BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – A Delta Airlines flight from New Orleans to Atlanta has been diverted to Birmingham because of a report of smoke in the cockpit.

Delta Flight 2234 was just east of Montgomery when pilots aborted the flight plan and made an emergency landing at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. The plane landed safely at about 3 p.m. Television station ABC33/40 reported emergency crews inspected the plane and didn’t find any smoke or other signs of fire on the aircraft.

No one was injured in the incident.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The United States carrier, Delta Airlines, has said more than 19,000 of its flight attendants have started using new Windows Phone 8 handheld devices that will streamline onboard purchasing, as the American carrier continues its investment in technological innovation to improve the customer experience.

A statement from the airline office in Nigeria quoted its Senior Vice-President, In-Flight Service, Ms. Joanne Smith, as saying, “Delta’s 19,000 in-flight professionals are there for the safety and comfort of our customers, and equipping them with innovative solutions means they can better meet our customers’ needs onboard every flight.

“This is yet another way we’re investing in technology to improve the customer experience.”

According to the US carrier, the Windows Phone 8 device, a Nokia Lumia 820, enables Delta flight attendants to offer near real-time credit card processing for onboard purchases, including upgrades to the airline’s economy comfort seating.

Delta also said that onboard economy comfort upgrades would begin on transcontinental and international flights before being offered on flights across its system.

The new handheld device, according to Delta, will also help flight attendants to issue convenient e-receipts that can be emailed to customers.

It would also help customers to use pre-paid credit cards for onboard purchases, it added.

The new device would enhance quicker transaction processing times, and with the ability to read coupons displayed on a customer’s mobile device in the future.

The statement said, “On August 26, flight attendants on Delta Connection flights also will begin using the device. In the future, Delta expects to provide flight attendants with certain customer-specific information to enable more personalised service.”

It added, “This solution was developed by Microsoft, Avanade and ATT after months of development and feedback from flight attendants. The Windows Phone 8 devices will include a Delta-specific customer experience developed by Avanade on the Microsoft Dynamics for Retail mobile point-of sale platform and will operate over Wi-Fi and ATT’s 4G LTE Network. The agreement includes plans to expand the solution over the next three years to the newest Nokia devices.”

According to the airline, the new handheld device is Delta’s latest investment in technology for customers and employees, which in the past year has included the Fly Delta app for iPad, the launch of the new delta.com in December 2012 and revamped self-service kiosks in September 2012.

It said Delta also offered its popular Fly Delta app for iPhone, Windows Phone, Android and Blackberry smartphones, and now in-flight Wi-Fi on more than 800 aircraft.

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia – The body of MCA scholar Goh Siow Chong, who died in the United States, has yet to arrive home as it is being held in Japan following misplaced documents.

MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said the body, which was supposed to arrive in KL International Airport at 4.30am yesterday, was currently in a Delta Airlines warehouse at Narita Airport pending proper documentation.

“The authorities in Japan are waiting for the documentation from Delta Airlines before the body can be released to MASkargo to be brought here. Delta Airlines had booked the next flight from Narita at 10.30am to arrive here at 4.45pm but Customs clearance was not given. Hence, that flight was also missed,” he said.

Dr Wee added that MASkargo officials were currently negotiating with the Japanese authorities to expedite the process of bringing Goh’s body back to Malaysia.

Goh, also known as Manford, was on a scholarship for a PhD in neuroscience from the Rutgers University in New Jersey when he died of brain cancer on Aug 17.

He had received a scholarship under the MCA Youth campaign some eight years ago to study Form 4 and 5 in MRSM Bakri.

Goh’s father had travelled to the United States upon hearing of his son’s death and returned to Kuala Lumpur two days ago.

Speaking to The Star, Dr Wee expressed his disappointment that no one had been informed of the documentation problem, including Goh’s family.

Goh’s mother, a fruit seller, and his sister had travelled from Malacca to KLIA to receive the body, waiting in vain until about 7.30am. Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron’s special secretary was also at the airport.

MONTGOMERY, AL (WAFF) –

190 people arrived safely in Atlanta Sunday night after an unexpected emergency layover in Montgomery.

A Delta official said that Flight 534 was en route from Cancun, Mexico to Atlanta, Georgia when a fluorescent light failed, and the pilots noticed a “smoky odor” shortly afterward. The official said the pilots re-routed to Montgomery, and a safe emergency landing was performed.

