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Delta Unveils Onboard - YouTube Partnership, Cloud-Based Seatback Experience
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Jan 9, 2025
Delta Airlines is enhancing its in-flight entertainment system, Delta Sync, with a new cloud-based platform and a partnership with YouTube. This upgrade will provide SkyMiles members with ad-free access to YouTube videos, podcasts, and music on most flights starting in 2026. The new system features 4K screens, Bluetooth capabilities, and a personalized content recommendation engine. Further improvements include an enhanced Fly Delta app integration and features designed to improve the overall passenger experience, such as multilingual announcements and an onboard experience planner. Delta aims to create a more seamless and personalized travel experience using cutting-edge technology.
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0:00
ever get stuck on a flight with you know
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nothing good to watch and the Wi-Fi is
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like barely working
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yeah well get ready because uh we're
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taking a deep dive into how Delta is
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trying to change all that okay we're
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going to unpack their plans to like
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totally upgrade their inflight
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entertainment I mean they're going all
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in on making your future flights way
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more fun and connected than ever before
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yeah for real and we're starting with
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Delta syn right which uh I guess is what
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they have now right yeah so delyn is
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kind of a big deal I think because it's
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not just about having movies on a plane
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anymore it's really about making the
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whole experience like personalized for
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their Sky miles members okay so it
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launched in 2023 with free Wi-Fi and uh
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some content that's tailored to you but
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um that's just the start gotcha so this
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is like the first step but it's only
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going to get more personalized from here
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definitely got it and uh Delta CEO Ed
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Bastion has been talking a lot about
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using Tech to make travel like as good
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as the destination itself yeah he has
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not just like adding fancy gadgets but
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like actually changing how we experience
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flying you know totally and that's
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important because it's not just Delta
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doing this like Airlines everywhere are
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investing a ton of money to create like
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these whole travel ecosystems it's like
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becoming this big competitive thing and
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Delta's putting their money on making
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things really personal and keeping
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everyone connected you know to keep
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people loyal yeah yeah I get it so uh
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speaking of connectivity they just
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announced they teaming up with YouTube
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and that's like kind of a big deal right
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yeah for sure so now like imagine this
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you're on a flight and instead of those
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you know same old movies you could just
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stream YouTube add free like all your
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favorite creators podcast music yeah all
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the stuff you'd watch at home basically
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exactly I think it's a really smart move
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because uh it's not just giving you more
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to watch it's like bringing something
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familiar onto the plan something people
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already love and Trust yeah it's like
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Delta's turning their planes into like a
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flying extension of your Digital Life oh
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that's like such a good way to put it I
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mean it makes flying feel less like this
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annoying thing you have to do and more
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like just part of your day yeah totally
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but okay what I'm really excited about
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is the tech upgrades coming in 2026 oh
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yeah Delta is putting in a whole new
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entertainment system like cloud-based
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and everything this is where things get
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like ser iously futuristic okay let's
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hear it all right so first of all the
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hardware it's like insane they're
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working with phy avionics who you know
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they're like the top in in flight tech
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right and they're putting 4K HDR qled
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displays in every single seat whoa we're
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talking like those amazing super bright
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screens you see in those like fancy home
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theaters but on a plane nice so no more
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blurry old movies yeah that's going to
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be great and and get this every seat
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gets Bluetooth so you can connect your
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own headphones like your good ones and
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have like an amazing audio experience
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you know no more of those cheap airline
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headphones exactly okay I like where
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this is going right but um to handle all
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this streaming and stuff they're putting
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in this crazy 96 terabyte storage system
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on each plane 96 that's like over 50
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times bigger than what they have now wow
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you're talking like a massive library of
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everything movies shows music all right
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there so like you could basically binge
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watch anything you want without like
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worrying about internet or anything yeah
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basically that's awesome but okay it
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seems like Delta isn't just like
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throwing a bunch of fancy Tech at the
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problem right they're also making the
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software like smarter and easier to use
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oh interesting tell me more okay so how
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are they doing that well they're like
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really using the fly Delta app and that
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new entertainment system to uh create
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this like super personalized experience
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they have a bunch of cool features like
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starting with the onboard experience
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planner the onboard experience planner
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what's that all about so like imagine
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this right you're before your flight
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just chilling and you can use the app to
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basically plan out your whole experience
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on the plane like you can set it to do
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not disturb so no one bothers you or uh
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you can like set a wakeup call if you
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don't want to miss the food or something
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oh that's neat right it's like having
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your own little assistant who like knows
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what you want before you even get on the
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plane yeah that's pretty cool so you
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have like total to control over how your
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flight goes yeah pretty much uh and uh
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it gets even better they have these
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things called curated collections
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curating collections hm I haven't heard
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of that so it's like imagine a bunch of
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like Travel Experts but they're just
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like finding the perfect movies shows
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podcasts even YouTube stuff just for you
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based on your Sky miles and like where
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you've been before and even where you're
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going so it's like they're actually
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using like data about you to make sure
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you're going to love what you're
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watching exactly it's not just like a
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random list of stuff it's like tailored
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to you okay that is pretty awesome
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especially if you know you're tired of
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scrolling through like a million things
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trying to find something good totally
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and uh I think this opens up a lot of
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possibilities for Delta too like imagine
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them partnering with brands or like
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travel influencers to create even more
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unique collections yeah that would be
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cool right but you know
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Delta is not just about making things
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fun they're also trying to make flying
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more accessible for everyone oh right
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yeah what are they doing for that so
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they're putting in this feature that
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translates like all those important
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announcements you know the ones the
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pilots and flight attendants make right
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in whatever language you want and it
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shows up right on your screen Ah that's
