Inside Delta Air Lines' takeover of the Sphere this week: Was it worth it?
Delta Air Lines put on quite the show this week in Las Vegas — and that's probably an understatement.
The airline kicked off 2025 with its semiregular keynote appearance at CES, one of the world's largest consumer electronic shows. But this year's spectacle was next-level.
Delta did a takeover at the Sphere — Las Vegas' immersive, globally-known venue that recently housed a U2 residency.
The event was equal parts product announcement and heavily branded pep rally and, it's safe to say, was unlike any event a U.S. airline has ever put on.
Outside the Sphere, Delta branding and imagery of its global destinations decorated the famed "exosphere."
Inside, CEO Ed Bastian took the stage to the sort of pomp, circumstance and multimedia production you might expect when a presidential candidate walks on stage during the final night of a nominating convention.
Viola Davis narrated a video illustrating Delta's century-long history — and then appeared in person, on stage.
Delta's "strategic advisor" Tom Brady made a surprise appearance to tease an upcoming wellness show you'll be able to watch on Delta planes.
Lenny Kravitz even played a set.
There was a virtual fireworks show commemorating the airline's 100th birthday — which sounded, smelled and felt quite real thanks to the Sphere's immersive features.
So did the aroma of hazelnut coffee wafting through the air when a motorcyclist drove on stage with an Uber Eats bag to promote Delta's new partnership with the ride-hailing and delivery service company.
Delta also announced plenty of news, to be sure. Next-generation inflight entertainment systems and expanded Bluetooth seatback connectivity are coming. Passengers will soon be able to stream ad-free YouTube Premium and Music content inflight. And there's a new AI "concierge" tool coming to its mobile app later this year.
Ultimately though, those announcements were far less memorable than the spectacle of it all — so grandiose, you'd be forgiven if you found yourself asking, "Why?!"
In fact, I did just that.
"For us, the opportunity certainly is to be a heartfelt, loved brand, that then just puts rational kind of thought aside," Delta senior vice president and chief communications officer Tim Mapes told me the morning after the event.
It's an aspiration Delta executives often repeat: The idea that flying Delta is, somehow, more than just about getting from point A to point B.
"That's not a high enough bar when you really want to be a world-class brand," Mapes posed. "If you love Apple — and I do, Apple iPhones — I really don't care what functionality Samsung is going to come out with. Because it's really what's next at Apple that I care about."
A complete Delta-branded spectacle
Just how far did the airline's brand's permeate the Sphere? Get this: The on-site bathrooms sported the same Grown Alchemist hand soap found on Delta's planes, in its Sky Clubs and Delta One Lounge facilities.
On the Sphere's concourse, a museumlike exhibit walked guests — many of them Delta loyalists — through the airline's 100-year history.
AvGeeks stopped to examine the decades-old amenity kits and logos. The luggage prototype made of recycled plane metal will likely be a hit once Delta starts selling the bags.
The line of guests waiting to snag a free Delta sweatshirt (SkyMiles membership required) rivaled the standard Transportation Security Administration lanes at the airline's megahub in Atlanta on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
No doubt, this was certainly Delta's latest attempt to flex its muscles as "one of the leading consumer brands in the country," as Bastian regularly claims. "When you enter a Delta plane, it's different," he told a Wall Street panel last December.
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Delta has led pack among US airlines
There's merit to some of Delta's claims, too.
The airline regularly sits at or near the top of data-driven rankings of U.S. airlines, from TPG's most recent — and highly analytical — Best Airlines Report to Cirium's most on-time airlines analysis released last week.
Delta's new business class-only lounges were among the nicest in the U.S. from the moment the portfolio debuted. Heck, its traditional Sky Clubs are leagues better than other domestic airline-branded outposts — and that's just part of a $15 billion investment in more premium experiences the airline said it has made over the past 15 years.
Today, Delta's cobranded American Express cardholders swipe to the tune of nearly 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product — a figure the airline regularly cites as proof of success in its pursuit of high-spending "premium" travelers.
As of 2023, some 40% of the American population had a SkyMiles number to their name.
And in recent years, the carrier has largely led U.S. airlines in profitability, though United Airlines has closed the gap significantly of late.
"I think Delta has done a superb job, in multiple ways, of creating a premium brand and an outstanding customer experience," Thomas O'Toole, former United Airlines executive and associate dean at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, told me in an interview last year.
"United," he added, "... is on a really great path."
United closes the gap
Indeed, there are some areas in which the Chicago-based carrier could, in fact, argue that it has been more innovative than Delta in recent years.
Take Delta's big Bluetooth announcement this week, for instance. The technology is bound for future, newly delivered Airbus A350-1000 and A321neo jets — plus the Boeing 737 MAX 10, once that's certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
United already announced an 800-plus aircraft expansion of Bluetooth-capable seatback screens back in 2023.
It also has a fully harmonized, long-haul, lie-flat business-class product. Meanwhile, Delta continues to fly its decades-old Boeing 767s on transoceanic routes with seats that, quite frankly, have seen better days. (Of course, Delta could just as easily point out that United has followed in its footsteps in unveiling plans for fleetwide free Wi-Fi service).
Not an easy feat
More broadly, though, becoming the sort of beloved brand Delta executives talk about is a tall task for an airline, Michael Lewis, a marketing expert on the faculty at Atlanta's Emory University, argued.
"When I'm thinking of 'fandom,' my gold standard is always sports. You meet someone who's a Dallas Cowboys fan, they're probably going to tell you in the first five minutes," Lewis said. "You meet someone who's a Delta loyalist, it's probably not going to come up in the first five years."
Mapes begs to differ — and pointed to the Medallion bag tags prominently displayed by Delta's AvGeeks and Road Warriors alike.
"People relate to badge value in airlines," Mapes said. "If you doubt that, look at most travelers' briefcases."
Still, to Lewis' point, airlines can inherently test the patience of their "fans" when operational snafus happen. Look no further than the thousands of flights Delta canceled in the days after a third-party technology outage in July — a meltdown from which the carrier has learned "many, many, many" lessons, Mapes said this week, including things "we need to be careful to never repeat."
By Delta's own admission, its standards are a high bar to clear, especially when the weather complicates travel or some other unexpected hurdle comes up. But Mapes said it's a welcome standard for its 100,000 employees — whom the company honored in one of the more sentimental tributes at the Sphere this week.
"Who wants to bust their ass and be average? Who wants to bust their ass and be 'kind of good?'" Mapes said. "We want to make sure they feel a part of something that is world-class, and the best in its class."
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