Airport advertising reaches new heights, literally

by Jessica Festa on

Literally everywhere you look, from the media to public transportation to city sidewalks, you will find companies heavily advertising. Apparently, no place is safe from billboards, not even air traffic control towers.

Yes, you read that right. In Medford, Oregon, Jaunted reports that the city council has just approved 25×25 foot signs that will be added to every side of the air traffic control tower. The tower itself is about 100 feet tall, so the enormous ads should be quite a sight to see. But, I guess that’s the point.

The reasoning behind this new advertising plan is to raise enough money to counteract some airport costs, for example, landing fees, that could help make the airport more desirable to new airlines and flight routes. Right now, officials are projecting that the ads will bring in an extra $3,000 per month.

While the Medford, Oregon, airport is the only one that we’ve heard of implementing this new advertising plan, we’re wondering if this will become the norm at airports. Of course, making extra money is nice. However, it would be nice if some structures retained their actual purpose, like keeping passengers safe, instead of becoming gigantic advertisements.

What are your thoughts on this new form of advertising?

New travel alert tool helps passengers get the seats they want, even on sold out flights

by Jessica Festa on

Expertflyer, a company that gives travelers information so that they can get the best possible airline tickets, is offering a free feature to travelers who want to change their seat or who are trying to get onto a sold out flight. To take advantage of the tool, called “Seat Alerts”, travelers create a free account on the ExpertFlyer website where they can setup an alert to be notified when the seat they want becomes available. This can be helpful for passengers who find themselves stuck with a ticket for the dreaded “middle seat” or who are having trouble getting onto a sold out flight.

Usually, airlines require flyers to have a ticket and will only change a passenger’s seat to another “unoccupied” seat. Travelers also usually have to wait until boarding time to find out if the seat they want becomes available. With “Seat Alerts”, travelers no longer have to wait and can switch their seat online once they receive a notification via text or e-mail.

The free feature allows travelers to maintain one active Seat Alert at a time. Additional alerts can be purchased for $0.99, and ExpertFlyer paid subscribers will be able to post several alerts at one time.

For more information, click here.

MondoWindow: a new way of looking at in-flight entertainment

by Melanie Renzulli on

Imagine being bored on a plane. It isn’t hard to do.

First, you’re flipping through the in-flight magazine or the Skymall catalog. Then, maybe you watch the movie or whatever 90s-era sitcom the airline has chosen to pump through the In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system to your seatback screen. If you’re lucky, you brought along your smartphone or tablet, which is stocked with music and e-books. Though, if this is a last-minute jaunt or a return trip, you may not have had the foresight to load new content on your device. The availability of WiFi on your plane is still not a given, either, even though it’s twenty-freaking-eleven. And, don’t even think about getting up to walk the aisles for a few minutes – beverage service is about to start!

IFE has indeed made some strides in the past decade but it is a far cry from the type of interactive entertainment we are now accustomed to on the ground. Enter MondoWindow, a start-up that is seeking to be the “disruptive charge in the $6 billion in-flight entertainment industry-an inefficient, bloated sector that is the last major consumer media space still largely untransformed by the Internet.” Co-founders Greg Dicum and Tyler Sterkel aim to harness the “twin disruptions” now happening in the IFE sector, that of the increasing ubiquity of personal devices, such as tablets and smart phones, and the move towards more internet connectivity aboard aircraft, to make “every seat a window seat.”

Here’s how it works:Navigate over to mondowindow.com and you’ll be greeted immediately with the view of the passing terrain from a flight in progress. You can watch the progress of the randomly-generated flight, or track a flight by airline/flight number or airplane tail number. At first glance, this may remind you of the flight status map you see on airplane seatbacks. Look closer at MondoWindow’s live map, and you’ll see points on the map ranging from Wikipedia content and user-submitted Flickr photos to approximately 300 points of interest that the team at MondoWindow have connected to geo-tagged posts on Posterous. All of these interactive push-pins correspond to the points that the plane is passing. This is where the disruption begins.

MondoWindow has built its IFE model around a map. Dicum explains:

“the map is a key piece of any IFE system. It’s the only content that is relevant to absolutely everyone on the plane, and it’s the only content that is unique to the in-flight experience: you can watch TV or movies at home; you can only track your progress across the planet in flight.”

Using the map, wifi, and a growing roster of content, from photos and videos to feature articles and games, MondoWindow brings relevance to the in-flight experience, connecting passengers with the environment – businesses, landmarks, even people – below them. At its most basic, a passenger could tap into MondoWindow for information about the Grand Canyon as she flies over it. A more advanced outlook sees passengers using MondoWindow to participate in geocaching games with persons 30,000 feet below. No doubt, there are possibilities that neither I nor the MondoWindow team, have thought of, especially as interactive technologies develop. When MondoWindow’s map goes global, perhaps passengers could tap into Turkish lessons en route to Istanbul or watch a documentary on The Great Wall as they try to entertain themselves on a long-haul flight to China. MondoWindow’s model has boundless potential for positively disrupting the IFE sector.

MondoWindow is still very young, having only launched its beta site at South by Southwest in March 2011. But it is the “interactive grandchild” from Dicum’s 2004 book Window Seat, which gave airplane geeks, aerial photography enthusiasts, and curious travelers the ability to read the landscape from the air. Paired with Sterkel’s years of experience as a curator and technical project manager for museums such as the Smithsonian and the SFMOMA, MondoWindow has the power to completely change how we view, use, and consume in-flight entertainment. The next step is to get the airlines on board.

