Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines’ new uniforms. Passport plum and all

Delta Air Lines’ 64,0000 uniformed employees will look different.

It is the new uniforms created by fashion designer Zac Posen and produced by Lands’ End that we’ve been hearing about and now get to see in the sky and in airport terminals being worn by  Airport Customer Service, Delta Cargo, In-Flight Service, Ground Support Equipment Maintenance and TechOps employees.

Delta didn’t just give Zac Posen the contract and say “Come back when you’re done.” Here’s the process the airline says it used to get from the old uniforms to here:

  • A Cross Divisional Uniform Committee made up of 24 employees from each frontline division helped guide the three-year uniform creation and development process
  • 80+ employee focus groups that Zac Posen and Lands’ End teams attended
  • 165+ changes made based on direct employee feedback
  • 73 hours spent collecting data via job shadows by Zac Posen and his design team
  • 52 stations across the globe involved in focus groups and job shadows
  • 1,000 employee wear testers who put the uniform to the test over 3 months and across 5 continents
  • 30,000+ survey responses and emails from employees
  • 64,000 uniformed employees across 300+ stations around the globe
  • 60,000+ Wings and Name Bard handmade in the U.S. by Engage2Excel
  • 200+ show options available via Zappos at Work
  • 3+ years in the making
  • 25,000+ employees fitted
  • 1.2M items were produced for the May 29 launch

Delta’s uniforms used to be navy and red. Now they’re Passport Plum – a shade said to flatter every skin tone – Cruising Cardinal, Groundspeed Graphite, Traveling Thistle and Skyline Slate – and have signature details incorporated such as a collar on the women’s blouse that is inspired by the wing of an airplane, and pockets for passports and pens.

Here’s Delta’s new in-flight safey video, with special appearances by – the new uniforms:

Fingerprint entry to DELTA’s Sky Club

Delta Air Lines is expanding the places where flyers can use itheir fingerprints as their ID.

Starting this week, Delta Sky Club members who are already signed up for the airline’s CLEAR biometric program – and those who get signed up now – can use their fingerprints instead of a paper or mobile boarding pass to gain entry to any of the 50 any of the U.S. Delta Sky Club locations – making it even easier and faster to get to all those snacks and free drinks.

Now, qualified CLEAR members can just put two fingers on the designated fingerprint reader and they’re in.

Delta Sky Club members who already have CLEAR and are using it to at the security checkpoints can start using their fingprints at the club rooms now.

Delta Sky Club members without a CLEAR membership who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, can sign up for the program for free at CLEAR enrollment kiosk located in 14 Delta Sky Club locations across the country.

For those who have had trouble using the scanners in the past, it looks like they’ve been improved.

Delta is big on biometrics and has been expanding its facial recognition programs as well.

Delta breaks ground on its new LaGuardia terminal.

Maybe – someday – we’ll love New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Again.

Signs are pointing in the right direction.

On Tuesday Delta Air lines broke ground on its $4 billion, 37-gate facility at LaGuardia – part of the over-all transformation of the airport we’ve been promised.

Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, was there, along with New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and a variety of local and regional dignitaries.

“The groundbreaking at Delta’s facilities represents another step forward as we build an entirely new airport at LaGuardia,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Together with our private-sector partners, we are making rapid progress to create the world-class gateway to the Empire State that New Yorkers deserve.”

Delta’s new terminal promises four concourses with 37 flexibly-sized gates to accommodate Delta’s full fleet; a new, larger Delta Sky Club with a Sky Deck; new hold rooms with more seating; 30 percent more concessions space; and “sustainable and scalable technology befitting of an airport of the future.”

“We know the new LaGuardia is one that New Yorkers will be proud to call their hometown airport,” said Delta’s Bastian. “And we are confident that this investment will further cement Delta as the No. 1 airline in New York, with the best customer service and experience on the ground as well as in the air.”

Here are some drawings released by Gov. Cuomo’s office showing what’s in store. Let’s hope the art and greenery makes it to the final cut.

 

 

 

 

Greetings from … Boston Logan Int’l Airport

I don’t get to fly to or from Boston Logan International Airport that often. But I’m always pleased when I do.

If just for the lobsters, which can be purchased as toys or as meals for now or later.

I don’t get to fly Delta Comfort – the airline’s premium economy seats – all that often either, but I’m glad when my Delta status snags me one of those seats.

And on my Delta flight from Boston to Detroit this week, I found this note sticking out of the seat back pocket.

I made note of the cleaning crew’s work – and the airline’s gesture – and kept my note as a souvenir. But my seatmates didn’t. They left them behind – on the floor – for the next crew to cleaning crew to deal with..

 

 

Delta joins Seattle Sounders FC for cool contest

 

In and around Seattle, soccer fans are super passionate about the Seattle Sounders FC, who just happen to be the defending MLS Cup Champion team.

Delta Air Lines is the team’s official airline and they’ve kicked off a cool fan ‘engagement’ campaign called the “Join the XI” program, that will give 11 fans some super-special perks.

Fans selected to join the “Starting XI” team will “get to live the life of an MLS player, sign a one-day contract with the Sounders FC and fly with the team to the July 29th match against Los Angeles,” promises Delta.

Here are some of the ‘positions’ they’re going to fill:

  • The Dynamic Duo – friends, family, a couple or coworkers united by their love of Sounders FC
  • The Stat Wiz – the one fan who knows the game and the team by the numbers
  • The Luckiest – the person who sticks to their superstitions to help the team win
  • The Lifetimer – someone who’s been a Sounders FC fan for what feels like forever
  • The Roadie – where Sounders FC goes, they follow – no matter the distance

There are some age and residency restrictions,  but if you’re a Sounders fan, here’s where to enter.

Good luck!