Few airplanes are as iconic as the Boeing 747. No matter how many new airplanes we’ve introduced since the current 747s joined our fleet, customers still love to see those double-deckers pull up to the gate. That’s why all of us on the customer experience team are excited to bring you a complete face-lift for the interiors of our 16 747-400s! These changes are sure to make flying a Delta double-decker an even better experience.

As part of our $1 billion investment in global products and services through 2013, we’ll replace and remake every seat inside the 747s to completely revitalize the flying experience. Between summer 2011 and 2012, we’ll install 48 fully horizontal flat-bed seats in the BusinessElite cabin and 338 new seats in the Economy cabin.

When you walk onboard you’ll immediately discover the new benefits:

• Personal, on-demand entertainment in every seat. In Economy we’ll ditch the old overhead projection systems as we install new seats loaded up with technology. The new seats will be embedded with a nine-inch touch-screen entertainment system (I promise you’ll feel a lot like you’re using your iPhone or iPad!) and will offer access to movie titles, TV shows, digital music tracks, interactive games and a USB port to charge iPods and other electronic devices.
• Added personal space for new comfort in Economy. Each new Economy class seat adds 1.5 inches of additional personal space through a “slimline” design that more efficiently uses cabin space than the older, heavier seats they replace. In addition to the 1.5 inches you’ll find at your knees, your bags also will gain some breathing room with larger under-seat storage space.
• A nearly seven-foot bed to stretch out on in BusinessElite. That’s right, even our tallest customers will be able to fly flat out in these new seats! The new seats are similar to the popular flat-bed product offered on our 777-200LR fleet today but with one notable change – they’ll be configured in a new layout, moving window seats to face the window and center cabin seats to face towards each other for customers flying together. These seats, like our other full-flat products, will all have direct aisle access and also include 120-volt universal power outlets, USB ports and 15.4-inch video monitors.
• Lots of movies, music and games.  The in-flight entertainment server powering all these new seats is big and fast. So big and fast, in fact, that it enables nearly 400 customers to watch 250 different movies, play dozens of different games and listen to 4,000 music tracks on demand all at one time.

You’ll see the first of these revitalized 747s flying as soon as next summer, primarily to and from our Tokyo-Narita hub.

Check out the images of what we’ve designed here. We’re proud of this upgrade and we hope you like the latest in a long list of new Delta product improvements to come!

Mike B.

Customer Experience Team

Since AMC’s Mad Men flew (and I use the word flew literally as it has had a consistent presence on our in-flight entertainment) on to the scene three years ago, we’ve been obsessed with the show. Delicious drama, a glimpse into a different world and time, humor, wit all wrapped together with sophistication and sex?—Love it.

As the relationship between Delta and Mad Men grew through seasons 2 and 3 it became obvious that not only did we love all things Mad Men—all of you (our customers) did as well.

Through our Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce-like wheeling and dealing to secure more great episodes for our in-flight catalogue, it became obvious that through this mutual love affair between Mad Men and Delta a love child that would benefit you, our customers should be born—voila the Mad Men Jet Set Sweepstakes!

We can’t help our customers love or look like the characters of Mad Men, but we can help you travel Mad Men style—style worthy of passionate whirlwind vacation or chicly sophisticated getaway. Here’s the best part: You get to choose which Mad Men Jet Set matches your style: New York or LA.

Now through August 2nd we’re giving you a chance to win your choice of a vacation including airfare on Delta Air Lines and hotel accommodations for you and your guest!

Jump over to madjetsetsweeps.com now for more details and enter for your chance to win.

Oh—and if you haven’t been hooked already, be sure to tune in Sunday, July 25 for the Season 4 premiere of AMC’s Mad Men. There’s a reason for all of the hype and back-to-back Emmy’s®. The show is amazing.

Hope you’re having a great summer!

Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager
In-Flight Entertainment

It’s been a while since the last Wi-Fi update but this one’s a big ‘ol juicy one…let’s call it WI-FI: THE 500. That’s right…this week marks the 500th Wi-Fi installation, a really impressive feat on the part of Delta TechOps, Aircell/Gogo and the installation teams. Since our first installation in December 2008, we’ve been averaging one install about every 1.5 days.

In addition to the 500 installed aircraft, we also have 32 installations that have been partially completed but they’ll require some additional engineering work to find alternate locations for the antennas. Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) amendments are in work and these planes will be routed back for the second phase of installation upon STC issuance. Our Engineering teams are targeting a date later in the summer for the start of the completion line due to FAA approval time and cable lead times.

Questions? Send ‘em my way. I have answers!

Hope you’re enjoying the Wi-Fi!

FLEET DEETS:

A319:  49 of 49 (100%)

A320:  64 of 69 (94%)

DC9-50:  9 of 34 (25%)

MD88:  117 of 117 (100%)

MD90:  17 of 17 (100%)

B737-700:  10 of 10 (100%)

B737-800:  71 of 71 (100%)

B757-200:  120 of 123 (98%)

B757-200 ETOPS: 17 of 17 (100%)

B757-300:  16 of 16 (100%)

B767-300:  10 of 10 (100%)

SCOPE ADDITIONS (increasing the total to more than 550 Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft):

MD90:  +12 (new deliveries)

B737-800:  +2 (new deliveries)

B757-200: +7 (returning from storage)

B767-300:  +4 (adding the domestic ETOPS birds)

Chris B.
Sr. Product Manager, In-flight Entertainment