Just back from flying up for the opening day festivities of the new exhibit America by Air at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM). This major exhibit is a wonderful look at the impact of airlines on everyday life since the early air mail days. Highly recommend stopping by to see it next time you are on the Mall in Washington, DC.

The Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum worked with the NASM curators to provide images from our collections for this exhibit. Here I am with the stand-out image: a cut-out of Lucille Ball, as a 1930s Hollywood starlet, boarding a Western Air Express plane (Western merged with Delta in 1987).

Artifacts loaned from the Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum to the NASM for this exhibit include these Chicago and Southern Air Lines playing cards and Delta and Western Airlines “kiddie wings.”

The exhibit has much, much more, including seven complete aircraft and a Boeing 747 nose, but a highlight for me was walking through a DC-7 forward fuselage. I felt like I was a 1950s passenger when I saw the onboard typewriter and a fur wrap and hat boxes in the coat closet. . . . Although I do have to admit I’m biased about the superior restoration of our Douglas DC-3 Ship 41 with its beautiful 1940s interior.

Marie
Archives Manager
Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum

Hello Everyone,

I just got back from a trip and witnessed the long lines at the TSA security check points. It made me think I should share my thoughts on how to make it through security without any hiccups. Since 9/11, I’ve gone through several stages of frustration, denial, and even anger to finally arrive at the point where I just want to make it thru TSA security as quickly and painlessly as possible. I’m sure you do too.

Here is what I did to adjust to the new reality. I purchased shoes without a metal shank inside. I ditched my large metallic money clip for a smaller one. I even changed to a different belt with a smaller metal buckle.

Here are my suggestions to make the TSA security a breeze.

First, Follow the rules… You don’t have to like the rules, but it is much, much easier on you if you follow the rules. If you don’t, the system WILL slow you down - a lot. More scans, hand wands, pat-downs…

Second, bag it early. Comply with the requirement to put all liquids and gels in a one quart plastic bag. Make sure it is a one quart bag. I’ve seen people reprimanded for having the wrong size plastic bag not to mention the wrong size contents. Visit the TSA website for all the rules.

Third, bag it early - again. Take all your metal off and put it in your carry on luggage before you ever get to the TSA scanners. If you aren’t sure, take it off. It is so much easier to take it off and have it safely in your bag before the first time through than to take it off after you “flunk” the first scan and wait for the hand wand while your prized piece of jewelry sits publicly exposed on the conveyor belt. I take off my watch, pen, phone, and pocket change and put it in MY bag. By putting it all in my bag, I can just grab my bag and go when I reach the other end of the x-ray machine. I re-assemble myself at my convenience away from the security check point.

I hope this helps. If you have other personal suggestions, leave them in the comments to this post.

tailwinds,
Robin

It’s been years since I’ve had a nice, real long vacation (I know, hard to believe when I work for an airline). So, this year I decided to do-it-up right and will be going to South America tomorrow for two weeks with one of my coworkers.

I’ll be taking a cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, with some amazing sights in between like Cape Horn, Ushuaia, and the Chilean Fjords. Stay tuned, I’ll have lots of photos and videos to share.

And, if you want a postcard, drop me a note with your address, and I’ll see what I can do!

Jacob
Product Manager
delta.com & self-service