Delta introduces AI concierge services, YouTube and sports gaming on in-flight screens

Delta Air Lines will become the latest company to launch a generative AI chatbot this year: Delta Concierge. It also will add advertising-free YouTube on board and sports gaming (but not gambling) via Draft Kings.

It’s one component of the Atlanta company’s ongoing strategy to improve and personalize customer experience that CEO Ed Bastian presented at the Consumer Electronics Show tech conference, marking the airline’s centennial year with a splashy keynote at Las Vegas’ Sphere.

“Technology is transforming the way we travel, with AI at the forefront,” Bastian told a packed house.

On Tuesday the company outlined a litany of new partnerships and coming investments. This spring, a new partnership with Uber will replace a longstanding one with Lyft.

Bastian outlined how the “Delta Sync” seat-back experience, which is triggered when SkyMiles members log into the screen, will soon include more personalization like announcement translation and in-flight features like a “do not disturb” mode. Delta Sync users can arrange to have a rideshare waiting upon arrival.

These changes tie straight back to Delta’s bottom line and how it hopes to continue outpacing its competitors’ profitability. The company has learned that improving customer experience makes fliers choose to book with them, even if it costs a bit more.

“It’s critical that we have a deep understanding of how you like to travel,” Bastian said Tuesday.

People are willing to pay 15% to 20% more for a Delta experience vs. that of its competitors, what’s known as a”unit revenue premium,” said Ranjan Goswami, senior vice president of customer experience design, in an interview. “That is significant.”

Indeed, the metric has been key to Delta’s position atop the industry in terms of profitability, Bastian told investors last fall.

While Delta came under fire for technological vulnerability during its CrowdStrike meltdown last year, the airline is focusing its centennial message on its consumer-facing technological investments.

Delta Concierge will start small this year with “brass tacks things that we know people struggle with” like reminders about passport expiration and visa requirements, but the possibilities are immense, said Goswami.

One day the technology, through Delta’s app, might be able to help you plan a trip and replace your own travel research, suggest concerts or events you might enjoy while you’re traveling, help you pack based on expected weather, and help you deal with an itinerary change or find your way through an airport, as well as sift through in-flight entertainment options based on your preferences.

Bastian said it will “serve as a thread across your experience,” with natural language text and voice input capability. The chatbot will be able to book end-to-end travel, all via voice, he explained.

The company has been using AI for years to help manage its fleet and crew, and the idea of Delta Concierge was first introduced at CES in 2020, with a five-year timeline. But the recent leaps in generative AI technology are enabling a next-level version, Goswami said.

It will have a major impact on how Delta employees interact with customers too, whether that’s a reservation staffer trying to help solve a problem, or a flight attendant greeting a frequent flier on board.

“People want to be seen,” Bastian told the crowd Tuesday.

The idea is that employees at the check-in counter, at the gate and on the plane would know details about travelers to greet or help them in a more personalized way. “This isn’t a futuristic vision; this is something we’re starting on today,” Bastian said.

Flight attendants already have smartphones that tell them important information about customers, and soon pilots will get the same tool too, Goswami explained.

“We’re just serving up information that’s relevant to our customers, and we let our flight attendants and now our pilots or our reservation specialists choose how they want to use that information,” he said.

This builds on the company’s commitment to provide free Wi-Fi to all logged-in SkyMiles members, Goswami said. It’s already available in 730 of the company’s 1,300 airplanes, and the rest will be equipped in the next 12 months, he said.

Delta’s new plane orders arriving in late 2026 will have cloud-based systems and servers on board to enable seat-back screen streaming and ultimately 50 times more content, he said. They will allow travelers to directly stream entertainment like Paramount+ and YouTube on the seat-back screens — as opposed to current access only on linked devices.

And that’s just the beginning, he said. The logged-in experience is allowing the airline to collect tons of data: 2.6 billion rows of data just last year, he said. That trove will continue to feed a more and more personalized and “smarter” experience for travelers over time.

“I don’t think anyone else can do it quite frankly anytime soon,” Goswami said.

That doesn’t mean others aren’t trying. United Airlines has been incorporating ChatGPT into its app, and the company is partnering with Starlink to bring free Wi-Fi to its entire fleet. But Goswami isn’t concerned given Delta’s lead and “momentum.”

“We think we’re setting the standard. When I read [United’s] recent press release, it actually sounded like our strategy, and that’s probably the best form of flattery is imitation.”