Skift Global Forum Preview: Delta CEO on Responsibility to Manage Footprints We Leave Behind
Skift Take
At most airlines, the advertising tagline is just for marketing. But Delta seems to take its tagline — "Keep Climbing" — a little more seriously than its competitors.
In private conversations, executives from other airlines sometimes bemoan the existence of Delta Air Lines, asking why it must keep making travel experience so much better.
They have a running list of complaints. Delta was the first major U.S airline to add business class seats with privacy doors, prompting customers at other carriers to ask why their favorite airline wasn't doing the same. Delta is also the only U.S. airline offering meals in economy class on many coast-to-coast domestic routes, and the only carrier overhauling its long-haul coach class service to include welcome drinks, amenity kits, and upgraded food.
Soon it'll probably be the first major global network carrier to offer free Wi-Fi, a move the airline's competitors probably will copy. Look for the American Airlines and United Airlines to make an announcement a few days after Delta.
Delta can afford to be more generous because it charges for it. As Ed Bastian, its CEO, loves to say, the airline earns a signi
