Delta will begin offering free in-flight messaging to its passengers, a leap in customer service so high in the cloud that CEO Ed Bastian went on "CBS This Morning” to announce it.
The service will be available starting this weekend on Wi-Fi enabled planes and will allow customers to use iMessage, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger without having to pay for in-flight internet. It will be limited to texting and doesn’t support the transfer of photos or videos, Delta said right up front.
"Starting this weekend, any flight you're on Delta, anywhere in the world you'll have the ability to text for free," Bastian told CBS.
"We want our customers while they're flying to stay connected to their homes, to their friends."
Delta said it would become the first U.S. global carrier to offer free mobile messaging, providing more customers access to free messaging than any other carrier.
The free messaging will be available on all Gogo-enabled Delta flights, including all aircraft with two or more cabins.
This isn’t the first time Delta attempted to launch free in-flight services.
CNET noted how the airline announced a similar texting and talking service in 2013 but cancelled the plans weeks later.
The decision to opt out of the service came amid the Federal Communications Commission’s ban on phone calls while in flight.
The airlines then CEO, Richard Anderson, released a memo to employees saying that “Delta will not allow cellular calls or internet-based voice communications onboard Delta or Delta Connection flights," per CNET.
“A clear majority of customers who responded to a 2012 survey said they felt the ability to make voice calls onboard would detract from – not enhance – their experience. Delta employees, particularly our in-flight crews, have told us definitively that they are not in favor of voice calls onboard."
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