Delta Air Lines Unveils AI-Powered 'Concierge' and Future Travel Innovations at CES 2025

CES 2025 - how Delta plans to "lift people up" with gen AI as it lays in a course for its second century

It's been a hundred years since Delta Air Lines first took off. Now as it looks to the shape of travel in its second century, AI is set to play a major role in the carrier's flight plan. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week Delta CEO Ed Bastian explained: "For the past 100 years, Delta has been driven by a simple mandate - always put people first in everything that we do. And it's as true today as it was in 1925 when the very first Delta pilots took to the skies. The airline has another simple rule of thumb as a result which shapes its innovation and transformation agenda, he added: At Delta, it's not technology for technology's sake; it's always about putting people first. We call it 'innovating with heart,' using technology to create premium experiences with humanity at the core...Amid the wonder of new technology, we've always understood that the entire point of innovation is to lift people up. Of course it's 2025, so Delta has an AI story to tell, as Bastian noted: How can we use AI to help each of you connect more meaningfully at each step? How can we couple it with human ingenuity, imagination and the world's most on time airline? The possibilities really are endless. They may well be, but what matters at this point is which of these possibilities are deliverable in a meaningful period of time and which are just futuristic 'market-ecture'? The most visible manifestation of practical exploitation of AI looks to be Delta Concierge, an AI-powered personal assistant within the existing FlyDelta app. That app is already a huge part of the Delta customer experience, said Bastian, as the airline thinks about how to blend the physical and digital worlds: We know our customers count on the FlyDelta app from home to airport and beyond. In fact, in 2024 we saw roughly 1.3 billion interactions in the app. More than 97% of Skymiles Medallion [Delta's loyalty program] members use their app as the go-to companion during travel. In 2025 we intend to make that even better with an industry-leading experience that we're calling Delta Concierge. This will be "a thread across your experience," according to Bastian, acting as a gen AI personal assistant that combines the context of who passengers are as customers and how they like/want to travel. It will offer features like natural language text and voice input and travel updates to ensure no turbulence on the journey through the various steps involved in taking a flight. All very impressive, but Bastian was keen to emphasise again that the use of AI is built around operational functionality, not fancy front ends and talkative chatbots. This concierge capability needs to meet the requirements of customers to make their travel experience better than that which can be provided by other airlines. To that end, Delta has been working with Experience Management (XM) specialist, Qualtrics to understand what customers are feeling in real life as they engage with the airline and embark on their journeys. Last year alone Qualtrics looked at nearly 7 million records of feedback from Delta customers to identify what people care about the most when it comes to travel. This is providing a major competitive differentiator, according to Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith: Nobody's doing this at the scale that Delta is across its global network. With nearly 200 million travelers that it serves each year, Delta is clearly the leader, But this experience data, the feedback that we're collecting, is critical to unlocking how Delta can meaningfully connect with customers, exceed their expectations ,and ultimately anticipate their needs. That ability to anticipate is crucial, he added: Truly knowing customers better, it really should mean that, in turn, you're recognizing them and you're improving that experience as they move through each leg of the journey. And that journey is going to be personal to each passenger, he argued: Everything we're working on together is about these personalized moments and how do you deliver them in an individualized, highly contextual experience at scale? It's easy when it's one-to-a-few; it's hard when it's one-to-many, as in 200 million. What we're finding out is that people want to be seen. So we're combining intelligent listening with the AI that we're working on together to unlock new ways to deliver these elevated moments while maintaining a personal touch that Delta is known for all over the world. This is the beginning of a new era of travel. So, as we take off into our next century, fasten your seat belts. Our best is yet to come. I don't know how much Delta splashed out on its keynote slot at Las Vegas's Sphere this week, but it certainly created a spectacle and made the most of the venue's remarkable presentational capabilities. That said, first and foremost, this was a setting out of stalls for where the airline specifically and air travel in general will be heading over the coming years in an AI-enabled age. It was, necessarily, a long term vision and that perhaps was brushed over a little opportunistically during the session. Given the commendable emphasis placed on tech innovation centered on genuine customer needs rather than just a 'because we can' mindset, some elements of the flight plan are a long way off. For example, Delta announced plans to launch an air taxi service with Joby Aviation (JOBY) in the next couple of years, starting in New York City and Los Angeles. The planned JOBY electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft are intended to offer a way to avoid getting stuck in highway lines on the way to the airport and cut travel times dramatically, as well as reducing stress levels around the inevitable fear of missing departure times. So far, so good...in theory. But the reality is that JOBY has yet to achieve regulatory approval just to operate in an initial two US cities and it will be a long, long time before the idea of routinely picking up a flying taxi is anything more than a pipe dream for the overwhelming majority of Delta customers. Expect delays. Other aspects of the session were more near-term practical and we're always going to commend a focus on operational capabilties when it comes to transformative innovation. Delta Concierge does indeed look to be a good use of gen AI tech to enhance customer experience and its roll out and adoption over the coming months and years will be something to keep a close eye on. In many ways, the likes of Delta should be excellent vehicles for proof-pointing the transformation capabilities of AI. As Bastian pointed out:

