ATLANTA, 22 March 2014. Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) is launching the "Innovation Class," designed to provide the LinkedIn community with the opportunity to meet with leaders from different fields on a designated flight. The airline will preview the concept at the TED2014 conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, on 17 March 2014.
Individuals interested in the opportunity to fly with a titan in their industry, sharing ideas and discussing goals and future projects, may submit an application at Deltainnovationclass.com. Delta will select and pair applicants with industry leaders.
Delta's first Innovation Class in-flight pairing occurred enroute to TED2014: James Patten, CEO of Patten Studio, was awarded the opportunity to fly with influential technologist Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Pebble Technology, from Salt Lake City to Vancouver. Delta will host additional Innovation Class flights throughout 2014, including the next enroute pairing featuring Sean Brock, an Outstanding Chef finalist for The James Beard Awards in New York City on May 5. Future events and influencer pairings will be announced later this year.
"Every day Delta carries almost a half-million customers around the globe, many of whom are leaders in their respective fields of work," explains Mauricio Parise, Delta's director - Worldwide Marketing Communications. "Innovation Class is our small contribution to enable collaboration by bringing together brilliant minds, and there is no better place to launch this program than at TED - an organization that was born to spread ideas and fuel innovation."
At the TED2014 conference, Delta will encourage attendees to learn about Innovation Class and apply for the program at the airline's activation exhibit - Social Soul. This digital experience brings to life a user's personal Twitter feed in a larger-than-life structure where their social media profile is on display in a 360-degree immersive stream of monitors, mirrors, and a sound system, describes a spokesperson. Afterwards, Social Soul connects the user to another TED attendee using a custom algorithm that links attendees through their similar interests. After exiting Social Soul, users may connect with other TED attendees and also apply for Delta'sInnovation Class.
Delta is the official airline sponsor of TED2014 and the only airline that features TED Talks as part of its premium entertainment onboard experience.
