I spent the evening of April 30 walking around the South Terminal -- home to Delta Air Lines -- with COO Jim Whitehurst. My interview with him about what has been done in the terminal can be heard here. The refurbished terminal opened about three weeks ago, but this particular evening, workers were rushing around taking down the old Delta logos and putting up the new, post-Chapter 11 brand.
Delta and Hartsfield have been working hard to upgrade their facilities. Let's start with Delta. I really liked the new open layout of the lobby. Instead of the traditional check-in counter with the solid wall behind the customer service agent, Delta has created a series of open islands with kiosks in front of them. So if you have no luggage, you can check in and be on your way. If you have bags to check or need some assistance, you can go to the island, where friendly customer service agents wait to help you.
There's a separate island to handle BusinessElite and first-class passengers. There's also a traditional counter-with-a-wall to handle SkyCaps, pet-check-in and oversized baggage. And back in the corner, there's a large area for international check-in, including kiosks that allow you to scan your passport. On the other side of the terminal is baggage claim, which is neatly laid out. And at the far side is baggage claim for oversized items.
And the transformation is taking ahold past the terminals. The management at Harsfield is upgrading bathrooms, improving the wait areas for the trains that connect the concourses, installing marble floors and adding paint and slate tiles to the walls. Delta has added more seating, including pods that allow for better conversation areas.
Below is a little photo montage of the before-and-after in the South Terminal.
Here are the new kiosks.
The new customer service island allows for improved traffic flow.
Passengers can use these counters for special services, such as pet and oversized item check-in.
The check-in counters for International flights are tucked away toward the back corner of the South Terminal.
BusinessElite and first-class passengers have their own check-in island.
Workers at the outside check-in counters start taking down the old Delta wavy flag logo.
Workers start putting up the new Delta brand at an outside check-in counter.
The baggage claim area before the transformation.
And the baggage claim area after the transformation.
Here's a shot of the special services counter with the new brand.
And here is the gate counters with the new brand.
Here's a shot of the new waiting area for Hartsfield's people mover train.
This is a shot of the new seating area, taken in Delta's Concourse A.
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