Delta Air Lines just announced its vision for the future of flying - here are my 3 favorite features coming to its planes and app

A new generative AI assistant called 'Concierge' could make air travel easier There have been plenty of keynotes this week at the CES 2025, but by far the most impressive and simply the coolest was the one I attended last night, on January 7 at the Sphere. Delta Air Lines put on a keynote that had plenty of razzle and dazzle, but it also made excellent use of the space - I mean, there is nothing like a tech demo, even a pre-recorded one, on a massive screen. Further, though, it feels as if Delta Air Lines is laying a fresh foundation and between a new generative AI assistant 'Concierge' to confirmed vertical takeoff electric aircraft arriving in the next few years with plenty of partnerships, there was certainly a lot of ground to cover. CEO Ed Bastian led the keynote quite well, speaking to the airline's history, core values, and foundation for future innovation, and that was all accompanied by bold sound, plenty of wind courtesy of a long row of blowers, and the big screen. So, let's go through the three most impressive things that Delta Air Lines announced and teased at its 2025 Consumer Electronics Show keynote. Just like every other company at CES, Delta is joining the AI bandwagon, too. This one has the potential to be helpful though, and it will be a level playing field regardless of where you're sitting on the aircraft - Delta One and standard economy are the same here. Delta's 'Concierge' is a personalized assistant, so it'll know your itinerary, where you live, and past flights. From there, it can suggest things like scheduling a Uber to get you through the airport on time and help guide you through the terminal, potentially having dropped you off closer to the best security lane for expedited processing if you have TSA Precheck or Clear. But conversely, if you're checking a bag it can adjust your routing for that. Given that it can interface with other apps, the LLM is multi-modal, and potential partnerships down the line could expand this. In a teaser video, via the seatback screen, a customer could confirm a dinner reservation and preview a new suggested route that could get them from the airport to their hotel faster. It's really all about making more data accessible in one place and increasing the overall Delta experience - which is something that the employees are very passionate about, just ask me or my colleague Lance as we were seated next to the cheerful group - and ultimately making travel a bit more convenient on the whole. Now, similar to Apple Intelligence, Concierge will be a tiered rollout, so we can expect the first features to arrive at some point in 2025. The Delta Air Lines seatback experience is dubbed 'Delta Sync' and it will be getting a number of new features. But the one that got a shoutout - and a debut on the Sphere stage - was a partnership with YouTube. If you're enrolled in Skymiles - Delta's free membership program - you'll unlock ad-free YouTube content ranging from videos to music and podcasts on the Delta Sync screen at your seat. Judging from teaser photos, it appears that YouTube videos might appear in line with the existing content library, while there will be a widget for YouTube Music. Further, Skymiles members will be eligible for a free trial of YouTube Premium - this way, you can experience ad-free content on the ground or at 30,000 feet. Not featured on stage but written in a subsequent press release is a promised improvement to Wi-Fi. Delta's already been offering free Wi-Fi for Skymiles members, but thanks to an already announced swap to provider Hughes for some aircraft, you can expect more stable connections in the future. This comes shortly after United Airlines announced it's accelerating its planned rollout of Starlink on its entire fleet. Maybe even more important, though, is the arrival of 4K HDR QLED displays to some seatbacks. If you're like me and enjoy a window seat, this could let you get crisp, rich views even when the sun is shining in. There will also be an exclusive new show focused on wellness while traveling hosted by Tom Brady dubbed "Well Traveled." Probably my favorite moment was how Delta used the Sphere's screen - for instance, as you can see in the TikTok we witnessed and felt the air of an Airbus A350 taxining towards us on a runway and then parking with its nose almost touching the folks to the far left side of the Sphere. There was a rumble in the seats, loud roaring jet engines, and wind - yes, wind blowing at us. And while that's a look at our current aircraft of today, potentially even the one that some CES attendees arrived in, we did get a peak ahead. Delta Air Lines is partnering with Airbus on innovation labs to help imagine future aircraft including ones that could eventually run on 100% sustainable fuel. Right now, some planes can fly with a 50% blend of this, but even more interestingly the two companies are working on aircraft with folding wings. So, much like a bird in the sky, a future Delta airplane could change the shape or orientation of its wings for better aerodynamics. Even more cutting edge, and likely arriving sooner, is the Joby electric aircraft that is capable of taking off or landing vertically. This means it could take to the air or come back down more like a helicopter rather than needing a long runway of asphalt or concrete. CEO Ed Bastian said on stage that these would be arriving in the next few years, first in Los Angeles and New York City - we even saw how Concierge could call a Joby to ensure you get to the airport on time. It was awesome to see the 160,000 square foot wrap-around screen of the Sphere transform into that futuristic aircraft cockpit, but also the shots of it flying across some beautiful backdrops. As a whole, Delta Air Lines used the opportunity of its 2025 Consumer Electronics Show keynote to impress visually - as well as audibly with a set from Lenny Kravitz after a grand finale of digital fireworks, which, trust me, were as cool as the real thing - but also aim to elevate the customer experience by using new technology to hopefully create meaningful experiences, some of which will be arriving in the next few months of 2025. I'm really keen to try out the generative AI 'Concierge' experience as it will likely get better with time, but I'll do anything to speed it up and make air travel a bit easier.

