Delta Rarely Interacts With Customers Online – Yet Deltalina’s Return Sparks Social Media Storm

Something is happening.

The most famous Delta Air Lines flight attendant is Katherine Hinton, the former Katherine Lee, known as Deltalina. It was the finger wag in a safety video 17 years ago – “smoking is not allowed” – that did it.

The Deltalina (after Angelina, yes that one) originated on FlyerTalk, a passenger called her that on a plane and she went with it, and it took off. Here’s the original safety video where she starred:

At the start of the pandemic, Delta dropped its outsourced inflight magazine, Sky. It was launched in 2009 with promotional support from Deltalina.

Well, something is happening with Delta and Deltalina. This is the least active airline on Twitter. They almost never respond to customers. Yet they’ve been finding out tweets – up to 7 year old tweets – tagging Katherine with photos and asking for permission to use them.

We love your photo! Can we use it on our social channels? We’ll be sure to give you credit. Agree to our Terms at the link in our bio and reply with @delta #DeltaAgree if we can share your photo.

— Delta (@Delta) March 3, 2025

We love your photo! Can we use it on our social channels? We’ll be sure to give you credit. Agree to our Terms at the link in our bio and reply with @delta #DeltaAgree if we can share your photo.

— Delta (@Delta) March 3, 2025

We love your photo! Can we use it on our social channels? We’ll be sure to give you credit. Agree to our Terms at the link in our bio and reply with @delta #DeltaAgree if we can share your photo.

— Delta (@Delta) March 3, 2025

We love your photo! Can we use it on our social channels? We’ll be sure to give you credit. Agree to our Terms at the link in our bio and reply with @delta #DeltaAgree if we can share your photo.

— Delta (@Delta) March 3, 2025

We love your photo! Can we use it on our social channels? We’ll be sure to give you credit. Agree to our Terms at the link in our bio and reply with @delta #DeltaAgree if we can share your photo.

— Delta (@Delta) March 3, 2025

Deltalina’s father is from Puerto Rico, speaks Spanish, often often flies Delta’s Latin American routes. She has said she’s happy to have folks come up to her and take photos, doesn’t like when people point from afar, and has been approached in an airport bathroom where she just wanted to finish what she was doing… I describe this as ‘famous in airport restrooms’. There are three levels of fame.

1. Hollywood famous. Everyone knows who you are, if you’re the real Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie.

2. Famous for D.C. I lived in D.C. for 18 years. It’s known as ‘Hollywood for Ugly People’. If you’re a cabinet secretary, nobody in the country recognizes you – but in D.C. you’re a rock star.

3. Famous in airport lounges. This is the lowest level of fame. People recognize you in airports and at certain hotels. At the Andaz Maui people are going to come up and say hello to me at breakfast and during check-in. At the Park Hyatt Maldives I once had five different couples stop by to say hello (there are only about 50 rooms on property). I’ve been approached in the bathroom of the DFW airport Centurion lounge and suggested we walk back into the lounge to chat…

I’ve had the great fortune of meeting the famous Deltalina when I was speaking at the Global Business Travel Association conference:

It looks like Delta is organizing a sort of retrospective on Deltalina over the years. What do we think is happening here?