Galley Gossip: Pilot sexually harassed by a passenger!

by Heather Poole on
Dear Heather, I have to share this with you. I’m a pilot and I was sexually harassed last night. While jump-seating home, the lead flight attendant calls the cockpit and says a passenger thinks one of the flaps is out of position. The captain sends me back to check the wings. I squeeze into the fully occupied exit row to peer out the window. While looking out the window, a female passenger sitting in the middle seat puts her hands on my butt. Her friend then shouts, “Woo, get some!” Passengers nearby all start laughing. Anyway, turns out what the initial passenger saw and thought was a problem were the outboard ailerons on the wings of the Super 80. One was up and the other was down. This is normal while on the ground. Anyway, I returned to the cockpit and told the pilots what just happened and we all had a good laugh. I should mention the Captain was female! Thought you’d find it funny! – Bob (the singing pilot)

My first thought when I read Bob’s letter was, wow! What kind of person places their hands on a pilot’s you-know-what and yells out something like that.

Just to be fair, I later on found myself yelling out the exact same phrase several times throughout the course of my day. I couldn’t help it! And each time my voice become lower and before I knew it I had developed this southern accent, kind of like that famous redneck comedian I can’t remember the name of. Next thing I knew I was visualizing it, the whole exit row groping, only it was I who slapped the pilots and a few lucky passengers as I passed them in the terminal. Mmm hmm, get it girl!

NOTE: I would NEVER do something like that in real life!

Now back to Bob.

The woman who slapped him was somewhat attractive, at least that’s what Bob said. He only told me this because I asked. I asked because I wanted to know what she looked like so I – er, we! – could visualize this better. Not that any of this matters, because what matters, really matters, is how the woman made Bob feel. Not good.

“I was flattered and a little embarrassed. And humored. Cause it was funny. I mean my butt was kind of in her personal space. She had the shot……she took it. So let’s just say I was ‘Flambumored.'”

At least Bob now kinda-sorta knows what it’s like to be a flight attendant, if only for a few seconds, and for just one squeeze.

When I asked Bob to explain EXACTLY how it all went down so we could learn from his experience, he said, “I told the passengers in the exit row I needed to get in there to check the wings and that they could either get up or let me crawl over them. They all opted for the latter.”

And there’s the red flag.

Let this be a lesson to all pilots. Do not, I repeat, do not climb over passengers! Do what a flight attendant would do and let them step out of their row and into the aisle instead of wedging yourself on top of them.

All kidding aside, please do not poke, prod, pull or slap the crew. Trust me – there are quite a few touchy feely passengers who will live a whole lot longer if certain flight attendants (and pilots!) are left alone.

[Photo courtesy of TheZipper]

Galley Gossip: Elbow attacks and armrest wars (the battle continues)

by Heather Poole on

Recently a friend shared a story about a woman who accused him of being an “elbow assaulter” on a flight from San Francisco to Dallas. To make a long story short, my friend is 6′ 2″ and 230 pounds. The woman who sat beside him was, in his words, not petite. During the flight he made various maneuvers in his seat to try and flatten himself against the wall to give her as much room as possible while still being able to type on his computer. Unfortunately his attempt at making himself smaller failed because the woman became upset when his right elbow accidentally made contact with her left shoulder – not once, not twice, but three (possibly four) times! God forbid.

In his blog post detailing the incident, Brian Cuban (AKA the elbow assaulter) wrote, “This was coach. Space is tight. Baby’s are going to cry. There are going to be unwelcome smells. People are going to recline their seat into your groin. Shoulders are going to occasionally touch.”

I have to agree with Brian. An airplane is public transportation. Unfortunately there is very little personal space on board and therefore anything in the armrest area is fare game for accidental contact.

Sixteen years ago when I first started flying, my roommate who was also new got called out to cover a trip as the lead flight attendant on a 767. As she got ready for the trip, we discussed all the things that could possibly go wrong in flight with her in command of the crew; oven fires, faulty hydraulics, decompressions, medical emergencies, and worse. Not once did it occur to us that an armrest could cause two passengers to come to blows! Which is what would have happened if my roommate hadn’t stepped in and assigned the armrest to one passenger for the first three hours of flight and the same armrest to the other passenger for the last half of the flight. Afterwards we laughed at how ridiculous it was that two grown men couldn’t work it out amongst themselves. Little did we know just how often we’d be summoned to settle disputes over reclined seats and claimed armrests.That said it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that a flight attendant had to step in and sort things out with Brian and his seatmate. The victim of the “elbow assault” was made aware that it is not a capital offense to accidentally knock into someone, even on an airplane. The FBI and Homeland Security were not called to meet the flight. And Brian was not given a parachute or ejected from the plane. When the victim realized that Brian was not going to move to another seat, a middle seat in coach (because the flight was full), she grudgingly did so herself, but not without first telling Brian off with an evil glare.

Do we all need to go back to Kindergarten and learn how to play nice?

Here’s a tip. Don’t jump to conclusions. Most people aren’t aware of what they’re doing. Take for instance the guy with the enormous backpack who keeps knocking into everyone on his way down the aisle. Let him know what’s going on and I bet he’ll be pretty apologetic – and embarrassed. It also helps to get to know the person a little better before tweeting or facebooking to the world that they’re an idiot. When asked politely, you might be surprised to find they have no problem scooting over, putting their seat back up, or stopping their kid from kicking the back of your seat. Keep in mind it’s always easier to make a request when you’ve had a friendly conversation first. This is why I try to make small talk with passengers during boarding. For the record, an evil glare is not the best form of communication. Nor is kicking back or telling someone you’re going to punch their lights out if they do it one more time. It might help to imagine you’re speaking to a long lost relative on your mother’s side of the family, not an A-hole you’ll never see again, when you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation. Most importantly, give each other the benefit of the doubt. It makes life a whole lot less stressful.

Photo courtesy of DavityDave