone was in good spirits. Everywhere one would look, there were smiling faces. The Kids Zone was full of happy children taking advantage of all the fun activities, face painting and autograph signing from Jeff Francoeur seemed really popular. Even though it was raining on and off, there was a cool breeze to make the temperature just right. After grabbing a bite to eat from the Varsity and Chick-fil-A, we headed over to the Delta Air Elite private jet. It was great to get a chance to see how our premium passengers fly in style.

On the way back from seeing The Spirit of Delta aircraft in the Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum, we arrived back at the tents just in time to catch The Flying Aces. Now this was something to see. Never before had I feasted my eyes on such amazing acrobatic maneuvers on a trampoline. These guys were amazing! I think they will have no problem competing in the next Olympics as synchronized performers. Of course, I was also amazed by the never-ending talents of our distinguished previous medal winners.

I am sure there is so much that I am leaving out. However, I have to say that it was a great day to be a part of Delta and be able to join in on the spirit that is what makes Delta such a cool place to work. Kudos to those who put such a fun day together!

Check out more pics from the weekend here.

Matthew

Graphic Designer

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My last post on in-flight entertainment was back in August, so I figured it was time to update you all as we prepare to kick off the summer travel season… because one of the most frequently asked questions is, “Will I have Delta on Demand on my flight?”

How’d it start?

Beginning in August, 2006, we began converting our 767-300ER fleet to Panasonic’s digital eFX IFE platform. And beginning in December, 2006, we began installing cabin-wide Audio/Video On Demand (AVOD) across our 777 and 767-400 fleets. Fast forward to May, 2008 and we’re now in the final stages of an 18 month-long initiative to add full-cabin AVOD to more than 100 planes.

As of June 1, 2008, Delta will have 131 aircraft with cabin-wide AVOD and 59 aircraft with AVOD in the BusinessElite cabin. Through Dec. 2008, we’ll add cabin-wide AVOD to an additional 15 aircraft.

So is it on my flight?

Domestic
We offer the AVOD product to customers on most flights 4+hours to and from New York City, Boston, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Atlanta.

Flights between Los Angeles and Honolulu or Maui also feature Delta on Demand.

International
We offer Delta on Demand to all customers traveling in the BusinessElite cabin, regardless of destination.

It’s also available to customers in the Economy cabin traveling between Atlanta* and Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Moscow, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bogotá, Quito, Guayaquil, Paris/CDG, Copenhagen, Dakar, Dublin, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, London/LGW, Madrid, Munich and Milan.

And if you’re traveling in Economy between New York/JFK* and Antigua, Shannon, Guatemala City, Edinburgh, Manchester, Malaga, Mexico City, Lyon, London/LGW, Paris/CDG, Punta Cana, Puerto Vallarta, Santo Domingo, Santiago (STI), Frankfurt, Georgetown, Brussels and Mumbai…you’ll also be on aircraft with Delta on Demand.

It’s available to all customers traveling between Cincinnati* and Amsterdam…to all customers traveling between Los Angeles* and Cancun and to all customers traveling between Hartford* and Cancun.

*And here’s the fine print…Routes and Aircraft subject to change

Fast Facts

More, More, More!

It all comes down to choice… I know I like to be entertained and having a bunch of stuff to watch or play is important — especially on a long flight. That’s why we’re making the investment in an industry-leading entertainment product.

By the end of 2008, Delta will have 205 aircraft equipped with Delta on Demand – one of the largest AVOD-equipped fleets in the world.

And we’re still not done… soon you’ll see the product on even more aircraft and routes. Delta will take delivery of (5) 777-200LR and (3) 737-700 aircraft with factory-equipped AVOD in 2009. Plus we’ll add Delta on Demand to the remaining (7) 767-400ER aircraft in our fleet.

Let us – and the world – know what you think about Delta’s in-flight entertainment! Click here to take part in a quick survey.

The 2008 World Airline Entertainment Survey is a partnership project between SKYTRAX RESEARCH and the WAEA (World Airline Entertainment Association).

I look forward to reading your comments and responding to your questions.

Chris-

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As the official airline for the Festival again this year, I’m proud to say that this is just one of many sponsorship platforms that Delta uses to demonstrate positive change in the communities we serve; and, New York is certainly no exception. As many New Yorkers know, The Tribeca Film Festival was founded by actor Robert De Niro and others following the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan with an annual celebration of film, music, and culture. For those outside of the New York City area, TriBeCa is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan. The name is an acronym for Triangle Below Canal Street.

It was indeed a privilege for me to represent Delta Air Lines, as I presented the best actor and actress awards during the Filmmaker Awards ceremony last Thursday evening. Over the weekend, we participated in the Tribeca-associated Delta Family Festival Street Fair on Greenwich Street. Great times were had by all! As you can see, a few of us even met the original cast of the movie ‘Gotta Dance.’ It just so happened that we chose their movie at a private screening for our premium customers on Saturday afternoon and then we bumped into them walking down the street right after!

The 2008 festival ran from April 23rd through May 4th, and included 121 feature films and 79 short films representing 41 different countries. Among them were 53 world premieres, 6 international premieres, and 30 North American premieres.

At Delta Air Lines, our passion for New York is stronger than ever. Supporting the community through our significant role in the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival is just one of the many ways that we demonstrate our dedication and commitment to this great city.

Thank you for your support of Delta Air Lines. We appreciate your business.

Brian T. Rutter

Director - Sales & Marketing

New York

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A Delta agent in the Atlanta airport observed a passenger who was in obvious distress while waiting to talk to Delta customer service. The passenger showed the agent a letter from the U.S. Defense Department, indicating that his son had been killed in action in Iraq. The customer was trying to fly to San Juan on a standby ticket for the funeral, but flights for the remainder of the day were heavily booked. Escorting the passenger to the nearest Crown Room Club, the agent went to work on trying to get him to San Juan in time for the funeral. The passenger had no credit card and limited cash and could not afford to buy a full fare ticket to guarantee his arrival in time for the services. The agent used the value of his ticket towards one that would provide a confirmed seat, and paid the remaining difference out of his pocket.

Nancy
Senior Analyst
Customer Care

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Now that Delta serves Ireland from New York as well as Atlanta you have no excuse not to visit the country that invented hospitality.

Landing in Shannon, you are minutes away from several castles and less than two hours away from great locations like Galway, Killaloe, Kildare, Limerick and the Cliffs of Moher. Make sure you stop into Durty Nelly’s at Bunratty for a pint of Guinness and tell that Noel and Dennis sent you!

Do you have any trip tips or questions for us about Shannon?

Enjoy!

Noel

ATL Quality Auditor

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