At Delta, we’re always thinking of ways to make your travels with us more consistent and enjoyable.  We recently announced an exciting $1 billion investment through mid-2013 that will improve the customer experience in the air and on the ground.

Here’s what you can expect:

• 90 trans-oceanic aircraft will be updated with full flat-bed seats, adding the ability to stretch out and relax in our BusinessElite cabin on all Boeing 767-400ERs, 767-300ERs, 747-400s and 777-200ERs.

• 16 Boeing 747-400s and 52 767-300ERs will receive in-seat audio and video on demand in Economy Class, offering personal entertainment on all wide-body aircraft.
• 66 CRJ-700s will be outfitted with First Class comfort for Delta Connection customers.
• 269 pre-merger Northwest aircraft will be revamped to feature our signature blue leather seats as well as updated lighting and cabin amenities.
• 170 Boeing 767-300ERs, 757-200s and 737-800s will fly with extended range and fuel efficiency thanks to the winglet installations.
• Four additional Delta Sky ClubsÔ will be available to customers with the renovation and expansion of our L.A. lounge and new locations in Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Seattle.

So, what does it all mean for you?  A more consistent, comfortable and convenient (not to mention sustainable) travel experience, whether you’re onboard, enjoying top-of-the-line amenities and our premium on-demand entertainment (now available on more planes than any other U.S. carrier), or relaxing in our extended global Delta Sky Club network.

And, this is all in addition to our continued initiative to outfit our domestic fleet (530+ aircraft) with in-flight Wi-Fi.  We’re making major progress with Wi-Fi installed on 340+ aircraft and plans to hit our goal this summer.  So, you may now sit back and surf, stay in touch or even respond to this blog on more flights than ever before.

We’re thrilled about these investments and hope you are too.  Let us know what you think.  What improvements would you like to see on the Delta docket over the next few years? You can post here or tweet us @deltablog.

Ranjan Goswami

Director – Customer Experience Planning & Development

Hello everyone…I apologize that it’s been so long since my last comprehensive Wi-Fi update. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling for work lately and a lot of the Wi-Fi activity has been focused on pre-installation activities. But things have picked up again and we’ve got a ton of cool stuff to share…

As of this update Delta has installed Wi-Fi on more than 51% of the combined (pre-merger Delta + Northwest) domestic mainline fleet, which is a total of 269 out of 520 planes. We’ve completed the MD88 and MD90 fleets and have recently ramped up installations across the 757-200 and 737-800 fleets. Engineering teams are on track to cross the 300 aircraft mark by the end of 2009.

Over the past month we’ve also installed Wi-Fi on three additional aircraft types…the A319, A320 and 757-300. We’re still awaiting the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for these three types but expect them to be operational in December.

The really BIG news, however, is that we’re teaming up with eBay to provide complimentary access to every customer on every Wi-Fi-enabled flight from Nov. 24-30. It’s a win-win-win partnership in that our customers get free access, eBay is able to reach an entirely new audience and we’re able to build awareness about the Wi-Fi product via a new channel.

In fact, we expect more than 1 million customers will be able to benefit from the promotion during Thanksgiving week (just enter the promo code EBAYWIFI). That’s a lot of people doing their holiday shopping on eBay, sending instant messages and updating Facebook…all while 7 miles up and speeding through the sky at 530 mph!

Given the amount of engineering and scheduling work that’s gone into scoping and installing Wi-Fi on 9 different aircraft types and nearly 300 planes, it’s pretty amazing that in less than one year we’ve gone from zero planes with Wi-Fi to the world’s largest Wi-Fi-enabled fleet and the most expansive Wi-Fi network in the sky…and that’s all due to the outstanding work of our Engineering teams and partners at Aircell.

I’d love to hear your feedback about your Wi-Fi experiences on Delta. I’ll be traveling during over the holidays (NRT-SGN-BKK-SIN-MNL) but will post the next update during the first week of December. Until then, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

MD88: 117 A/C (All)

M90: 16 A/C (All)

B737-700: 1 A/C

B737-800: 24 A/C

B757: 103 A/C

B753: 1 A/C (Awaiting STC)

B767: 5 A/C

A319: 1 A/C (Awaiting STC)

A320: 1 A/C (Awaiting STC)

Chris B., Sr Product Manager, IFE

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