Let’s take the social media temperature of the airline industry.

United breaks guitars. Bad situation, though I loved spokeswoman Robin Urbanski’s quip:  “This strikes a chord with us.”  She was classy while under fire.

Southwest allows its flight attendents to rap the pre-flight safety demonstration.  When SWA’s Paula Berg speaks to PR pros about emerging media, she always plays that wonderful video.

jetBlue has 1.4 million Twitter followers.  When the airline tweeted about a unique $599 pass that allowed unlimited flights during a traditionally slow month from mid-August to mid-September, they quickly sold out.

Malaysian carrier AirAsia trended on Twitter and was a top story on many news sites because a baby born onboard one of its jets was awarded free flights for life.

Delta issued a statement saying that laptop computers are prohibited on the flightdeck of  its flights and those of its Northwest Airlines unit.  Media reports, including this blog entry on LaptopMag.com, say the pilots overshot Minnesota’s Twin Cities airport because they were distracted by their laptops.

“I know whenever I get to playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook hours and hours can go by without my noticing. And I’ve missed my stop on the train more than once while heavily engaged with Chess Titans,” wrote K.T. Bradford.

Delta is a global company that serves plenty of developing nations.  These are some of the same regions where Nicholas Negroponte sought to distribute inexpensive, rugged, wifi-equipped laptops to help educate the world’s poorest children.  It seems to me that Delta could earn high marks from its customers by introducing a welcome distraction into the lives of kids who could benefit from a laptop: a large contribution to One Laptop Per Child.

I would value comments from readers on whether or not Delta should take additional public action, beyond its October 26 statement.