I’m not quite sure why Delta put this press release out when it did, but they did, so here’s the latest . . .
Delta reannounced today this transcontinental service that we already knew was coming. This new product supposedly takes the best of Song and brings it onto Delta. Here are the details of this new service.
- First class on every flight (unlike Song’s coach-only service)
- Personal screens with live television, pay per view movies, games, MP3s, surveys, and flight path maps in every seat (same system used by Song)
- “Signature cocktails” including the Mile High Mojito and Mango Kiss (from Song)
- Meals in first class and buy-on-board in coach will soon follow (hopefully these will be like the excellent options offered on Song previously)
That’s all pretty straightforward, right? The confusing part involves how these are being rolled out. The ultimate goal to be reached sometime in 2008 is to have this service available on all flights over 1,750 miles or 4 hours. Of course, it’s impossible to just roll it out all at once, so there’s a phased in rollout.
First up is the 48 757s from the old Song fleet. Since those already have the tvs, all they have to do is re-cover the seats and throw in some First class as well. They’ll have generous 33″ pitch in coach, so the legroom is good. Starting this month, there will be 18 conversions per month, so you can expect to see these enter the fleet quickly.
JFK will get these planes first.
By the end of November, all JFK flights to the West Coast will get this service. I’m guessing from this map that I found on Delta’s website that this somehow includes the not-so-west coast cities of Tampa and Orlando as well as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City.
Then it seems like Atlanta will be getting it next for its west coast flights.
As you can see on this mini-map, the west coast has a very broad definition. There are the real west coast cities of Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Ontario, Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego along with quasi-west coast cities of Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake, and Denver.
There are also a handful of cities in the east that don’t make much sense at first glance, including a bunch of Florida cities like Pensacola along with Baltimore, Philly, and New York. I’m sure these are included because the aircraft will be routed to those cities for utilization purposes. It’s just an added bonus for people in those cities.
The last map they offer is of Salt Lake City.
I think it’s funny they label this transcon service on the map considering that no flight from Salt Lake can technically be transcontinental, but they have Boston, Newark, and Washington/National on here as well as Portland, Seattle, and Sacramento. Strange.
Outside of these hubs, you can expect to see the long haul flying from Florida cities to the West and I would assume Cincinnati at some point. Those must be further down the line, maybe closer to 2008.
The moral here is that you should just be patient. You’ll be able to find out which flights have the new service on Delta’s website or on any site that uses OAG schedules. I know that we’ll be showing you which flights have it at PriceGrabber in the near future.
If you’d like to learn more, you can go to Delta’s media page and download the enormous 28MB video that last a little under five minutes that shows you all about the new onboard entertainment.
