Delta Air Lines has teamed up with Avanade, AT&T and Microsoft in its effort to improve customer experience in flight.

According to Delta's official website, more than 19,000 Delta Air Lines flight attendants will begin using new Windows Phone 8 handheld devices to streamline on-board purchasing. The phone the airlines will be using is none other than the Nokia Lumia 820.

The Nokia Lumia 820 will enable the Delta Air Lines flight attendants to:

  • Offer near real-time credit card processing for on-board purchases
  • Offer near real-time credit card processing for seat upgrades
  • Send e-receipts to customers' email addresses
  • Allow use of pre-paid credit cards for on-board purchases

Delta will also be developing the new system to enable reading of coupons displayed on a customer's mobile device, and to provide flight attendants with customer-specific information. This information will allow Delta Air Lines flight attendants to deliver more personalized service.

"We're excited that Delta Air Lines has chosen Nokia Lumia to provide new services that will benefit their customers. This is a great example of how Nokia, Microsoft and our other partners are enabling many of the world's leading companies to build innovative mobile solutions for their businesses. I look forward to seeing the Nokia Lumia in action on my next flight with Delta Air Lines," Chris Weber, Global Head of Sales and Marketing at Nokia, said in a report.

Although Delta Air Lines' official website states that the Nokia Lumia 820 will be used by more than 19,000 flight attendants, there is no mention of the number of units the carrier has purchased.

According to the report, the flight attendants will start using the Windows Phone 8 devices by Aug. 26. The device will operate over WiFi and AT&T's 4G LTE. Delta Air Lines currently offers in-flight WiFi on more than 800 of its aircrafts.

The Nokia Lumia 820 is a Windows Phone 8 handset that runs on a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon Dual Core CPU. It has a 4.3-inch, 480 x 800 pixels, 217 pixels-per-inch AMOLED display and weighs 160 grams. It also comes in seven different colors (black, gray, white, red, yellow, blue and violet).

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