With the recent news surrounding Nala, the German Shepherd who escaped her crate this week at the Atlanta airport, we wanted to take this opportunity to shed some light on how seriously we take the responsibility of transporting the hundreds of thousands of animals entrusted to our care every year.

Last week we shared a memo with our cargo employees highlighting the special partnership between Delta and our customers who rely on us to transport their animals.  We hope you’ll take a look at it and use this information to learn more about preparing to travel with your pet. More information is also available at http://bit.ly/ejXYJe.

To: Cargo Employees

From: Greg Mays, Managing Director, Global Cargo Operations

Date: Dec. 29, 2010

Every year, Delta transports hundreds of thousands of live animals.  They range from crickets to animals bound for a zoo to our customers’ pets.  They are all precious cargo and in many cases loved and adored members of our customers’ families.

Your efforts to keep pets safe during their time with us are admirable, with losses of pets during travel remaining extremely rare

With the recent kennel escape of Nala, a German Shepherd traveling through Atlanta, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind us all how important it is to partner with and take special care of our customers when shipping live animals.

We have a long list of restrictions on live animal shipments for this reason. Extremely high or low temperatures, inadequate kennels and improperly identified dogs by their breeders or owners are among our greatest concerns.

The better informed the customer, the less likely a pet is to escape or become ill during shipment.  It is the responsibility of both Delta and the shipper to review our live animal policies each time we accept a pet shipment to ensure that we are all partnering to provide a safe travel experience for the animal.

When we have a pet escape, we are committed to doing what we can to help the owner.  In the case of Nala, we have conducted our own thorough search around airport property and worked with local pet rescue organizations to set up a hotline where anyone in Atlanta can report tips to help find her.   We also are offering a $1,000 reward to help support the search.

Many of us at Delta are pet owners and we know how saddening it is when a pet goes missing.  Nala reminds us all to be sure we’re doing everything possible to help customers understand how to keep their pets safe during travel.  More information is available online at http://bit.ly/ejXYJe and in the Knowledge Management system.

Thank you for your commitment to pet lovers everywhere and thank you for the work you do each and every day to take care of our customers.

Greg

For many of our customers we’re getting into what’s affectionately known as “the most wonderful time of the year.”  For airlines, it can also be one of the most challenging—winter months means snow and freezing rain in many parts of the country and globe.

With winter weather in full swing, I wanted to give you an inside look at how Delta prepares for imminent weather, and also share some tips should you find yourself with delays or cancellations this busy travel season.

At Delta we started preparing for winter at the end of last year’s winter season. Here’s how:

• 30 dedicated meteorology professionals give us an around-the-clock look at the weather that’s specifically tailored to Delta. We’re the only major airline with our own meteorology department!
• 410 Delta deicing trucks stay filled with fluid from September to May, ready to make sure that come rain, snow, sleet or hail – as long as it’s still safe to fly – we’re keeping your flight on schedule.
• Hundreds of Airport Customers Service agents were recently added in our busiest airports to make sure we’re staffed to offer quick support during irregular operations.
• 800 Delta Red Coats are in our hubs and other major airports equipped with handheld technology that lets them handle nearly any transaction on the spot from anywhere in the airport.

But even with all of our preparations, sometimes there is simply no way to stop severe weather from impacting your travel plans. We’ve prepped for that, too:

• Free Delta Messenger flight notifications allows you to subscribe to get updates on all flights, or get a one-time alert on a specific flight.
• @DeltaAssist real-time customer assistance through Twitter. Before, during and after your flight, the Delta team is working to get you to your destination with minimal disruption.
• Live travel advisories on delta.com help you stay up-to-date on everything impacting travel around the globe.

And of course all of Delta’s customer service channels are always available to you.

I hope I’ve been able to shed some light on our winter operations and equipped you with the tools and information you need to have a happy and enjoyable winter travel season!

Happy Holidays,

James F.

GM-OCC Operations Management

Update:

We’re excited to share that installations are complete at our hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Our top 3 project locations–Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul–now have 657 units installed. Overall, about 903 units or 75% of the project is complete!

Fun fact: In Atlanta, we ran more than 2 miles of conduit and more than 20 miles of wiring. 

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We know that with each electronic device you travel with comes an added challenge when you’re at the airport–finding a place to re-charge! That’s why beginning today and continuing through the early part of 2011 we’re excited to announce we’ll be installing a variety of re-charging options for our customers in nineteen airports across the U.S. including all seven of our domestic hubs.

Here’s what you can expect to see:

• Two Delta re-charging stations at each passenger gate area
• Each station features six standard 110 volt outlets and two USB ports per station
• Recharging pads in all domestic Delta Sky Club locations designed for smartphones and mobile devices (many locations already have these—just check at the reception desk for your preferred adapter!)

Gate area re-charging stations will be installed in the following cities soon: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and Salt Lake City as well as Boston, Columbus, OH; Hartford, CT; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Nashville; Norfolk, VA; Omaha, NE; Pittsburgh, Portland, OR; Seattle and St. Louis.

These updates are part of our $2 billion overall investment to improve our airport facilities, aircraft fleets and onboard services through 2013, and another great example of how we’re working to create a better airline and bring you a better travel experience!

We’re excited to hear what you think about our latest additions. What other things would be helpful while you’re at the airport?

Plug in and enjoy!

Jeff Coons

Manager – Airport Experience