Mr Bastian at CES with IBM
 

Not sure if many have seen/heard this but Ed was at CES with IBM for a talk, and made an interesting comment about using big data for a more "personal experience" one was FAs using their tablet/phone to greet you and he used the example of "Oh hello Mr. Harris thank you for your millions of miles with us can i get you a "diet coke" (insert your favorite drink here)?" (they would take the current data FAs can see and grow it essentially)

Found that to be interesting if it can be implemented properly. Heard it on a local ATL station so dont have an article about it.

"Can I get you a diet beverage or water? Our in-seat weight and blood pressure monitor indicates that's what you should be consuming in order to continue being a customer."

Big data is fun! :D

I think there was a thread a year ago or so when he made a similar comment. Very polarizing subject. You can quickly go from "that's a nice thing to say, to that's really weird and creepy that they know that about me (and would comment on it!).

They already have tons of data on us already, but how much do they choose to share without seeming creepy?

"Mr. Smith, you tend to order a Vodka/Fresca on weekday flights of 1,000 miles or less when you don't have your kids with you. Would you like the usual?"

"Mr Smith, we want to thank you for your 500 days in a row that you have not been upset with one of our gate or phone agents"
.... "Yeah, but you know that mechanical led to a crew time-out which was announced right when the only alternate flight of the night had closed, so yeah, I was ticked off."
"Now, Mr. Smith, I'd hate for your good behavior streak to end right now, so let's get back to your happy place."

Millennial here (aka have been giving away my personal data my whole life and don't freak out about it so I have a biased view) but I don't really see the downside here -- DL has far less data than many companies out there. Ultimately they only know our names / DOB (required by governments), travel destination, and perhaps (if their data and IT is any good) they have customer level detail that shows recent negative experiences (delayed / canceled flights, reported issues with hard product like TV screens malfunctioning).

It would be great if they could use customer data to drive catering and say: "Hey Duke787 and these other 5 people on board tend to order Woodford, let's stock extra Woodford on this flight so we don't run out" or "Hey Duke787 and these 4 people always order the salmon so let's provision extra salmon on this flight so we don't run out"

It would also be nice if they could integrate the data to say "Hey Duke787 -- we're so sorry about the mechanical delay on your last flight, can we offer you a complimentary food or drink?"

Thought Delta is quit a data-driven company. Thanks to the GDPR 2016/679 /AVG you may ask your records Delta have of you.
Nothing shocking since you give Delta all that data but Delta has records from every interaction you had and will have with them;

Profile,: Personal data, preferences, SkyMiles data;
Last Air Activity Date
Lifetime Air Spent USD Amount
Lifetime Spent Revenue USD Amount
Total Program Miles
Total Redeemable Miles
Last Air Award Date
Last Loyalty Activity Date
Last Loyalty Activity Process Date
Last Non-Air Activity Date
Lifetime Medallion Qualifying Spent USD Amount


Trips: all your trips with the details: ranging from your bag tag numbers, special service requests, selected seat, comments and so on.

Non-Ticket transactions (refund, Skymiles global upgrade, transportion credit voucher, excess baggage, paid economy comfort seat etcetera)

Customer Care (details and Delta's response) see SS

Survey Comments which Delta places in a category (Onboard Service, Sky Club, Full
service Check-in, Baggage service office, Gate Service, Service recovery)

Online activity (activity, IP adress, URL, confirmation, device type, OS, browser)


Not much data about a pax Woodford consumption

the difference being that facebook and google are selling our data to whomever pays the most. presumably delta would be using our data to enhance our experience. obviously a slippery slope but I would be hard pressed to say facebook's use of customer data is at all similar to what delta is talking about

Come on, we all know Ed was only in Vegas to score flatbed upgrades on those sweet positioning flights for the widebodies running special segments to and from Asia.

This is fascinating. Do you know how far back the data is retained? Does it go far enough back to encompass travel on premerger NW or DL? I'm missing a few years in my flight log, and while I feel a little bad making them run a GDPR query, it might be the easiest way to fill in those gaps. (And get a black mark added to my account for being irritating, I'm sure...)

I don't think it's bad if the data is confined to certain things such as drink orders. It will ensure minimal errors and a level of personalization. Agreed that it has the potential to get out of control though.

My NW (flight) data isn't showing but for example the direct 'NW' AMS-MEM and AMS-MSP flights, with DL flightnumbers (DL156, DL 595, DL 259, DL 264..) somewhere after the merger was completed are there.

I think I would agree with @gitismatt that the difference Is (or at least should be) that Delta would use our data to enhance our experience with Delta. If the system knows that you had a rough outbound flight with a delay or a re-route, maybe it prompts the GA to give you preference in an exit row that just came available, or the FA to offer you a free drink or an extra snack or something. Or even if it goes further down the rabbit hole suggesting routes/flights that you commonly take.

Where as Facebook has turned it's users into the product. FB is free because it sells our data to everyone with $200 (it seems that way at least) to target us with advertisements to buy more useless crap.

I think that's the big difference, but I reserve the right to change my mind if it comes out that DL is selling that info to 3rd parties.

people SAY they don't like data collection but they absolutely love the butt-kissing and attention it enables. Just read the threads here.