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

Hello Everyone,

In honor of Earth Day, here are five simple things you can do to make a positive impact on the environment.

1. BYOB – Bring your own bag to the supermarket. One large reusable bag can eliminate as many as five plastic bags. The average family will acquire 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store, adding to the United States’ roughly 100 billion plastic bags used a year.
2. Reduce – Purchase a refillable water bottle or travel coffee mug to keep excess waste out of land fills. Also, try to reduce containers such as water bottles and plastic food containers. It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil per year just to make America’s water bottles.
3. Conserve – Leaky faucets waste thousands of gallons of water a year, not to mention money down the drain. A faucet which drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water each year!
4. Compost – Rather than spending $3 per bag for leaves and lawn clippings, compost them. By leaving grass clippings and setting other yard materials aside, landfill space is saved, and important nutrients are re-introduced into your garden. If composting is not an option aim for mulching lawnmower blades.
5. Turn off or Unplug – Turn off lights and TV’s when you leave a room. Why light a room that no one is occupying? When electronics such as DVD players and microwaves are not in use, consider unplugging them. Some consume electricity even in the off mode.

Also, check out Delta’s industry-leading recycling program and learn more about how to offset your carbon emissions. In just one year, our customers have helped us raise enough funds to plant 102,065 trees that are expected to trap enough CO2 to offset the carbon footprint of more than 2,900 Americans for one year.

When purchasing a ticket at delta.com you can choose to contribute $5.50 for domestic round-trip flights or $11 for international round-trip flights. For every $5.50 contributed, the Fund will plant one tree in a protected park or national wildlife refuge. Next month, we’ll plant trees on behalf of our passengers at Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas.

What simple things do you do to care for our environment?

Jennifer O.
Project Manager
Environmental Health

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