Sawatdeeka, ‘hello’ from the Mekong Project.

The Mekong, the largest river in southeast Asia, is the namesake of our 2009 international Habitat for Humanity build. Delta has the largest number of volunteers and we serve as the Platinum sponsor of this year’s project.

Yesterday, we joined together alongside of our family to begin construction on our house. Ours is one of 82 total homes that will be built during the five day event, with the number 82 specially chosen to commemorate the King’s 82nd birthday.

Each 800 square foot house is constructed of concrete bricks, stacked atop a concrete foundation. The bricks, which were made as part of the ’sweat equity’ each family is required to contribute to their home, were completed prior to our arrival. In addition to the sweat equity investment, the families will pay $800 dollars for their new homes. Our first day of construction was spent mixing concrete and laying bricks as we watched our house begin to take shape.

Consisting of one large room with a separate bathroom at the back, the homes would seem small by most American standards. But for these families, they represent the big promise of a new future.

The need for decent, affordable housing is overwhelming here. We learned in the opening ceremony that about 850 million people live in slums, which is nearly two-thirds of the world’s population of slum-dwellers.

I am personally blessed to be able to participate in this project as an individual. As a 43-year Delta employee, I take great pride in working for a company who has not only provided me with this opportunity, but who has continued to serve as a dedicated supporter of such a worthy organization.

Jane hard at work in Thailand

Jane H., Flight Attendant, ATL

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

*Offers subject to change. Use of the Gogo service is subject to terms of use available at gogoinflight.com.

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Have you met anyone famous before? If so, who?

Sean C., Delta Vacations