Delta takes off - Feb. 27, 2014

Standing on the tarmac at the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson suddenly finds himself face-to-face with an unusually inquisitive baggage handler. It happens to be Valentine's Day. But more to the point, it's Delta's fifth-annual "Profit-Sharing Day," a rah-rah corporate celebration. At airports around the country, most of the airline's 80,000 employees are receiving bonus checks equivalent to about a month's pay. And outside Concourse A here in Atlanta, the event has the feel of a house party. The folks who refuel aircraft and drive "tugs" are filling plates with barbecue and listening to a DJ spin hip-hop at earsplitting volume as planes take off and land nearby. After 15 minutes of shaking hands and making small talk, Anderson is about to make his exit when he is cornered by James F. Martin, a burly 40-year Delta veteran whom Anderson instantly anoints the Dean of the Baggage Room. The Dean doesn't waste any time getting to his point. "All the TV business shows say we've been making big profits," he says. "So are we going to get bought?"

Delta takes off - Feb. 27, 2014