Your bag’s perspective from Atlanta to New York

by Grant Martin on

Ever wonder what happens to your bag after you send it down the tunnel behind the gate agent at the airport? I was always under the impression that it was handled by a series of Oompa-Loompas who gently carry your bags from point A to point B on their heads, quietly singing the song of the baggage handler as glitter falls from the sky.

Apparently that’s not the case. The kind folks over at Delta Air Lines just released a video detailing a bag’s journey through the inner workings of Atlanta (ATL) and then over to New York City. To capture the film they strapped six cameras onto a package and sent it through the system, from the conveyor belts to the baggage trucks to the belly of the plane. Though the footage is ultimately an ad for their baggage tracking app, it’s still an interesting perspective.

You Fancy, Huh? Delta lures top travelers with Porsche transport program

by McLean Robbins on

If you’re a Delta Diamond member heading into ATL, you just might have a surprise waiting for you on the runway. Delta’s being secretive about the details, but they’re piloting a new program for their HVCs (High Value Customers), using a fleet of six Porsche vehicles to transport fliers to far-flung terminals or even to their cars.

Here’s how it works – you’ll get off the plane and find a Delta rep waiting with a sign, where you’ll be escorted to the car and whisked away to your destination – sometimes right off the jetway.
Why Porsche? The luxe car brand is moving their North American headquarters to a new location just adjacent to the terminal, and of course Delta’s hub is in Atlanta.

According to The Ticket Atlanta, Delta’s only comment has been on the Flier Talk Boards to state that the cars are part of their partnership with Porsche, they didn’t pay for the cars, and that the cars are for customers only – not executives.

What do you think? Smart move by Delta or a catering to the 1%?

[Flickr via SOCIALisBetter]

Buy elite miles on Delta, cheat your way to elite status

by Grant Martin on

The trump card when going toe to toe with the airline industry has always been elite status. Once you’re silver or gold or whatever color is associated with frequent travel, many of the airline fees go away, upgrades start to sneak out of the woodwork and travel becomes slightly less miserable. That’s why many people carefully plan their annual travel to make sure that they reach a special status, sometimes even going as far as taking a mileage run to earn the right volume.

The problem with earning elite miles at the last minute, though, was that it was usually a waste of time, space and carbon. But airlines wouldn’t sell elite miles because then non-frequent travelers could game the system.

This week, Delta has partially fixed that conundrum by actually selling elite miles. They won’t sell you many, but if you need a few extra miles to make it to the next tier then it can be actually worth your time.

2,500 points, for example, will cost a traveler $295. But once that tier has been reached, a traveler can expect a whole host of fees waived plus free upgrades, preferred seats and priority checkin. For that price, it may be worth the investment.

You can learn more about Delta’s plan to sell miles over at their site. You can buy up to 10,000 miles.

[flickr image via sacra-moneta]

Breaking: Delta to refund taxes collected during FAA shutdown

by Grant Martin on

There was hope and outcry last week after news broke that as part of its partial shutdown, the FAA wouldn’t be collecting the fees that it assesses against domestic airline tickets. Looking forward to a tax holiday, many travelers started searching for tickets only minutes after the tax break went into effect — only to learn that airlines had raised their ticket prices to wipe out any savings — effectively pocketing the difference in price.

The outrage has slowly been trickling through the media and into the political ranks of our government, most notably in a letter to Delta from Aviation Operations, Safety and Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV).

Believe it or not, the airlines may be listening. Just this afternoon, Delta Air Lines announced that they would be the first major carrier to refund extraneous hikes imposed by the airlines, provided that the IRS puts plans into place. You can read the full release over on their website.

Lets hope that the other airlines make the right decision and follow suit.

update: Delta Corporate communications got in touch to clarify the refunds:


“..what we’re refunding are the taxes customers paid on tickets purchase before the FAA shutdown, for travel during the shutdown period. The IRS has said that customers who travel during this period, who already paid those taxes, were technically overtaxed and may be eligible for a refund. Delta announced yesterday that to help facilitate those refunds, we’ll provide them directly to our customers so that they don’t have to file a claim with the IRS.“

[flickr image via Refracted Moments]

Airlines and Twitter: An infographic

by McLean Robbins on


Which airline wins the tweet wars for June 2011? Travel tech site Tnooz gives us a stellar infographic on the use of Twitter for major airlines in the month of June 2011. As you can see, Southwest drops to second place this month as industry giant Delta (21,000) mentions, leaps into first place. It’s interesting to note that this data is based on tweets and opinions in a category of interest, not number of followers. @SouthwestAir still wins that battle, with 1,142,579 followers vs. 206,201 for the main @Delta Twitter.