The Innovation Behind Delta’s Living Room In The Sky

The map is actually one of the most watched things

that we have on board Delta,

roughly about 20% of customers only watch the moving map.

And in that map...

Are you one of these individuals?

Yeah, I'm one of those people.

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We actually have a full aircraft lab

in our offices in Atlanta.

Okay, I wanna talk about that a little bit more.

What goes on in this magical place?

We need a place to really iterate as a team

and think through design.

We could literally walk across the street to a building

where we have 200 monitors

and it's a room that doesn't have windows.

So we can actually simulate daytime light and evening light

to really put ourselves in the shoes

of being an actual customer on board of Delta aircraft.

How do you think about the design of the screen itself?

Yeah, one great example is the

touch on those monitors, right?

If you think about it,

there's someone who's sitting in front of that monitor.

We really wanna make sure that it's simple and easy

so that we can minimize the presses.

And if you think about it,

those buttons are translated

into a variety of different languages

that we have the system in-

Right. So play

may be a four letter word in English,

but in German it could be a much larger and it probably is.

So we really have to think through

as simple and small as something like a

call to action button that exists on the screen.

So let's talk about the content experience.

How do you even pick what content goes on flights?

Actually, an interesting fact,

people become a bit more nostalgic

when they're on an airplane,

and we see comedies that were out in the 1980s

and the early 1990s end up killing it,

where we get incredible number of views.

So tell me how you recreate

the idea of a living room in the sky.

It does sound a lot like the living room experience,

the experience people have with streaming services

where you know you can like things

so that you can watch them later,

so that you can get recommendations

based on your viewing habits.

What was the impetus for the idea?

I think the living room in the sky

has a few important elements.

Number one,

I think all of us in our living rooms now have wifi

that is fast and streaming and is very easy to connect to.

The second thing is a personalized experience.

Every time I sit in my living room

and I turn on my television, it knows who I am

and I can start content from where I left off.

And it can recommend content to me

based on what I've previously watched.

So think about it today.

When you fly on a Delta jet,

if you were flying to Atlanta from New York,

or if you were flying to Sydney, Australia,

no matter who you were or where you sat,

we showed you the exact same content.

Now you are able with your Sky Miles account

to sign into that individualized screen

and Delta start recommending content to you.

Or an even better use case potentially

is maybe you're connecting in Salt Lake City

and you didn't get to finish that movie

because you started a little bit later in your flight.

Well, on your connecting flight,

you'll be able to start your movie

exactly where you left off.

And the third piece is really around

reducing stress of customers.

So if you check the luggage,

you'll get a notification on the screen that says,

don't worry, sit back.

Your bag is also with you on this flight.

It's fascinating to me how that even comes together.

Like how do you see the future of personalization?

What does that look like?

I will say that it's changing faster than any time

I think in aviation history.

I'll give you actually a great example

of one that we're working through now,

which is flight attendant announcements.

Please buckle your seat belts,

put your seat in the upright and locked position.

That phrase, I'm sure we've all heard.

It's in your mind Burned into my brain-

Yeah, a 100%.

But well think about the customers on board at Delta Jet

who maybe don't speak English as their native language

or maybe who are hearing impaired.

So we're working through every single

customer's individual screen.

It will come in the language that they have selected

that they wanna receive content in.

Does this mean the death

of the over speaker announcements?

I don't think so.

Okay. I think there's...

Again, you know,

there's something about the voice of our people

and feeling comforted when you hear the pilot

or the flight attendant come on the PA announcement.

I think that's really important to us.

It's just, again, us being thoughtful.

But I think you're gonna see an experience

that is really enjoyable

and one that you're gonna feel like

you're at your living room

when you walk onboard at Delta jet.

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