Hey Carl,
Looks like you get the opportunity to fly the first of the repainted planes! Overall, some good info in this article.

Delta is matching planes to routes


The relative snippets:

"The biggest airplane in Northwest Airlines' fleet -- a Boeing 747-400 -- will be the first aircraft to be painted in the red-white-and-blue color scheme of Delta Air Lines"


"The first 747 will get its makeover in Victorville, Calif., and reenter service Dec. 12, Anthony Black, a Delta spokesman, said Friday. Northwest's entire fleet is set to be repainted in Delta's color scheme within two years."

NWA's 747-400's will be neat in the new paint. Are they getting new seats? The webbing was busted out of the bottoms of both of the seats I recently flew in and First Class looked like something out of a early 70's sci-fi film. I wouldn't want to watch ALIENS with all those eggs up in First Class.

BTW - I was impressed with the service and professionalism of the NWA folks. Good operation. The equipment could use some updating, especially when compared with the products offered by JAL, Singapore, etc ....

Bucking,

Your dead on here. The business seats are reasonably new (4 years?) but at least the're uncomfortable. The investment the "beach boys" did over the years was their own pockets, not our infastructure. I commute on American alot, am always amazed at the differences.

You guys will have to sit through so many beach boys stories........just remember to smile and nod, it's therapy.

Ferd

From paragraph 5:

"It will take some time to migrate the brand," Delta CEO Richard Anderson said in an interview. But he added that Northwest customers will begin to see changes in the coming months, such as the addition of blue leather seats on Northwest planes and the appearance of Delta's food offerings on Northwest flights.

Yes, I read that too. But the seats need more than new covers and in seat IFE is standard on all Delta jets (or being refitted with heavy mx), except the MD88/90 and most RJ's.

The pax survey results were funny. Meals taste better if there is a TV to There was a 10 to 15% across the board improvement in every category including baggage handling with IFE units. Most folks sleep, but everyone at least plays with it for a few minutes and notices if it is broken (or missing). For the kids, it makes international flying bearable.

Just a guess but I'll bet it comes out with the latest of everything. The new lie flat Business Elite seats that are on the 777LR, PTVs/AVOD in every seat, and new coach seats. At least the slimline Webers but possibly the first to get the new international coach seats (Thompson Cozy Suites).

That's great news. With a few exceptions, Delta has always had the most beautiful paint jobs in my opinion. The whales will be a gigantic Delta billboard in Asia, and that is very smart to get that going right away.

New seats in Business Class is a must. Our current seats are fairly new and they are terrible in the most important aspect: they're as hard as a park bench!

Carl

"So I says to the Dalai Lama (Richard Anderson), hey Lama, how about a little something for the effort?"

And he says to me, "I won't give you money. I will give you wisdom. On your death bed, you will achieve, total, complete consciousness. And at that moment, you will be cognizant that Delta has the best paint schemes in the industry."

"So at least I got that goin' for me."

...which is nice.

Carl

LOL Which color scheme? At any given time, you can see what 3, 4 Delta paint schemes on the ramp in ATL?