Delta wants AI to fix your terrible airport experience

In the first-ever keynote held at Las Vegas's immersive Sphere venue, Delta CEO Ed Bastian unveiled how artificial intelligence will reshape the century-old airline. The showcase moment? A new AI assistant called Delta Concierge, launching in 2025, the tool is designed to handle everything from rebooking delayed flights to suggesting the fastest route to your gate. The airline's AI strategy focuses on operational tasks rather than consumer-facing chatbots: analyzing customer feedback, optimizing gate assignments, and reducing connection times. It's part of a broader push by traditional companies to find practical applications for artificial intelligence. The airline is working with experience management company Qualtrics (SAP+1.22%) to process feedback from nearly 200 million annual travelers, turning that data into personalized experiences. "Experience is actually the currency of business today," said Qualtrics executive chairman Ryan Smith during the presentation. Even the entertainment system is getting an AI upgrade. Through an exclusive partnership with YouTube (GOOGL-0.95%), Delta will offer ad-free creator content on its seatback screens and personal devices. This is part of a broader strategy to use AI for personalized content recommendations without replacing the human touch. "At Delta, it's not technology for technology's sake," Bastian said. "We call it innovating with heart, using technology to create premium experiences with humanity at the core." In non-AI news, Delta unveiled several hardware and infrastructure upgrades. The airline announced plans to install new 4K HDR QLED screens in its aircraft starting in 2026, bringing ultra high-definition entertainment to passengers. The screens will come with Bluetooth connectivity in all cabins, allowing travelers to pair their personal wireless devices. The airline also announced plans to launch an air taxi service with Joby Aviation (JOBY+2.75%) in the next couple of years, starting in New York City and Los Angeles. The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft promise to transform the journey to the airport, cutting travel times dramatically. A trip that might take 90 minutes by car could be completed in just 10 minutes by Joby aircraft, according to Delta's demonstration. Looking further ahead, Delta is partnering with Airbus (AIR-1.11%) to design more fuel-efficient aircraft and scale up sustainable aviation fuel usage. The airline aims for sustainable aviation fuel to make up 95 percent of its fuel consumption by 2050, and the two companies will collaborate on hydrogen-powered flight projects and new aerodynamic designs.

