Pulse Nigeria takes Atlanta! (2)

"How am I ever going to make the switch back to economy after all this luxury?" I thought to myself as I stretched awake on the approach to the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Eventually, we made it through immigration, picked up our already sorted Sky Priority luggage and were ready to be conveyed to the hotel by the Atlanta Best Transfer company rep who had been waiting for us.

The first thing that struck me about Atlanta on the ride to the hotel was how green it was. There was lush green vegetation which provided a great canopy for the wide freeways which seemed to criss-cross each other.

The Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel, which is where we were lodged, turned out to be a fairly large building perched on the corner of Best Road, right across the road from Marriot. We were greeted at the lobby by a friendly front-desk lady and in no time, we were checked into our various rooms.

The day went by pretty quickly and soon enough, it was time for dinner with our Delta Air hosts Debbie Egerton, Regional Manager, Corporate Communications Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Aimee Greaves, Manager Corporate Communications EMEA Delta Air and the rest of the team.

Dinner at the The Feed Store was a southern affair as we were ushered into the charming restaurant by very friendly staff and treated to a meal that did justice to the famed southern cuisine. Our hosts were also excellent as they answered all our questions while also regaling us with tales of their own.

By the end of the evening, we were stuffed with great food, had learnt that American restaurants seemed to serve larger portions than their British counterparts as pointed out by Aimee (do you agree?) and even had a photo session with the owner of the restaurant, Catherine Mcqueen who had earlier come by to say hello.

All in all, it was a great evening and at this point, we were looking forward to the tour of the Delta Air campus which was scheduled for the following morning.

The following morning, Debbie joked about us being Germans and not Nigerians when at 7:30am sharp, every member of the team was gathered at the lobby which was the scheduled meeting point.Indeed we'd be doing well on time in general and with breakfast out of the way, we were ready to explore the Delta Air campus.

The sign at the entrance of the Delta Air campus reads "The Most Awarded Employees Work Here" and as we made our way through the various offices, it was very clear to see this. Everyone we came in contact with had a ready smile and was genuinely enthusiastic in talking about the Delta Air operations and how their roles fit into the scheme of things. It was refreshing to see, to say the least.

Our first port of call at the Delta Air campus was the social media department where we learnt that the team, which is grouped into reservation, marketing and corporate communications, sends no fewer than 5,000 tweets daily. That's an average of 208 tweets every hour!

The next time you board a Delta Air flight, you should know that there are at least 700 people working overtime to ensure that you arrive at your destination safely and in time. How do I know this? We saw a first hand demonstration of activities at the Delta Air Operations Control.

Right after our briefing at the Social Space, we sat in on a meeting with reps from the various departments who gave real time reports of activities of the last 24 hours from flight reservation to social media, and then came the tour of the nerve centre - the Delta Air Operations Control Centre.

The Delta Air Operations Control handles everything from flight planning, scheduling to even meteorology - meaning there was an entire unit devoted to monitoring weather trends and forecasts even up to months ahead.

But the clincher for me were the minutes we spent at the desk of the Lagos dispatcher, Dan Hoffman whom we watched wide-eyed communicate with a flight enroute Lagos from the States. By the end of his brief session, I was certain we all felt even more confident flying Delta Air back to Lagos knowing Dan and the rest of the team were watching out for us.

And then came the Delta Air museum.

If you're ever in Atlanta, we strongly recommend you make a trip to this amazing centre of aviation history. The ever smiling Sylvester aka Sly, who used to be a Delta Air cabin crew member was our guide for the day and he led us through the museum taking us down memory lane of aviation history.

Fun fact: In 1982, 3 Delta Air staff conceived the idea of gifting the airline with a Boeing 767 aircraft as a token of appreciation to the airline for not laying staff off when other airlines laid off hundreds of theirs. $30 million was eventually raised by the entire Delta workforce with which the Boeing 767 was bought.

After a most insightful morning at the Delta museum, it was lunch time and we were ushered to the Delta Air cafeteria where we once again got a full dose of Southern hospitality, this time from the Delta staff (including a Pueto Rican whose great grandmother was from Nigeria!).

With the renewed vigour from lunch, we headed out to our final stop of the day - the Technical Operations unit.

After the necessary safety instructions, we went into Tech Ops (my personal favorite) and as you can imagine from the name, we had plane engines and parts plus the ever polite Delta Air staff for company.

Tech Ops pretty much handles all of the maintenance on Delta aircrafts as well as for other airlines like Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and even the United States government.

After another insightful session at Tech Ops, it was time to head back to the hotel in preparation for the big dinner later in the evening with Nathaniel Pieper, Senior Vice President EMEA as well as Bobby Bryant, Commercial Director East & West Africa and our trusty guides - Debbie and Aimee.

The hours go by quickly when you're having a good time and soon enough we were rounding off dinner which included a meal of red wine and steak, southern style.

But Delta Air wasn't done with the pleasant surprises.

The Sky Lounge which is the departure waiting area for Business Class passengers turned out to be a wide, cosy room with a view of the departing aircrafts and excellent bathrooms/changing rooms just incase a really tight schedule didn't accord you the time to freshen up before your flight.

As we sat here waiting for our flight back to Lagos, I nibbled on some salad (courtesy Sky Lounge) and thought of all the things I'd miss about the trip when I arrived back home (with the benefit of hindsight, the Westin breakfasts and my hotel room definitely rank high on that list).

I also thought of all the guys at Delta I'd interacted with the previous day, working hard to see that we all arrived our destinations safely and right on schedule and felt infinitely more confident about boarding the aircraft.

It was indeed a most interesting trip for which I offer unreserved thanks to Delta Air and Top Comms for making possible.

Till the next exciting trip, it's hello and bye!