Delta Air Lines is the latest travel giant to announce a generative artificial-intelligence powered assistant: Delta Concierge.
The airline is aiming to blend digital and physical experiences through the assistant within its Fly Delta app, said CEO Ed Bastian Tuesday evening during a splashy keynote at CES in Las Vegas. With a goal of seamless, personalized travel, capabilities of the Delta Concierge will begin rolling out this year to “anticipate customers’ needs, provide contextualized guidance and take actions on customers’ behalf.” In the future, the airline said the system will link an itinerary with partners such as Uber and Joby to provide a multimodal, connected journey.
“Delta Concierge will serve as a thread across your experience, a genAI-powered personal assistant that anticipates your needs, provides real time guidance and delivers tailored recommendations, combining the context of who you are and how you travel with the deep knowledge and insights that we've already built,” Bastian said, as the airline celebrated its centennial anniversary.
“Soon, elements of Delta concierge will be available across all our digital and onboard channels and in the hands of our reservation agents, making their ability to assist you even better.”
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The announcement of Delta Concierge comes half a decade after Delta originally referenced its “concierge” concept at CES in 2020, the airline said.
Phased approach
Starting in 2025, Delta Concierge will be able to send notifications to travelers regarding passport expiration dates and visa requirements.
Eventually, the assistant should be able to provide destination-oriented alerts such as weather conditions in an effort to give travelers more context to prepare for their trip. And at airports the assistant will be able to help travelers to navigate with notifications pertaining to bag drop, gate location, Delta Sky Clubs and also sharing intel on whether there is a TSA PreCheck Touchless ID line.
Delta also said "a single customer itinerary will be connected from start to finish through deep partner integrations. Delta Concierge will make sense of customer needs and preferences to find the best path for them, leaning on the ecosystem of connected travel coming in the years ahead." Joby, a Delta partner since 2022, is one of the brands that will be available through the concierge to provide home-to-airport transportation.
The announcement of Delta Concierge came with slew of other news from the carrier at CES. The airline also provided a preview of travel planning platform Delta Locals and is enabling travelers to link their SkyMiles and Uber accounts. Down the line, the airline also plans for Delta Concierge to give travelers the ability to connect to Delta Sync Wi-Fi and Delta Sync seatback for personalized entertainment on planes.
“Delta is bringing together innovative technologies and partnerships to create a connected travel experience from start to finish,” Bastian said. “This creates more choice for customers to get to their destination in a way that works best for them.”
The CEO painted a futuristic image of Delta Concierge using a character who would theoretically be using the assistant as she prepares for a business trip to Tokyo. The presentation illustrated how Delta Concierge’s could link with Uber and Joby and referenced features such as augmented reality wayfinding, permanent digital bag tag, biometrics and more.
The list of updates and partnerships also included news that Delta is partnering with YouTube and deepening its partnership with Airbus.