Delta Air Lines

Future Academy Award-winners on Delta?

Contests, Movies

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Have a little Oscar fever?

Then check out the possible Academy Award-winners of the future on an airplane – or on-line – courtesy of Delta’s Fly-In Movies.

Five short film finalists were selected by programmers of the upcoming 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and will be shown, for free, from March 1 through April 12 on Delta Air Lines flights with personal, seatback in-flight entertainment systems (Delta on Demand).

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Not flying anywhere between March 1 and April 12?

The films will also be on-line.

You can even vote your favorite film.

The five films include:

* “Cold Calls” by Jack Daniel Stanley: In this 80’s spoof, a woman receives increasingly bizarre phone solicitations from an obsessive telemarketer.
* “Eight Percent” by Alexander Poe: Two high school exes meet up ten years later on an awkward date.
* “Gerald’s Last Day” by Justin Rasch and Shel Rasch: Gerald the dog has been scheduled for his termination by the dog pound at 5 p.m. Can he seduce a potential adopter before his time runs out?
* “The Green Film” by Andrew Williamson: It’s not easy being green-especially when you’re a filmmaker. So how do you make the greenest movie of all time? Watch and learn.
* “Locks” by Ryan Coogler: Dante wears his hair in dreadlocks. When he goes to the local barbershop, we see into his heartbreaking home life and learn how big his heart is.

Skate-and-fly in NYC at The Pond at Bryant Park

Free Stuff, Recreation, ,

If you’re planning on being in New York City anytime before January 25th, you can go ice-skating for free at The Pond at Bryant Park. (Lockers are free as well, but there is a charge to rent locks and ice-skates, if you don’t have those with you.)

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(Courtesy The Pond at Bryant Park)

Tomorrow morning (Tues, Dec 30th) MetLife has four-walled the rink so that 400 NYC school children can skate with the Peanuts gang, but Snoopy will be hanging around between 1:30 and 3:30 pm to take photos with anyone who shows up for public skating in the afternoon.

Don’t know how to skate? Free lessons are offered Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am – 11am, courtesy of Citi.

And – here’s the fly part – from now through January 25th, Delta Air Lines is giving away round-trip airline tickets to any destination their fleet flies.  Ask about details when you show up and lace up.

Time travel: Delta and Northwest merger

History,

Lots of news stories out this week about the official merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. And that gave Marie Force, Delta’s Archives Manager, an excuse to poke around the Northwest Airlines site for her regular Friday entry on the Delta blog.

She discovered that ‘Northwest’s many contributions range from the first closed-cabin plane for passengers (in 1926) to the first global airline alliance (with KLM).”  And she posted a link to Northwest’s timeline.

“Cheap” helicopter rides between JFK and Manhattan on Delta

Transportation, ,

I usually pass right over announcements about helicopter service from any city to any airport because the ticket prices seem so outrageous.

But today, perhaps because I’ve just written a column for USA TODAY about cheap excursions from airports, this notice caught my eye.

And while $45 is not cheap, an eight-minute helicopter ride between JFK airport and Manhattan can be a great thrill for not much more than a cab ride into the city. Although cab rides can have their own special, but different, thrills…

For a short time, economy class passengers flying on Delta Air Lines’ domestic flights to or from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport can take a helicopter between the airport and the city for $45. The regular fare is $159 and is complimentary year-round for eligible First class, Business Class or unrestricted Economy tickets. So $45 is a good deal for this service.

The reduced fare on US Helicopter is good for tickets purchased after Sept. 1 for travel through Oct. 31, 2008. The travel time is eight minutes between New York City Heliports in Midtown and Downtown Manhattan and JFK. Flights operate 27 times a day.

Airplane meal service – courtesy Delta pilots

Food

File under: those were the days….

According to this entry by archives manager Marie Force in the Delta Air Lines blog today, back in the 1930’s the airline’s on-board meals were served by pilots.

She writes:

In 1936, Delta flew the Lockheed 10 Electras, which cruised 160 miles per hour and held 10 passengers, 2 pilots and our first complimentary meal service—box lunches served by the co-pilot.

(From the Delta archives)

The menu: two sandwiches, fruit (apple, orange or banana), a small cake and coffee poured from a thermos.