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really thoughtful yeah it's like a small
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thing but it can make a big difference
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for people especially if they don't
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speak English totally it makes flying
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less stressful for everyone exactly oh
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and and remember that arrival mode we
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talked about yeah yeah what was that
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again so basically as you're
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Landing your screen automatically shows
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you like all the important info from
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your app like uh connecting Gates
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Transportation even like local
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recommendations oh it is yeah it's like
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having a digital concierge right there
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with you that would definitely take the
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stress out of like getting off the plane
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and figuring out what to do next totally
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and the best part is all of this is like
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built into the fly Delta app so it's all
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connected so the app is is like your
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One-Stop shop for like everything about
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your trip yeah pretty much but uh before
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we get like too carried away with all
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this amazing Tech yeah I kind of want to
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hear for the people who are actually
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making this happen you know like what's
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their vision for all this right that
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makes sense what have they said about
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all these new features well ronjon
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goswami he's Delta's uh senior vice
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president of customer experience design
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okay he basically said like as Tech
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keeps changing travel has to change too
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you know yeah I mean we're used to
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having things personalized in like every
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other part of our lives so why not
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travel exactly and uh Yanik Aswad he's
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from phes the company making the
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entertainment systems he talked about
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how important their partnership with
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Delta is like they're really working
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together to bring these like super
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Advanced systems to the planes yeah it's
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like a real team effort then totally oh
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and then there's Ed Vasan Delta's CEO
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talking about the YouTube thing right
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what did he say about that he said
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something like Delta is always trying to
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give people something new to discover
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when they fly and I think this is like a
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perfect example of that yeah for sure I
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mean having YouTube on a plane is pretty
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groundbreaking right and it's all free
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because of the Wi-Fi so that's a huge
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plus oh yeah definitely what about
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YouTube what did they have to say so
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Marielle and Co she's their Chief
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business officer and she basically said
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like people want their favorite content
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everywhere whether they're at home on
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their phone or you know 30,000 ft in the
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air I mean she's not wrong and Delta's
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like totally getting that and you know
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making it happen yeah it's smart like
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they're not trying to reinvent the wheel
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they're just taking something people
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already love and putting it on their
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planes and uh it's all happening as
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Delta is celebrating their 100th
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anniversary which is pretty cool wow 100
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years it's like they're not just looking
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back at what they've done but like
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looking ahead to the future of travel
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yeah that's awesome and a big part of
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that is like making sure their Sky miles
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members are happy right so all these
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upgrades are free for them yeah all free
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like Delta is really showing that they
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value their loyal customers you know
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that makes sense like it's a good way to
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keep people coming back totally it's
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really interesting to see how Delta's
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like combining Tech and you know making
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things personal and keeping their
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customers happy it's like a whole new
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way of thinking about travel yeah it
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really is and it makes you wonder will
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we ever want to get off the plane oh man
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right like seriously with all this
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personalized stuff the good Wi-Fi
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everything just like so so tailored to
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you flying might actually become
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something we like look forward to I
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think you might be on to something there
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I mean it really feels like the whole
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travel industry shifting you know it's
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not just about getting there anymore
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it's like they're realizing that the
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whole experience matters totally it's
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like what we were saying earlier right
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we started talking about like movies and
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stuff but Delta is going Way Beyond that
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yeah they're using Tech to like change
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the whole travel Journey making it more
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personal more connected yeah yeah more
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human you know and that's a good point
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like it's not just about keeping us
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entertained it's about giving us control
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Delta's giving us the tools to like
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actually create the kind of trip we want
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yeah yeah like they're saying hey we're
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not just flying you there we're helping
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you like make your own travel story
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exactly and with all this talk about
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personalization it makes you wonder like
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is this where things are headed are we
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going to get to a point where
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like everything is totally bespoke like
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your airline just knows you so well yeah
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like they know what you want to eat
10:02
where you want to sit even like suggest
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places you might want to go based on you
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know what you like that sounds kind of
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wild but I mean I guess we're already
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seeing some of that happening oh yeah
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definitely Delta's kind of setting the
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stage for travel to be like totally
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woven into our digital lives right and
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every part of it is just for you yeah
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pretty crazy to think about and it makes
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you wonder like how's is this going to
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change how people travel that's a good
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question will people be more loyal to
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certain airlines yeah will it change
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like how we even think about traveling
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in general it's a lot to think about it
10:40
is but one thing's for sure Delta is
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right at the front of all this like
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pushing the limits and showing everyone
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what's possible for real so okay as we
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wrap this up I think it's worth
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remembering something yeah like next
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time you're on a Delta flight yeah
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really take a second to appreciate all
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the thought that's gone into everything
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all the tech yeah it's come a long way
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from like those old days of bad movies
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and those scratchy headphones you know
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yeah definitely and who knows maybe one
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day we'll look back on all that be like
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wow remember when right Delta's betting
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on a future where flying is actually
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enjoyable you know like a good
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experience not just a way to get
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somewhere it is it's like a journey not
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just a flight exactly and I'm like
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really excited to see where all of this
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goes yeah me too it's an exciting time
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for Trav like keep an eye on Delta keep
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an eye on everyone really because things
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are changing fast the future of travel
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is like happening right now and it's
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looking pretty awesome it is it really
11:40
is
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