We all want to know what is on the horizon for our airline. Sometimes the info eking out is so hard to read that it feels like we are flying in soup and have to rely on our instruments and the artificial horizon to keep us level.

OK enough of the “punny” flight lingo and what am I on about today. As I alluded to in the title of the post, any big company has to hire people. Delta has a lot of openings right now. Some of the jobs do tell us a bit about what our airline is thinking about for the future.

Let’s take a look at a few.

Project Leader – Media Operations. What stands out to me in this one is:

“Responsible for defining and implementing sales operations and support plans for Sky Media team. Defines processes and implementation plans for implementing media sold on Delta.com, mobile, kiosk, GIDS, in-flight entertainment, wi-fi (portal and paid products), Sky Magazine, digital data monetization, Sky Clubs and other unique airline assets. Works with General Manager, IT teams and media partners to define and execute the technology layer to implement efficient, industry-standard technology to enable digital media across all channels.”

This sounds like more of what we already know. Sell it all. From Delta home page, to the GIDS or Gate Information Display Screens, to wi-fi to the Sky Mag we are encouraged to take with us to Sky Clubs – any unique assets should be making our airline money.

Specialist – for Delta.com. This one is so funny, and yet so sad. Look at this:

“Additional key responsibilities include:
o Create and maintain competitive information & analysis to determine areas where Delta.com needs to improve or has competitive advantage, in an effort to become and remain a world-class, industry leading travel site
o Implement self-service solutions that shift manual transactions to the web, resulting in cost savings.
o Implement solutions that generate new revenue streams or shift existing revenue streams to self-service”

What? World-class travel site? Really? Try to book an award ticket and say that with a straight face. A shift to self-service solutions sounds great since changing ANYTHING but your seats online can make your reservation disappear. That is why we must call! Yes, by all means, make more money on Delta.com once you MAKE IT WORK first!

General Manager- Onboard Digital and Social Channels

I am a huge fan of GoGo. I see it becoming a DM & maybe even a PM choice benefit in the future. In-flight WiFi is another great source to make money from us and this job shows this:

“…. the GM is responsible for enabling revenue programs and delivery an enhanced cross channel entertainment across these channels and other Delta digital channels.”…”Lead revenue generating and customer experience efforts in partnership with other commercial divisions”

I am not saying this is a negative, just that if we don’t want our kids asking us to buy them the latest movie in the seat back in front of us, we should make sure our iPad or tablet is charged and loaded (ie see E11 in Essentials) with content before we fly! 😉

This last one does not even have a job “title” but shows the future of social interaction and revenue possibilities for our airline:

“Management of current Social apps (Delta TicketCounter and Delta Away We Go) on Facebook. The role will be focused on ensuring that all digital interactions for social products are comprehensively thought through and result in increased revenue, enhanced brand recognition and increased customer satisfaction.”

I make no bones about the fact that I don’t care much for Facebook. So, as a result, I have not played much with https://apps.facebook.com/deltaawaywego/ FB app nor do I plan to. But I would love some reader feedback. Do you like this FB feature? Do you use it over say the phone app or Delta.com?

So there you are. It is fun to try to look at what our Delta will look like in the future. It is also good to keep in mind that Delta will, rightly so, try to utilize every asset they have to capitalize on us when we interact with our airline! – René

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