Delta Tips AI-Powered Concierge, In-Flight YouTube, More at Flashy CES Event

In a multimedia-amped presentation featuring a cast of celebrity guests that evoked Microsoft's CES keynotes of years ago, Delta CEO Ed Bastian announced a set of tech initiatives for the Atlanta-based carrier. In keeping with much of the news at CES this year, they started with generative AI: Delta Concierge, what Bastian called "a gen AI-powered personal assistant," will offer travel help to passengers in the Fly Delta app and other Delta digital channels. A series of videos showed the concierge coaching a woman through a business-class trip to Tokyo. It started with an offer to book her ride to the airport on an eVTOL air taxi from Joby, a startup that Delta has invested in, continued with reminders about touchless TSA security options and Delta lounge access provided through her smart glasses before her departure, and concluded with arranging an Uber to her hotel and reporting her mileage earnings on the flight. Not all of these things will land in Delta's app right away, though. And Delta might not want to rush to deploy too many AI features anyway, considering such past airline-AI mishaps as a Canadian court requiring Air Canada to honor a fare-reimbursement promise that its support chatbot offered after citing a nonexistent policy. Passengers hoping for a speedy electric air-taxi ride to a Delta flight out of LAX should also be patient. Delta is not the only airline to pin its hopes on eVTOL aircraft to streamline airport rides. United Airlines has invested in another company in that field, Archer Aviation, but these startups have steep technological and regulatory hills to climb. On that Tokyo traveler's flight and much shorter flights, the seatback screens that Delta has on more planes than any other US carrier will get additional enhancements. "We have over 165,000 screens flying each and every day," Bastian said. "That's a heck of a movie chain." He announced a YouTube partnership that will bring a "curated" set of ad-free YouTube videos to those displays and passengers' own devices via Delta's Wi-Fi for SkyMiles members (who already get free Wi-Fi). The airline's press release announcing the YouTube partnership listed other improvements coming to the seatback entertainment that Delta has emphasized more than other US carriers: 4K HDR QLED screens (Delta told me Wednesday morning that they'll be in all cabins, not just Delta One business class), Bluetooth audio, and personalization and customization options that passengers can save via their SkyMiles accounts. Bastian announced another content collaboration during the keynote that may have been more directly relevant to the keynote's locale: the sports-betting service DraftKings. "From fantasy sports to online adventures, gaming has become a regular part of the daily lives of millions of our customers," he said. "And you shouldn't have to hit pause just because you're in the sky." But he didn't say if that meant Delta passengers would be placing sports bets on seatback screens. Delta spokeswoman Vanessa Sherrill didn't provide further details, writing Wednesday that "We'll share more details about the DraftKings partnership soon." Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also joined Bastian onstage -- part of a parade of guests that included an introduction by actress Viola Davis and former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady talking up the "Well Traveled" wellness video series he's doing with Delta -- to announce a third Delta partnership. This arrangement will see Uber customers earn SkyMiles on $40-plus Uber Eats purchases and rides to and from airports, with double miles for upscale Uber rides and triple miles on booked-in-advance Reserve rides. Khosrowshahi called this deal "exclusive," but Uber passengers will not get kicked out of cars if they tell Uber drivers that they're flying another airline and will still earn SkyMiles on those rides. (If this sounds like Delta's current mileage-earning deal with Lyft, it should; that partnership ends after April 7.) The keynote took advantage of the Sphere's 4D multimedia wizardry during Khosrowshahi's spot: After the Uber CEO said he'd ordered two coffees for him and Bastian, an Uber Eats driver rolled up on a moped (not battery-electric but gas powered, to judge from its sound) to deliver the caffeinated treats-and the scent of a hazelnut latte wafted into the stands. Following further tangents that covered Delta's efforts to make air travel more efficient and sustainable via new partnerships with Airbus, Bastian closed the keynote with an ode to travel's ability to connect people that may not have gone over so well with all the virtual-reality headset manufacturers exhibiting at CES. "We don't live in the virtual world," he said. "True connection comes when we're standing together, sharing the same space." A video presentation of fireworks then burst over a projection of downtown Los Angeles, which had in-seat subwoofers rumbling and the smell of fireworks blowing into the stands before Lenny Kravitz appeared on the Sphere's stage. Of course, he ended the brief set with "Fly Away."