Officials said there were 190 people on board at the time, including 184 customers and six crew members. Montgomery Regional does not have a customs department, and due to it being an international flight, passengers were evacuated to a secure area without connection to the rest of the airport. 

No injuries were been reported. Another plane was flown into Montgomery for the passengers, and the flight landed in Atlanta at 8:07 p.m. local time, some four hours after their first plane was originally due. 

Copyright 2013 WAFF. All rights reserved.

Authorities confirm a Delta Air Lines plane en route from Cancun to Atlanta made an emergency landing at Montgomery Regional Airport on Sunday afternoon. 

The plane, Delta Flight 534, was carrying 184 passengers and six crew members. 

Delta officials report one of the pilots noticed a smoky odor produced from a failed fluorescent light in the plane. The flight was immediately re-routed to Montgomery Regional as a precaution.

Montgomery Regional does not handle international flights, and passengers have been moved to a secure location while they wait for a second plane from Atlanta. 

 No injuries have been reported. 

Copyright 2013 WSFA 12 News.  All rights reserved

ADVERTISEMENT

Delta Air Lines has issued an urgent warning about the impact of ObamaCare, claiming the law’s implementation will contribute to a roughly $100 million increase in health care costs next year alone. 

The astonishing figure was included in a letter from Delta executive Robert Kight to officials in the Obama administration. The website RedState.com was the first to obtain and publish the letter earlier this week. 

A representative with Delta confirmed the authenticity of the letter to FoxNews.com. 

“Like many large companies, Delta faces significantly increased healthcare costs in 2014 and beyond,” the company said in a statement on Friday. “Delta will absorb the vast majority of those increased costs so that we can continue providing a high value, high quality health plan. Consistent with our culture, Delta will always keep the best interests of our people in mind in connection with the healthcare and other benefits we provide.” 

In the original letter, Kight disputes the notion that the law — the biggest parts of which take effect at the start of 2014 — will mean “business as usual” for big employers. A combination of factors, he claimed, will “mean that the cost of providing health care to our employees will increase by nearly $100,000,000 next year.” 

Part of that is normal medical inflation and the phase-out of an assistance program tied to the health care law. But a large chunk of it, the exec claimed, comes from various fees and costs associated with the implementation of the health care law. 

One of the costly items pertains to an annual fee of $63 per “covered participant” next year. The company estimates this means a more than $10 million expense in 2014. The catch for Delta is that, because many of their employees insure through Delta, the fee meant to help subsidize the health care law’s coverage amounts to a “direct subsidy” from the company that provides “zero direct benefit to our participants,” Kight said. 

Another added cost comes from the requirement to cover children and young adults on parents’ plans until they’re 26 years old. Kight reports that the change led to 8,000 more people being added to their rolls, at an annual cost of $14 million. 

Further, the individual mandate — or the requirement on individuals to obtain health insurance — is expected to drive more people into the company plan and drive up their costs by another $14 million. 

The letter, which was dated June 13, is among the latest warnings to emerge about the looming costs to businesses from the health care law. 

The administration and other supporters of the law argue that it will expand coverage to millions, and use subsidies to help those in need purchase insurance. 

But in the process, employers claim they are being forced to change or downsize policies, and reduce worker hours. The latter change is being made because a provision in the law, eventually, will mandate insurance coverage for employees working 30 or more hours — some are trimming their staff to avoid crossing that threshold. 

Inside Higher Ed reported on Friday that Southern Illinois University was the latest to move in that direction, reportedly by limiting the workload of graduate assistants. 

Other employers like UPS this week announced that they were planning to end coverage of workers’ spouses in part over concern about ObamaCare-tied costs.

Microsoft and ATT are teaming up with Delta Airlines to provide flight attendants with Windows Phone 8 devices to use on board flights. The phones will handle a slew of responsibilities, including handling credit cards and make in-flight purchases. The phones will also handle passenger manifestos, frequent flyer info, connecting gate updates, and flight attendant scheduling updates.

Over 19,000 of Delta’s flight attendants will be equipped with Nokia Lumia 820 handsets running Windows Phone 8. The phones will also come equipped with credit card readers in order to process credit cards when buying food on board or upgrading seats during a flight. The phone will essentially be an all-in-one device for flight attendants.

A few airlines around the world already use phones and tablets for in-flight use, including American Airlines, where both flight attendants and pilots will be equipped with iPads in order to cut down on the amount of booklets needed to bring on board.

However, this is certainly the first time we’re hearing about a major airline picking Windows Phone as the platform of choice for flight attendants to use. ATT will be providing the wireless communications necessary to process information on the Windows Phone handsets.

