Delta is applying its vision to deliver a digital concierge for customers – first unveiled at CES 2020 – to anticipate and address the evolving travel needs brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams across the company are finalizing a digital experience that will guide customers seamlessly through booking, COVID-test scheduling and document verification – all available via Delta channels.
“We want to take the guesswork out of our customer’s hands and give them a simple, streamlined experience for navigating current travel requirements,” said Bill Lentsch, Delta’s Chief Customer Experience Officer. “Instead of checking one website to find testing locations and using another app to upload a test result, we’re building the capability to manage all of it through the familiar, customer-friendly booking paths on Delta.com and the Fly Delta app.”
Delta has remained focused on taking the stress out of travel, even as the pandemic brought about new stressors. The airline has led the industry in protecting the health of our employees and customers to ensure a feeling of safety and confidence when deciding to fly. In 2020, Delta launched the airline’s first Global Cleanliness organization and put in place more than 100 layers of protection to ensure a safe experience for our customers and employees. These safety measures include blocking middle seats and limiting onboard capacity for flights departing through March 2021, requiring masks throughout the travel journey, regularly sanitizing high-touch surfaces and replacing onboard industrial-grade HEPA filters twice as often as recommended, and many other safety steps.
The new digital experience will follow a familiar travel flow. Delta will share current travel requirements with customers based on the destination booked, provide them with available COVID-19 test scheduling options and automatically validate their test results.
This integrated suite of digital tools will incorporate learnings from ongoing work with TrustAssure, with whom Delta has partnered since March 2020 to continue to simplify COVID-testing options for customers. Delta is also launching a pilot with CLEAR Health Pass beginning Feb. 18 for passengers traveling from Los Angeles to Honolulu onboard one flight per day – helping the airline better understand how this and other tools can be used to speed up customer re-entry into the U.S. Customer participation in the CLEAR Pass pilot is optional. Delta is also leading the industry by consulting with partners across the travel journey – including the cruise line, hotel and entertainment industries – to align on key standards and additional best practices that can be put in place to reopen travel in the months ahead.
“We have been working since the beginning of the pandemic to better understand not only the problems our customers face today, but the ones around the corner,” said Delta’s Matt Muta, V.P. – Innovation. “We’re excited to be working with innovative partners across this space who are sharing best-of solutions we can leverage and integrate into our platforms.”
In the meantime, Delta remains focused on delivering innovation in the air, having recently announced plans to bring high-speed Wi-Fi onboard this year – a key step in offering free Wi-Fi in the future. The airline also continues to remove physical touchpoints to reduce stress and deliver a more personalized experience on the ground, with a new digital identity test in Detroit aimed at providing touchless curb-to-gate experience.
