Delta Airline’s passengers on the New York-JFK and Atlanta flights from Lagos are to enjoy an unforgettable experience onboard its 234-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
The airline is offering an in- flight entertainment with the latest in technology, foods and wines in every cabin.
In a chat with aviation reporters in Lagos, the Vice-President, Africa, Middle East, Europe and India, Corneel Koster said Delta airline was poised to give safety and comfort to its esteemed guests.
He said the airline is focused on innovations that would always put smiles on the faces of its passengers.
Koster said, the airline was offering a “fully flat-bed seats in Delta One that extend to 6’4” in length and offer greater privacy through their angled configuration, regionally-inspired menus created using locally-sourced ingredients and served with a wide selection of fruit juices and complimentary spirits, beers and wines – including prosecco – in Main Cabin.
As regards internet access, Delta Vice- President said, there would be “mobile messaging via WhatsApp, iMessage and Facebook Messenger, keeping passengers fully connected with friends, family, colleagues and clients, plus optional access to high-speed Wi-Fi”.
“Delta Studio in-flight entertainment – over 1,000 hours of content, including Nollywood movies, to watch on seat-back screens or steam to a laptop, tablet or mobile with no Wi-Fi charge, he added.
“RFID bag tracking technology, enabling customers to keep track of their bag’s location from check-in to the baggage carousel through notifications sent to their mobile phones”.
In a related development, Delta has rolled out new fingerprint biometric check-in devices at all 50 of its US Delta Sky Club locations last week; it is available free for Delta Sky Club members who are US citizens or permanent residents, and who have registered with Delta’s biometrics program.
Delta partnered with US biometrics developer Clear in 2016 to offer Clear’s recognition service to the airline’s diamond medallion members free of charge and to Sky Miles members at discount pricing.
“From unlocking our phones to entering the workplace, more and more people have the option to use biometrics as a form of identity for daily activities,” Delta COO Gil West said. “Having that option is quickly becoming an expectation.”
The new devices provide biometric recognition from a two-fingerprint reader, redesigned and custom-built around an encrypted fingerprint scanner. Delta describes the “sleeker” device as having “ergonomic finger supports and [an] angled fingerprint scanner to optimize [a customer’s] hand angle and promote successful scans” as well as “intuitive sound and lighting … so the processing signals are easier to understand.”
Delta said launching Delta biometrics across a single touch point “is a natural extension” of the biometric test programs Delta has operated recently, including Sky Club check-in and boarding at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Sky Club check-in at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) and a biometric bag drop at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP).
“We will continue to gauge employee and customer feedback to refine the [program] and evaluate additional touch points where biometrics can make travel seamless,” West said.
Delta began testing biometric facial recognition technology at ATL gates E10 and E12 in December 2017 for volunteer passengers boarding its international flights to Paris. The airline has also been involved in extensive testing of biometric exit system technology, in coordination with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