Delta says that the upgrade should be able to give flight attendants the opportunity to enable passengers with more “personalized service,” but we wouldn’t be surprised if the phones were used to play a little bit of Angry Birds during some downtime; we certainly can’t blame them.

Free report : Avere FXT with FlashMove and FlashMirror

Microsoft finally has something it must have craved for ages: a colossal, ultra-recognisable brand, enterprise user of its Windows Phone platform. But the announcement about the buy uses the most optimistic number possible to describe the sale.

The buyer is Delta airlines, which has let it be known that as August 26th its flight attendants will be whipping out Nokia Lumia 820s to take orders for in-flight purchases.

Just how many is hard to say: the canned statements from Delta and Microsoft both say the airline’s “global team of more than 19,000 flight attendants” will use the handsets.

That number has been taken by some to mean Delta has bought 19,000 phones.

Closer reading of the Technet blog on the matter, plus the post to theOfficial Microsoft Blog and the Windows Phone Blog all mention the 19,000 flight attendants but not the number of handsets sold.

The Reg would love nothing more than to spend a day looking at Delta’s list of its fleet , figuring out the carrying capacity of the 700-plus planes it operates and then using part 121.391 from Title 14 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (colossal PDF) and its insistence that airlines must have “two flight attendants plus one additional flight attendant for each unit (or part of a unit) of 50 passenger seats above a seating capacity of 100 passengers” to figure out how many flight attendants Delta needs to operate.

If we were generous we’d say half of the 19,000 attendants are on duty each day and need a Lumia, for 9,500 phones sold. A little more real-world thinking means we could assume that only 18,000 attendants show to work each day thanks to holidays and illness, giving us a need for 8,000 phones. If we factor in that flight attendants often work part time, a very helpful work pattern for an industry with insane scheduling requirements, we might assume that perhaps only 6,000 show up on any given day.

Windows Phone 8 in Delta livery, with credit card widget on top

Whatever the number of flight attendants to whom Delta needs to deliver a Lumia each day, it’s still an impressive sale for Microsoft and Nokia even if the 19,000 headline number is not realistic.

The news gets better for Redmond when one considers that its Dynamics ERP software sits behind the in-flight ordering app that will run on the smartmobes. Publicity pics released of the rig depict a credit card reader of some sort atop the Lumias, so Microsoft can now tell retailers it can hang with the cool kids like Square chasing the tablets-at-point-of-sale crowd. ®

Free whitepaper : Supercharge your infrastructure

Credit: Microsoft

Delta Airlines’ announcement that it will equip flight attendants with Windows Phone devices could be a sign of rising enterprise interest in Windows mobiles, according to a Telsyte analyst.

Delta announced today that its more than 19,000 flight attendants will start using Windows Phone 8 devices to streamline on-board purchasing. The attendants will use Nokia Lumia 820 smartphones. The app that will be used by attendants was developed by Avanade and will operate over WiFi and ATT’s 4G LTE network.

Delta flight attendants will use the smartphones to quickly process credit card transactions in the air for on-board purchases including seat upgrades. The will soon use the devices to read coupons displayed on a customer’s mobile device.

“Delta’s 19,000 in-flight professionals are there for the safety and comfort of our customers, and equipping them with innovative solutions means they can better meet our customers’ needs on board every flight,” said Delta senior vice president, Joanne Smith. “This is yet another way we’re investing in technology to improve the customer experience.”

Telsyte analyst Rodney Gedda said the announcement shows that Windows is “getting more attention in the business space.”

In Australia, about 22 per cent of enterprises developing mobile apps intend to use Windows Phone, Gedda said. “From our research, we know that the intention is there among CIOs to use Windows Phone devices.”

“Even though the [Windows Phone] penetration rate isn’t as high as BlackBerry or iOS and Android, the intention to be supported is there.”

Gedda noted that Delta has not gone exclusive Windows for mobile. The airline developed its consumer Fly Delta app for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows. “Delta is a big enough company to use these point solutions as it needs to.”

Microsoft has the advantage of already being in front of CIOs’ eyes in areas besides mobile, said Gedda. “Microsoft is still the dominant business PC operating system, so there’s certainly interest in using its Windows Phone platform as well.”

Microsoft has “existing relationships with enterprises [and] it’s a very competitive company that doesn’t take no for answer.”

Follow Adam Bender on Twitter: @WatchAdam

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia