Hello from a Delta’s World Headquarters in Atlanta!
With the MD88 and MD90 fleets complete, engineering teams are now focused on the B757-200 fleet. Ships 639, 645, 647, and 651 completed Wi-Fi installation over the weekend.
The supplemental type certificate (STC) for the B737-800 is expected June 22.
Has anyone flown and noticed the addition of the Wi-Fi callout in the safety video? If not, check out Delta’s YouTube page to see the new and improved safety video.
We’ve now completed 48.6% of the pre-merger Delta domestic fleet with a total of 157 aircraft flying with Wi-Fi. That’s more than 600 daily flights…and by far the largest fleet of Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft in the world.
The latest stats:
MD88 - 116 aircraft
MD90 - 16 aircraft
B737-800: 1 aircraft
B757-200 - 24 aircraft
MD-88 Tail Numbers: All
MD-90 Tail Numbers: All
B737-800 Tail Numbers: 3742
B757-200 Tail Numbers: 610, 615, 617, 619, 621, 628, 632, 638, 639, 640, 645, 647, 650, 651, 654, 667, 679, 690-692, 6701, 6711, 6902 and 6904
Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager, IFE
June 4th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Well glad everything is moving right along… I’m anxious to try it in July!
June 4th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Is Wifi complementary in first class?
The Delta.com Wifi product page has a link to the “First Class” page in the More Info box. Also, the first class page lists the Wifi feature under a heading “Based on your itinerary, the following products are available to you onboard select flights” whereas the coach class page lists the feature under the heading “Based on your itinerary, you may have the following products available for purchase onboard select flights.”
While it’s not coming out and saying it, perhaps you can see how it is suggesting that it’s free in first class.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Quick question Chris,
Which 757’s is the team focusing on? I usually fly on 75X’s and I was wondering if the engineering team is focusing on the ones without IFE or on the 75X?
June 4th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
What percentage of the 757 fleet should be completed by July?
June 4th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Hi Chris-
Great job keeping everyone informed!!!
I just flew to Orange County and back - on the trip back I was on 737-700 and saw the Wi-Fi call out on the safety video….got my hopes up and then I realized the aircraft was not equipped yet….I’m looking forward to Wi-Fi the next several months as I’ll be traveling from Harrisburg PA to Kahului HI and need something to pass the time
June 4th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
gt1646b…Wi-Fi is a fee-based service in all classes of service. All airlines that use Gogo provide the service for a fee.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
B787DL…yes our engineering teams are focused on the 75X fleet.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Sorry if I am late to this, but is there a way to know if your particular aircraft will have wifi prior to booking?
June 5th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Chris B-
When is Delta.com adding functionality that indicates whether “WiFi” will be an onboard amenity to flights?
-G
June 5th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Skymiler…approzimately 50% of the pre-merger Delta 757s will be done by July.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:19 am
celmed and grkitalny…all MD90s and MD88s have Wi-Fi, so if you’re booked on one of those planes, you’re good to go.
Delta.com is working on the functionality now…more info in the next few weeks…
June 5th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
So what are you going to do about the DL/NW codeshared E175s and CR9s that fly equally-long flights? Any chance of WiFi on those as they are effectively substitution for mainline on a large number of flights?
June 5th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
After finding wifi on my 757 flight last night and wanting to keep an eye on the hockey playoffs I jumped for the monthly plan and watched the game over the internet since is was on a channel not carried on the IFE. Great way to pass a few hours! I thought I was on 697 but didn’t see that on your list, althought I couldn’t see the # very well when boarding and may be got it wrong.
Great progress on 757 fleet, as well as the rest.
Three questions:
1) Monthly plan states “promotional” as if the price will be increasing in the future. Do you know what Aircell’s plans are?
2) I have a few trips to STT coming up and I understand the system uses ground towers so it won’t work over the ocean. If a plane is wifi equipped, will it start to work automatically once back over the lower 48 states?
3) Received an email that said “Enjoy wifi on over 600 daily flights, including your upcoming flight” - is this a generic email or was it sent specifically because wifi is on my next itin.?
Thanks and keep up the great work!
June 5th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
BNAtraveler…the CR9s and E175s are definitely on our radar there are no plans at this time to install the system on those a/c. We’re focused on the 500+ mainline a/c right now…and that’s a massive project!
June 5th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
bwhite1234…the marketing e-mail that dropped this week reads “introductory rate” … is that what you’re referring to?
You’re correct…the system uses ground towers but given that they’re pointing up rather than down, they have a pretty big footprint. You’ll have access for about 200 miles off the coast.
The “Enjoy Wi-Fi on 600+ flights” e-mail was targeted to SkyMiles members traveling on MD88s or MD90s in the next 90 days.
June 6th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Chris,
Will this service be available on 777-200LR international flights?
June 7th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
A little off topic, however, I have a suggestion to make.
The IFE on the non-AVOD 757s is in desperate need of replacement. Yesterday, I was on two flights, one on a domestic 767-300 with AVOD (SJU-ATL) and one on a 757-200 with the overhead CRTs (ATL-ABQ). The AVOD on the first flight was great, but the overhead video on the second flight was awful. There was no color on any of the screens, and the screen closest to where I was was constantly flickering.
Are there any plans to do any upgrades to the IFE system on these aircraft? Perhaps they could get the 763ER treatment of replacing the old CRTs with LCDs.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Was on a flight, excited that the screen said this flight has inflight broadband, but when I get on the plane and hear the 3 beeps knowing im at 10k and can use approved electronic devices, no wi-fi signal. I was in seat 4B when I got off the plane I see a Internet Swithc must always be On sign and the switch was off.
BOOOOOOOO
June 9th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
KevinR…Wi-Fi is currently available domestic aircraft and routes only.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
HWGeek…what date and flight number? I’d like to follow up with the crew. Thanks…Chris-
June 10th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Hi, Chris –
Thank you for the active updates on rolling out Wifi; is there any way of determing a specific 757-200 aircraft on a given flight date and time — like say next Friday — would be Gogo-equipped?
June 10th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Hello Chris: We are looking forward to the new WiFi system, yet we are flying NW codeshare A330-300 MSP-HNL, will these a/c be equipped with WiFi by Sept 2009, or ever????
thanks for the great work
June 10th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Any plans on expanding in-flight power in coach? My battery isn’t quite so robust as to survive a transcon (or even a half-con) with wifi on. Some of your competitors (both legacy and discount) are more aggressive on this front. I like Delta’s aggressiveness on wifi - now I’d like the power to come along too
Even DC power is fine - adapter or no it’s something.
June 12th, 2009 at 6:26 am
From one product manager to another, please remember that many of your business travelers are under current ecnomical constraints and cannot book First Class flights. Therefore, though WI-FI options offer the ability to conduct business on the flight, it is next to impossible to open your laptop in coach if the person in front of you decides to recline. If that happens, then we waste money with a wi-fi connection. Therefore, I would like to recommend for future consideration that Delta increase the space between seats in Coach. I am sure this would be a massive undertaking, and the ROI would be minimal. However, for your business travelers it will provide more space to work without any worry for that person in front of you who thinks it his right to lay in your lap. Maybe with the correct advertising, you would attract more business travelers consistently.
For the same reason of being able to work, I agree with sfooo about the power outlets. I am about to board a 15 hour international flight, and I am carrying many batteries. It sure would be nice if I could leave the pack the batteries instead of carry them.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
So I’ve got an additional question about the Wi-Fi… you say that you’ve got all of the MD-series aircraft done first–why would you concentrate on an older aircraft that (to what I can see) has fewer flights, instead of concentrating on the more abundant 7×7-series aircraft? Perhaps this is just a misconception on my part because I live on the West Coast, but I haven’t seen more than a handful of Delta-liveried MDs in the past 2 years (flying to JFK, ATL, MCO, LAS, LAX, SFO, SEA, SLC, DEN…)
June 14th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Any thought given to offering wi-fi for skymiles instead of cash? Or at least a discount for SkyMilers?
June 14th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
drewtipton,
if you read one of the early WiFi posts the MD aircraft were focused on because they were the only ones in the mainline fleet without any sort of in flight entrainment.
June 14th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Hi Chris,
Can you please let me know flight no : DL792 from Amsterdam(10.20 am) to Mumbai has WIFI access.
Also let me know the provision in DL 838
If yes, how much it costs for the entire flight duration. Should one register ahead of time or inflight is good enough.
Appreciate your reply
Thanks
Thinakar
June 15th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Scorpio,
At this point, wifi is not offered outside of the United States, meaning that it will not be on your flight from AMS-BOM.
-Skymiler