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When you go to the Delta NEWS HUB, a.k.a. the new PR Facebook page for Delta, you will see a video for the new updated Delta Flight Attendants hand units.
They have re-branded the “SkyPro” hand units and now call them the GST or “Guest Service Tool”. I have a better name for them. I will call them the “Greenback Suction Technology” (if you are from the south, maybe “Grab Stooges TexasPennys” is better)! Either way, anything Delta does we can expect there is a key sales component behind it and this will push more and more on-board sales to extract greenbacks from loyal stooges, uh, flyers. 
But the current video that is up on the “hub” is not the same one that Delta at first released yesterday. The screen shot you see above has some information blurred out. Just what is that information? Take look for yourself at the shot from the old video that my fellow BA Blogger MJ on Travel first posted yesterday before it was pulled:
Yep, Delta has attempted to erase from the web the fact that the GSTs displayed “Escorted Prisoners” including a cute little icon with handcuffs for use on the next page of the GST.
Now on this hypothetical flight, thankfully, there were no “Escorted Prisoners”. I have never had the privilege of flying next to one of these nor did I know this occurs, but I guess it does and a trusted source told me “it does happen”. Maybe I was just better off not knowing this little fact and I guess Delta, now, feels the same way.
But what else, other than “Escorted Prisoners”, should Delta have blurred out of the video and what other truly ridiculous bits do we see in this glorious new tool that FAs can now use? Well first off, if you look at the colors of the flyers above, we see a bunch of Platinums and a few Diamonds who apparently did not score an upgrade as they are stuck back in coach. Gosh, they were not even able to score a C+ seat upgrade? That is sad, but it does show FCM is working very well (yea DAL stock holders)!
Then we move to the shot of those in 1st class (well Delta domestic business class that is called First Class that is not First Class). This demonstration flight is from ATL to LAX. Now I ask you frequent flyers, how many times as an FO or GM have you upgraded on this route? Then again, maybe, just maybe, the reasons we are seeing this is because FCM is working and they are the ones buying 1st class up-sells and the result is the PMs & DMs we see on the next part of the video back in coach!
Oh, what else fun can we have with all of this amazing new tech that Delta is expecting overworked FAs to use both on a serious and not so serious basis? Delta seems to be saying that when a travel issue happens the FA can look at the passenger’s coming flights and alert them to any possible changes and rebooks already done by Delta IT and to maybe apologize and make it all better. That is just swell, but I can do all that from the Fly Delta APP and I don’t need an FA, who could be doing other things like bringing me a Woodford Reserve, telling me what I already have access to. Plus, if I am not happy with the flights Delta has chosen, will the FA have the power to select the flights and seats I want?
Now let’s see what else we can pick out and maybe enjoy from the amazing new GST. One of the things Delta elites hate the most is a visit from SHENA. That is one of the reasons we should all be part of #TEAMboardLAST, that is, to make sure the 1st class cabin has, not just checked-in full, but boarded full. If it has not – then WAIT – and let the GA or gate agent know you are willing to be the last one on the jet to get that last 1st class seat. If they say it is full and there is still a seat open, and someone last second boards, maybe you can ask one of the FAs if the hand unit shows that a NRSA or Non Revenue Space Available flyer got the seat that should have been yours as an elite awaiting a medallion complimentary upgrade!
Then there is the most important bit that I will be finding out about soon, that is, can the new updated units still allow FAs to give us up to 15,000 SkyMiles or $150 vouchers if things go wrong with anything in-flight. After all, there are so many things that can impact us and we should be compensated on the spot to make it all better. Call that one #Developoing! – Rene
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I was boarding early with my family out of Denver two years ago. We were behind to marshals and one man and Handcuffs. It was very low-key and unassuming. Had we not boarded with infant I would never have noticed.
I’m paraphrasing but “we will be able to bring the human touch back to dealing with our customers in flight because of a little handheld computer”. That’s somewhere between cute and ridiculous. I haven’t been recognized as a DM at the gate when my boarding pass is scanned in about forever. Guess I gave that up to have all of my info at the disposal on a tiny little screen in flight. Sometimes the old school human touch of “thanks for being a DM” when boarding was enough.
Two years ago on a flight to Rome we were at the bulkhead center & aisle & in the first three center seats across from us were two U.S. Marshals escorting a deportee (of course, sitting between them). One marshals was interesting to talk to, and he was surprised when I asked him “are you escorting” (it was obvious to me even though there were no handcuffs).
Do you think the 55-year-old ladies will know how to do this? I doubt it.
It’s good business sense. Probably eliminates the paper charts and printouts, too. I know many of the airlines now give their pilots tablets instead of lugging around printed manuals.
Yes, the devices can be used to give bonus miles when you have service problems on board. I got some last week when my overhead light didn’t work.
FNT Delta Diamond: so “55-year-old ladies” couldn’t possibly grasp technology. And 55 year old men and 25 year old of either gender naturally can? A rather sexist and ageist slur!
Every time I have been on a flight where they were “escorting” someone they have always been in the last row, backs to the wall of the bulkhead/lavs. Uncomfortable spot since those seats usually don’t recline but I figured it was a safety thing.
FWIW: The people doing the escorting have always been kind to the person they were with; doing things like making it hard to notice the person was even handcuffed in the first place. Not just for the sake of keeping the other passengers calm, it seemed like they tried not to embarrass the person as much as possible.