My Free Delta Upgrade

I got a free upgrade today on Delta flight 2009 from Minneapolis to Denver.

Now, when you think "Delta" you don't normally think "free upgrade" in the same sentence ... or even the same day.

But I did indeed receive a free upgrade today, courtesy of the captain.

Can you guess what it was?

First, here's what the captain did after the doors closed. He walked out of the cockpit, took the microphone from the flight attendant, and said the following:

• "Hello, I'm Captain David Rausch. I don't want to bug you later so here are all the announcements now. Do I have your attention? (Us: Silence.) Do I have your attention?? (Us: "Yes, captain!") Good ...
• "First of all, thank you for joining us this evening and putting up with the TSA monkey business to get here
• "I love to fly, and I'll get you there safely because I never text and fly
• "We'll hit a few bumps over the Rockies. Nothing dangerous, just a little annoying. I'll do my best to keep it smooth
• "Finally, there are a couple military members on board so let's thank them for their service."

At that point, the whole plane broke into applause (for the military members) and smiles (for the captain).

It wasn't Tonight Show-level material, but Captain Rausch's monologue was still remarkable (at least for Delta). Simply by showing a little personality, he transformed the dull, robotic announcements that every passenger instinctively ignores into an experience. At no cost to Delta.

That's the free upgrade I received -- an experience. It made me sit down and write this out as soon as I got to my hotel room.

Here's Captain Rausch. He kindly agreed to let me snap his picture, after I first shook his hand.

Maybe pilots with personality who stand up and introduce themselves before a flight are common on Southwest, or Virgin, but this is a first for me in 30 years of flying Northwest/Delta. Bravo.

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