Delta Concierge Will Anticipate Your Every Travel Need Like an AI Trip Butler

Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand. These days when you fly into Las Vegas airport at night, the most dramatic element of the city skyline you'll see from the plane window is the Sphere, the giant globular venue that's all decked out in a bright and colorful exosphere. It's apt, then, that Delta chose the Sphere for its Las Vegas CES keynote, where it announced its vision for integrating next-generation technology into your travel experience while celebrating its centenary. This year, the airline will introduce and AI-powered Delta Concierge into the Delta Fly app. From reminding you about passport renewal and visa requirements, to providing you with weather-appropriate packing suggestions for your trip, to assisting with wayfinding and security advice at the airport, the Concierge service is designed to be your personal travel butler. As with all companies at CES, Delta is looking to the latest tech developments to improve its existing products and services, and AI is central to that. For an airline like Delta, AI provides the means to offer a more personalized experience to flyers, with customized advice depending on status, route and travel preferences. "Our entire strategy is about the member and it's about make sure the member gets what they want," said Ranjan Goswami, Delta's SVP of customer experience design, in a briefing with journalists ahead of the keynote. "As you log into that screen... we're going to get smarter about what we learn about you and give you more and more relevant content." Passengers will able to interact with the Delta Concierge either through text or speech, using natural language. In future releases, Concierge will allow people to automatically connect to Delta Sync Wi-Fi and Delta Sync Seatback, which will provide them with personal greetings onboard the plane and know their itinerary and preferences. "We think about the pain points, what makes travel stressful," said Goswami, adding that he's excited to keep integrating developments in agentic AI to make the travel experience ever more personal. "I think we're going to be really surprised in five years, and we believe this technology is going to change the experience." Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi joined Delta CEO Ed Bastian on stage as the two companies announced a travel partnership that will allow passengers to earn SkyMiles through Uber bookings. Delta also announced a partnership with Joby's electric air taxi service that will allow passengers to book end-to-end travel through Delta Concierge. Onboard, SkyMiles members will soon be able to enjoy a newly announced partnership with YouTube, with free access to YouTube Premium, YouTube Music and curated content from creators. From 2026, Delta's in-flight entertainment system will start to become entirely cloud based, with 4K HDR QLED displays and Bluetooth connectivity for your personal devices.

Delta Air Lines announces an AI-powered assistant in its mobile app and free onboard YouTube Premium and Music at CES 2025

