This season, it’s not just about Mets versus Yankees in New York – it’s about David Wright versus Derek Jeter – and it’s personal. Since Delta is the official airline and proud sponsor of New York’s two beloved baseball teams, each time the The New York Yankees’ All-Star shortstop and New York Mets’ All-Star third baseman step up to the plate, they’ll be competing against each other for a big donation to their favorite charity.

Under the rules of our Delta’s Jeter/Wright Batting Challenge, the player who ends the season with the highest batting average (based on a minimum 400 at bats) wins $100,000 for his charity.

Learn more about Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation and David Wright’s David Wright Foundation.

Each Monday we’ll post the updated scoreboard here at the Delta blog so you can follow along and cheer on your favorite player’s charity. Let the games begin! Also – check out behind the scenes pics of our Sky 360 suite at Yankees Stadium.

Who’s charity will you be cheering for this week?

Annika
NYC Promotional Marketing

Over at Anderson Cooper’s AC360 Blog CNN Senior Executive Producer Michael Schulder recently argued that Delta may posses a powerful weapon to prevent the spread of H1N1 flu… the in-flight safety video starring Deltalina! Check out excerpts from his post below:

If you’ve ever flown Delta chances are you’ll remember her videotaped safety briefing, including the now famous finger wag admonishing passengers not to smoke on any Delta flight. I’d like to suggest an important addition to her script and the script of every flight attendant who gives a safety briefing on any airline.

“…. Please take a moment to find the exits closest to you. And remember they may be behind you.”  And please, also, take a moment to look carefully at the passengers closest to you. If they have signs of the flu, such as a persistent cough, please alert a flight attendant. Remember, the most contagious passenger could be right in back of you. So look all around. Please do not use a thermometer on fellow passengers without their permission, even underarm thermometers. “Please remain seated with your seat belt securely fastened any time the seat belt sign is on. And even if the sign is off, you should keep your seatbelt fastened in case we experience unexpected rough air. … (finger wag) Smoking is not allowed on any Delta flight.”  Neither is any passenger who has flu symptoms, including body aches, fever, and a cough. If any of you have those symptoms, and you’ve been able to hide them from your fellow passengers, please come to the front of the plane right now (director’s note – use forefinger for come hither gesture) where you will receive a full refund and an escort to retrieve your checked bags. I SAID NOW!

Post your own edits in the comments. What do you think?

Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager, IFE

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had a great weekend…

Delta’s Wi-Fi installations continue with Engineering now focused on the B757-200 and MD90 fleets. We expect the remaining 15 MD90s to be complete by the end of the month. In parallel, Engineering teams are working on the B767-300 and B737-800 supplemental type certificates.

To sum it up, 40% of Delta’s pre-merger domestic mainline fleet now features Wi-Fi. I know several of you frequent posters to this blog have used the system and I really appreciate the comments. Based on customer and employee feedback, we’re planning on rolling out new monthly pass pricing in the next month or so, which will provide additional purchase options – in addition to the mobile and laptop plans. Info will be posted here in the coming weeks.

And finally, here are a couple pics – a shot of the “Wi-Fi Onboard” decal found at each boarding door (above) and of one of the two air-to-ground antennas found on the bottom of each Wi-Fi-equipped plane. To give some perspective as to the size of the antenna, it’s about the size of a paperback book – about 5” wide and protrudes about 9” from the underbelly.

And here are the fleet deets:

MD88 — 115 aircraft

MD90 — 1 aircraft

B757-200 — 14 aircraft

Until next week!

Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager, IFE