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Thread: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

  1. #1
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    Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    This should be interesting - figured ya'll would want to know about this...

    Delta Brings Award-Winning In-Flight Experience from the Skies to the New “SKY360° by Delta” in New York City

    Multidimensional lounge, open for six weeks in the heart of midtown Manhattan, will showcase Delta’s unique in-flight experience and worldwide destinations

    NEW YORK, Oct. 2, 2007 – Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is bringing its award-winning in-flight experience to the streets of New York City. The airline will open “SKY360° by Delta,” a multidimensional lounge in the heart of midtown Manhattan created to showcase key elements of Delta’s unique in-flight experience and worldwide destinations.

    The 3,500 square-foot space located at 101 West 57th St. (at the intersection of 6th Avenue) will be open for six weeks only, Oct. 3–Nov. 10, showcasing Delta’s on-board experience and worldwide network of destinations. Visitors can also interact with the airline’s state-of-the-art amenities – all within a contemporary, high-style space. SKY360° by Delta will feature:

    Sky High Entertainment: An entertainment/screening area features Delta’s all-leather Coach Class seats and its new international BusinessElite® seats which recline into a fully flat position and will be featured on Delta’s new 777 Long Range aircraft in spring 2008. The seats in SKY360° feature the state-of-the art, Delta on Demand in-flight entertainment system, including movies, HBO programming, TV, music and more. SKY360° guests can:
    Watch their favorite HBO program – “Entourage,” “Sex and the City” or “Sopranos”
    Catch the latest films currently airing on Delta – “Ocean’s 13,” “Knocked Up,” “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”
    Listen to cool tunes – 90s mix, salsa, country and more
    The Midnight Sky Bar: Serving coffee and complimentary Coca-Cola products by day and cocktails by night, including selections from Midnight Sky, the signature cocktail program created exclusively for Delta by nightlife proprietor Rande Gerber.
    Delta Café Pods: Unique seating pods located throughout the space enable daytime guests to relax and sample selections from Delta’s new food-for-sale menu, featuring creations from Chef Todd English, including Roast Beef Steak Cobb Sandwich, Mediterranean Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Chilled Black Olive Spaghetti Salad.
    The Reservation Area: A computer zone where visitors can check fares and worldwide flight schedules, as well as book reservations via delta.com.
    American Express® Connectivity Lounge and Charging Station: A free charging station for an assortment of mobile devices, including cell phones, BlackBerrys and iPods, sponsored by Delta partner American Express.
    AvisConnect Wi-Fi: Free Wi-Fi capability throughout SKY360.

    “We are excited to provide customers with an opportunity to experience all of the unique, stylish and entertaining elements of Delta’s award-winning in-flight service in the heart of New York City,” said Tim Mapes, Delta’s vice president of Marketing. “SKY360° is an experiential vehicle that enables Delta to highlight our robust array of in-flight offerings and provides a platform for visitors to try out our state-of-the-art amenities.”

    Throughout its six-week timeframe, SKY360° will host for the public a variety of daily events and programs related to amenities specific to Delta and travel overall. Evenings will be reserved for a wide variety of private events. Thematic programming and select events include:

    Oct. 2-6: Grand Opening – daily sweepstakes and giveaways;
    Oct. 9-13: International Week – sweepstakes for international tickets on Delta;
    Oct. 16-20: Living Well Week – free massages from Delta’s spa partner, Lather;
    Oct. 23-27: Stress Free Week – packing tips and tricks and aromatherapy from Lather;
    Oct. 30-Nov 3: Food & Wine Week – Filippo Berio Olive Oil samplings;
    Nov. 6-10: Entertainment Week – a gadget lab, showcasing the latest media players, cameras and phones, and a travel photo exhibition.

    Evenings at SKY360° will be reserved for a wide variety of private events, Tuesday through Saturday:

    Esquire Magazine: Man at His Best Cocktail Reception – based on 'Man at his Best' editorial platform, guests are invited to experience the newest trends in fashion, luxury goods and culture.

    New Yorker: Cartoons and Cocktails – guests will experience live cartoonist demonstrations, signed sketches, cocktails.

    New York Magazine: International Cinema at SKY360° – in partnership with Rooftop films, the event will showcase international short films.

    Peter Greenberg Book Reception: Cocktail reception to celebrate the newest book from Today Show correspondent Peter Greenberg: The Complete Travel Detective Bible.

    About Delta
    Delta Air Lines operates service to more worldwide destinations than any airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 310 destinations in 54 countries. Since 2005, Delta has added more international capacity than all other major U.S. airlines combined and is the leader across the Atlantic with flights to 36 trans-Atlantic markets. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers more than 400 weekly flights to 53 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on nearly 15,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 475 worldwide destinations in 104 countries. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.

  2. #2
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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Delicious! I hear Tommy is going to be a VIP guest :)

    Andy when are we going, maybe we'll get miles for it! LOL

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    This would certainly be a step in the right direction for sure.

    Its kind of like being the hometown airline for the city for the people in new york.

    I would love to see American do this in their hubs.

    SWA does something like it in terms of participating with the public, in parades and such but nothing to the extent DL is doing with this.

    Alex
    www.southwest.com Bags Fly Free. Anytime, Anywhere on Southwest Airlines. Share the LUV!

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    Senior Member hiss srq's Avatar
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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Go Delta go!
    Southwest Airlines-"Once it pop's it's time to stop" Southwest Airlines-"Our Shamu's are almost real" Southwest Airlines -"We blow our top real easy" Southwest Airlines- "You can't top us..... really"

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Wonder how they will handle the logistics on the days it's open to the public. While they'd obviously like to get midtown professionals in there who might be potential high margin customer converts for DL, they will most likely also get alot of shall we say less 'well heeled' people looking for free stuff, especially if they are really giving away food and drink as it sounds like they might be. Anyway, the real value of doing something like this isn't getting people in to learn about the products and services, it's getting people to talk about it. Charmin's Times Square bathrooms last year got lots of free publicity via various outlets.

    I don't work too far from 57th and have seen them working on it so if I happen to pass by while it's open to the public I will check it out but if someone beats me to it would be interested to hear your observations.

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Thanks for posting and I would like to check this out, sounds cool.

    LGA777

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    I DARE Tommy to go wearing a Southwest or AA t-shirt! They'd clobber him! :mrgreen:

    If he does, someone be sure to get pics!

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Quote Originally Posted by FlyNavy
    I DARE Tommy to go wearing a Southwest or AA t-shirt! They'd clobber him! :mrgreen:

    If he does, someone be sure to get pics!
    Nah doubt they would...they would simply know I'm a WN and AA customer and perhaps try to get me to convert.

    Chris look......all joking aside. I don't fly Delta as my preferred carrier for a reason. It’s not a stupid spotter reason either that "I don't like Delta's paint." I'm a business traveler who's flown 192,000 miles this year and have a valid reason. I've flown Delta twice in 2006 and in both cases Delta delayed my bag. Sorry but why would I try for a third time? The 767 I was on was dirty and looked rather worn as well, the MD-88 looked as though the cabin was the original from the factory. It just wasn't a good feel overall.

    Now I will say when I flew Song it was rather good, the buy on board program was good, not as good as UAL's but a good value for the money. The drinks were good. even though the FA had no clue how to make a mile high Mohito and the IFE was decent. The problem with IFE like DAL's and other airlines it takes up leg and storage under the seat. Overall though Song wasn't bad, but Delta didn't earn my business like AA and WN did. I'm sure someone could say the opposite but, Delta has lots of flyers who love them, and I’m just not one. Unless I can be convinced otherwise.

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Those are valid reasons. I love competition, Tommy. But 2006 was a rough year for the airline and I still think you should give them another shot, post-bankruptcy. It's amazing how the mood of employees changes when their employer is being successful...

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    In as much as there is rarely an aviation-related event or venue in Manhattan, would anyone be interested in meeting up there? It's open to the public between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Tues–Sat for the next few weeks and apparently free Cokes at least!

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    I'm interested in checking this out, but I'd have to fly up to NYC obviously. I'm off Tues and Weds next week so if that works out for you let me know and I'll book a trip.

    -Chris

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    I checked out the lounge yesterday and while it was very hip and cool, it did not do enough to promote the Delta brand. Given Delta's huge international expansion I would have wanted to see information about their destinations. Destination pictures (like what they use on their home page, as well as last spring's "Cheat on New York" campaign) in simple black frames would have been very nice and let the public know where Delta flies from New York.