Over the last few years, Delta Air Lines' presence has become a staple of CES, with the airline regularly hosting splashy keynotes. This year, the company has rented out the Sphere to announce its latest slate of updates. These include (can you guess it?) an AI-powered assistant in its app, as well as an updated in-flight entertainment system with 4K HDR displays and Bluetooth connectivity. Members of Delta's SkyMiles frequent flier program will also soon get free access to YouTube Premium and YouTube Music on board the company's planes. Delta announced these updates at CES 2025. The new AI assistant, which Delta calls the Delta Concierge, will roll out over the course of the year. Users will be able to interact with it using voice or text. In this age of large language models, that's not exactly groundbreaking, of course. The idea here is to offer proactive advice and guidance for fliers, starting with notifications about upcoming passport expirations and visa requirements. Looking ahead, the service will also offer destination-specific notifications about local weather, for example. The Concierge will also offer guidance to bag drops, Delta's Sky Clubs, and departure gates. This all feels useful but also a bit underwhelming, and many of these new features feel more like tablestakes than massive innovations. Indeed, I'm pretty sure no AI is needed to check whether a flier's passport is about to expire or to tell them where their connecting gate is. The new seatback experience, which Delta describes as "the first cloud-based in-flight entertainment system," will begin to roll out in 2026. It promises a major upgrade to existing systems with 4K HDR QLED displays, Bluetooth connectivity, and a 96-terabyte onboard storage system to store movies, TV shows, music, and more. Here, too, it feels a bit like Delta is playing catchup. United's ongoing fleet refresh already offers 4K displays and Bluetooth connectivity, for example. That system may not be cloud-connected, but I'm not sure that matters to fliers, especially once the entire United fleet becomes Starlink-enabled. So far, that won't include free YouTube Premium and Music, which Delta plans to offer. And because a CES keynote wouldn't be a CES keynote without announcing a few ideas that aren't likely to ever come to market, Delta also on Tuesday announced that it plans to work with Airbus in the next flight test phase of the fello'fly project. The idea here is to have planes fly in formation -- similar to flocks of geese -- to save energy. This project has been ongoing for a few years now. It's a nifty concept, but it will take so many regulatory changes to put into reality that it's unlikely to be used anytime soon.

Delta changed the game for CES press conferences

This is my 12th CES, so there aren't many things that surprise me at this point, at least in terms of press conferences. All of the big companies used to try to one-up each other (celebrity appearances were the main method, although it's not as common now). However, the venue itself has now become the battleground for CES addresses. This week, Delta was the first company to host a CES press conference, or as the emcee called it, "a show," at the Sphere in Las Vegas. You've likely heard about the high-tech venue at this point, which usually hosts immersive concerts rather than trade show events. Debuting in 2023, the "multi-sensory experience" is known for having both the interior and exterior draped in LED displays and offering 4D effects like wind and smells. Three different credentials were required to attend the event in the venue which holds 18,600 people, one of which required a special trip to obtain. Once inside, Delta had various installations to celebrate its 100th anniversary and lines for the company's merchandise were absurdly long. People even skipped the Lenny Kravitz performance at the end to queue up for those goods. There was also food that may have been similar to what the airline serves in-flight, and snacks that you'd expect on a Delta trip, like Biscoff cookies. Of course, the company stacked the audience with employees and guests, plus it trotted out a couple of celebrities -- Viola Davis and Tom Brady -- which I saw as a throwback to the CES keynote days of old. Then there was the full-blown concert at the end: Lenny Kravitz with a full band. This gave the attendees the experience of coming to a concert at Sphere, where U2, Dead & Company, Phish and more have performed in the past. But, as you might expect, the most interesting aspect of the whole thing is how Delta took advantage of the Sphere's 4D capabilities. Video of each speaker was projected on the interior of the venue set on various backdrops that transformed the hall into spaces ranging from a dome to an observation deck and an airplane cabin. Several times during CEO Ed Bastian's address there were interactions with planes where the seats rumbled and blown air provided a sense of flying, complete with directional, immersive audio. There was also a cameo by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi where an Uber Eats delivery arrived at the stage with a hazelnut-flavored coffee for Bastian and those aromas were wafted into the audience. Perhaps the most dazzling aspect of the whole "show" was the end, where cockpit video of a plane landing was projected on the interior of the Sphere. And when the plane landed, everyone's seats rumbled just liked they do when you hit the tarmac in real life. This was quickly followed by my first indoor fireworks show, designed to cap off Delta's 100th anniversary. I will say the immersive audio of the Sphere really enhanced this, and I doubt I'll experience anything like it again. I feel confident I'll never see indoor fireworks unless I return to this very venue. Of course, there was news. It wouldn't be a CES press event without some. Delta announced its AI Concierge, an assistant inside the Fly Delta app that the company built to relieve travel stress. The airline first announced the concierge concept at CES 2020, but now it's working to make it a real thing that anticipates travel needs. Beginning this year, customers will be able to interact with Delta Concierge via text or voice. Eventually, the platform will be able to do things like hail a Joby VTOL aircraft to drop you off at the airport to avoid traffic. The AI tech can recognize both departure and arrival needs, including arranging a rideshare pickup for transport to a hotel. At the airport, you won't have to go through a TSA checkpoint, you just keep walking to your gate thanks to PreCheck Touchless ID. If you're wearing AR glasses during your trip, wayfinding then becomes a breeze with the travel assistant lighting your path. And once you're on the plane, the Delta Concierge will eventually automatically connect you to Delta Sync Wi-Fi and the seatback entertainment system to display customized info and content recs just for you. Delta's event was easily the most impressive CES presentation I've attended. And I've been to press events where each person had a PC and a VR headset at their seat. I don't know that any other company will invest what the airline did in the hosting and production this week, but it was immediately apparent that the bar had been raised, and that a ballroom at Mandalay Bay or The Venetian will no longer suffice if you're looking to make a lasting impression.

