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Tons of Geeky Amenities on the Airbus A380 — Even in Coach
My pal Savvy mentioned what $14,635 can get you on an Airbus A380 flight from JFK to Dubai on Emirates Airlines (in first class, of course). But I'm more interested in the amenities I can get for only $1,500 in coach! A drop in the bucket, I know.
Would You Use Your Cell Phone as a Boarding Pass?
Continental Airlines has launched a test program in Houston that allows travelers to board flights using their cell phone or personal-digital assistant instead of the usual boarding pass. If it works, the program could expand to airlines and airports nationwide. How will it work?
Virgin America Takes Broadband Internet to the Skies
Virgin America, a new airline that began service on August 8th and is quickly gaining a reputation for its techie features, has announced that it is partnering with AirCell in an effort aimed at offering air-to-ground broadband internet service on Virgin America flights sometime in 2008.
Guests onboard the airline will be able to access the internet either through their wifi-enabled personal devices or through the RedInflight Entertainment system at every seat. According to a press release, the system is anticipated to allow guests to connect to the internet with the AirCell Broadband Service, using either their Red seatback video screens or their own wifi enabled portable gaming devices, laptops, PDAs or Smartphones.
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Do You Use In-Flight Airline Entertainment?
You already know that I'm a big fan of Virgin America's in-flight entertainment system, and have been known to tune in to JetBlue's DirectTV programming a time or two. But for a lot of you, an airline's in-flight goodies may not be a reason to book a seat.
On a recent flight to LA, I noticed how few people actually use their seat-back TV sets to watch the tube, a movie, or play games, instead choosing to sleep or use their own gadgets to keep them busy.
Singapore Airlines Gets Way More Tech Treats
On my recent trip to London, I overheard some people debating about which airline they considered to be the best. And most of them agreed that Singapore Airlines is where it's at. Unfortunately, I've never flown with them, so I couldn't agree or disagree.
Paper Airline Tickets On The Brink Of Extinction
Luddite travelers may need to start making geek friends because the paper airline ticket will be all but extinct by the end of May.
Replacing paper tickets, and the elaborate global system that processed them, with electronic ticketing will save airlines $3 billion annually on the roughly 400 million tickets sold outside of the United States alone, according to the New York Times.
Apparently, 96.86 percent of tickets sold in the United States, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands last month were electronic, so it does appear that most people are able and willing to travel the digital way.
United Airlines Charges For Bags, But Will Charge Your iPod
This makes me a little less bitter at United for charging $15 per checked bag: the airline is installing iPod and iPhone docks on its airplanes. Not only will you be able to charge your battery at your seat, you'll be able to scroll through your music and videos from the seat back's screen! Don't watch from that silly little screen, watch from behind somebody's head!
Will Southwest's WiFi Make You Fly Their Friendly Skies?
In a bid for total domestic domination, Southwest Airlines raised the bar with today's announcement that they will be bringing their passengers the fastest WiFi in the skies! Woot! Dave Ridley, Southwest's marketing guru, says that their satellite technology will set the standard for in flight connectivity: "Southwest is looking for the best solution for our Customers not only for Internet e-mail access, but for additional inflight entertainment as well," Ridley said.
American Airlines Wants You To Log On In-Flight
While American car rental service Avis has been offering WiFi for their customers for some time, logging on in-flight isn't an amenity most American travelers have been able to savor - until now. Just days after Virgin America showed off its new, tech-infused planes, AirCell, a provider of aviation communications systems, announced it will join forces with American to test its new system for providing on-board Internet access.
According to Reuters, American will test the service on its 767-200 aircraft, which mainly flies transcontinental routes.
Would You Switch Airlines, Just to Have WiFi?
The only airline I frequently fly with that has WiFi service is Virgin with their Gogo Inflight Internet. As for the other airlines that are rumored to be rolling out fleet-wide WiFi, the waiting game continues.
Well according to a new study, 76 percent of fliers would change their airline to have WiFi.
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