    I think a lot of people walked away associating Delta as an airline that "gets it" and is hip yet also professional, but didn't know how to take advantage of Delta and where they fly. I wonder what the impact will be on people who go to this lounge and book a Delta ticket to somewhere that does not have the new Delta service (pretty much everywhere besides international and transcon flights), but expect the same brand image as well as physical airplane seats they saw in the lounge. If flying out of JFK, they may walk into the Delta terminal and think they were lost.

    While I do fly Delta, it's usually when there is no cheap alternative or if I'm going to MCO and I can go via ATL and have widebodies on all legs. Even then, I credit the miles to my WorldPerks account because Delta is very bad with award tickets. The JFK terminal is a mess to put it nicely, one reason I will not even consider flying DL international in the near future (the other being that most flights are on 763s with no IFE in Y, and service is just not as good as other carriers).

    The only bad thing about the lounge is the BusinessElite seat they have on display. It's basically a bigger economy seat that converts into a bed. It has that same tacky blue color and the leather is horrible. I kept thinking it was going to stick to my skin. I would certainly not pay extra to sit or sleep in that seat. The PTV screen was surprisingly small and was not much bigger than Virgin's new V:Port screens in economy. The tray table was very hard to take out, and the employee demonstrating it was trying to smile while pulling it out and getting her fingers nicked. This seat is a second-rate copy of superior offerings by Air Canada and Virgin, amongst others.

    I couldn't help but feel this lounge was a quiet counter-attack on Virgin America. There were some design details that looked like they came straight from VX.

    That all being said :D here are some pictures.



    Reading area


    Virgin-like design




    American Express-sponsored computer area with internet access (many of the people using it were on Facebook)


    People thought this looked really good, until they learned it was a banana butter sandwich






    The lounge was not that crowded and there did not seem to be any problem with the free drink and food giveaway.




    Seat area


    Too bad Delta didn't put in the exact seat pitch to let people know what it's really like.


    The rest of these are the new BusinessElite seat that will first be on the 777-200LRs, reportedly going to DXB first (smart move) then BOM. Configuration will be 1-2-1, and like other carriers the seats will be angled, so looking out the window will require turning your neck quite a bit.


    Cubby




    Bad tray table and small PTV


    Regular outlet, audio output, and USB drive


    In short: Cool place with food and drinks? Yes. Delta brand enhancement? No.
    Wings Down Under on Flightglobal

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Nice job, Will. I was going to head over there and take some pics as it's just a couple of blocks from my office, but you've saved me the trouble. :)
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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Will outstanding report! Seems like a cool place but I'm curious as to you're take home message. It seems that if you were a "normal" off the street visitor you wouldn't leave feeling that Delta would be you're first choice in you're air travel. To address the point of the lack of destinations advertised there I did see the Sao Paulo behind the bar but was that it? One would think that Delta might have used LCDs placed in key locations running spots on their destinations from New York to spur the visitor to get excited about traveling to places like London, Paris, Central American, and even domestic locals. I know that when I generally see ads like that it spurs my imagination for travel.

    I think you're report brings up a fact I was trying to make with the discussion I had with Phil the other day. While this place is hip and cool, and shows that Delta offers these onboard services the reality is you have a very good chance of not seeing any of these services on you're flight. This goes back to my phrase "Window Dressing" or even harsher but IMO not the case "bait and switch," here's what we advertise but here’s what you get....

    The fact is, and these are numbers are right from Delta is that over 50% of Delta's RJ fleet which performs allot of medium haul lift to vacation destinations has no IFE of any sort. Only 30% of the combined Delta fleet of 75s, 76's, 73's and MD's have only overhead TV's, 4% of the 777s and 764s combined have PTV, and only 12% of the 75s have the full deal of Live TV and Games. So you're selling you're customer on the chance that they have a 12% chance of enjoying these new features. Purely from a consumer standpoint don't advertise on what you can't deliver at the moment. This is the point I was trying to make that it’s a far greater chance that you'll fly with nothing vs. what you're being sold and combine that with the operational issues still plaguing Delta it amounts to nothing more then “wow was the wool pulled over my eyes.”

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    Re: Delta Brings In-Flight Experience from the Skies to Midtown

    Will, great report and photos, thanks for posting for all of us. I will leave early for work at LGA one day and take a swing by there. Just curious if any of the staff gave you any trouble about all the photos ? I would think not but these days you never know. Also did the staff seem like actual DL employees temporarily assigned to this lounge or did they seem like temps just hired for the short term event ?

    Thanks

    LGA777

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