Delta announces big tech upgrades to inflight entertainment

Delta flyers can expect a lot of tech upgrades on future flights, starting next year. On Tuesday, Delta announced new advancements to its inflight entertainment systems, new ways for passengers to connect their own tech, and new partnerships with tech vendors. All of it is aimed at keeping travelers better connected while 35,000 feet in the air. The Delta seatbacks themselves are getting a facelift with 4K HDR QLED displays for a high-contrast and "theatre-like" viewing experience. The seatbacks are powered by cloud-based in-flight entertainment infrastructure, a first of its kind according to the press release. Delta is also launching Bluetooth pairing across seatbacks. The airline is bringing Bluetooth compatibility to all cabins, so travelers can connect their own earbuds for movie-watching and no longer need to use the flimsy wired earbuds that flight attendants pass around pre-flight. Also: CES 2025: The most impressive products ZDNET editors have seen The airline announced a partnership with YouTube that will grant its SkyMiles members access to YouTube Premium and YouTube Music during their flight. SkyMiles members will no longer have to pay for in-flight Wi-Fi or download their YouTube content in advance -- if they are already Premium members -- to get access to listen to albums or watch videos during their flight. The Delta software will feature an "advanced recommendation engine" -- a fancy set of words for an algorithm) -- that will connect to travelers' YouTube accounts and pitch them content they already want to watch. Of course, if you have to log into your Google account to get the personalization then YouTube could pitch you later on buying a Premium account upgrade after you've tried it on a Delta flight. The SkyMiles Member perks don't end there. They can also link their Uber account with their SkyMiles accounts to earn miles on deliveries and rides to and from the airport. Members will earn one mile per dollar on restaurant and grocery orders, as well as UberX rides to and from airports, two miles per dollar on premium rides, and three miles per dollar on Uber Reserve rides, which they can reserve 30 minutes in advance. It is free to sign up and become a Delta SkyMiles member. Delta will be bringing these upgrades to select new aircraft starting in 2026. With these upgrades, the airline also announced more reliable streaming and more stable performance across its global network. But we don't know if that means it's going to partner with an advanced connectivity provider like Starlink, which United Airlines is now using. Lastly, Delta announced the rollout of Delta Concierge, a Delta app AI tool that will provide real-time guidance and updates to travelers starting this year. It will notify customers about passport and visa expiration or requirements, anticipated arrival and departure needs, and answer questions. It's essentially a Delta customer experience chatbot that will be available 24/7 in the Fly Delta app.