Budget Carrier Rents PSPs to Passengers

by Josh Lew on

South Africa-based 1time Airlines is a low cost carrier. In order to keep their prices low, they decided against adding any built-in in-flight entertainment in their fleet. Not really a problem, because most of the flights are not lengthy. The bulk of their air time is between their hub in Johannesburg and other South African cities like Durban and Cape Town. 1time does have one longer route from Jo’burg to the Tanzanian city of Zanzibar (approximately 3.5 hours).

The airline has introduced a concept of offering portable entertainment on their planes for rent. On select flights, 1time will be offering PlayStation Portable devices for a nominal fee of 60 rand (about $4.80 US). The rental includes disposable earpieces and last for the duration of the flight. This isn’t the first gimmick for 1time. They also use their extra leg room and leather seats to differentiate themselves from the competition. A novel approach? Other carriers have offered video gaming devices in the past. But this time it is in lieu of in-flight entertainment, not in addition to it.

[Via Travelwires]

Crashing a flight’s in-flight entertainment system, on purpose

by Jerry Guo on

For all you armchair terrorists, here’s a handy do-it-yourself guide to crashing the back-of-seat entertainment system. The upside is that this system is not in any way connected to flight navigational controls. The probable downside is that 400 passengers will be quite angry with you.

But mainly, this just shows you software, even for the aviation industry, is far from being fail-safe or idiot-proof. Anyways, here’s the cheat-sheet.

1. Open up the Tetris knockoff game.
2. Highlight the preferences option where you can select how many blocks to see ahead.
3. Change this number to five using your phone numpad.
4. Proceed to hit + on the screen, increasing this one by one to 127.
5. This is a crucial number (the max value that can be stored using 1 byte of memory). So savor this moment.
6. Hit + again.
7. Angry passengers.

[Via CSO Security and Risk]

British Airways In-Flight Mag Goes Online

by Josh Lew on

High Life, the 35-year-old in-flight magazine of British Airways, is headed from airspace to cyberspace. The famous rag launched its online incarnation on October 9th. BA hopes that the success of the print version will translate to the online world and raise the airline’s profile amongst travelers. The publisher of High Life’s print version, Ceder, teamed with web development company Reactive on the project. They are aiming to attract advertisers eager to have their name and product associated with High Life. Perhaps they are also hoping that well-heeled cannabis aficionados will happen across the site after Googling “high life” and decide, on the spur of the moment, to book a flight to one of the site’s featured destinations.

The first online issue has a food theme and is guest edited by celeb chef Heston Blumenthal. It seems mainly aimed at gourmets and those with an taste for the upscale aspects of travel. There is a bit of hipness, with contributions by the likes of Hot Fuzz’s Simon Pegg. Still, the site maintains the glossy feel of its printed kin.

Flight attendants to become the porn police

by Jamie Rhein on

Back in December, when Aaron posted about the etiquette questions raised by In-flight Internet, he wrote the prevailing thought was that “decency, good sense and normal behavior” would prevail.

According to this article at FoxNews.com, just in case decency, good sense and normal behavior go out the window, flight attendants will become the porn police.

I imagine that while the flight attendant is taking your money for your snack and beverage that used to be complimentary, but isn’t anymore, he or she can give a peek at your screen to see what you’re surfing and shut you down if you forget you’re not in the comfort of your own home or tucked back in your office cubicle.

If your neighbor is getting grossed out or upset by your viewing, the flight attendant will appear to put an end to the shenanigans.

Some airlines, the article reports, will put a block on sites which should give the attendants a break so they can do other important tasks like make sure they give back correct change when you purchase water so you won’t die of thirst before the flight ends.

Airlines that either do or will filter sites when Internet is made available: JetBlue Airways, Continental and Qantas.

Airlines that will or already do let you surf without a filter, and hope that you use common sense when you do so: Northwest, American, Delta, Alaskan Airlines and Virgin.

Here are concerns being raised: What is pornography or not appropriate content and under what circumstances? Different people have different lenses with which they view what is appropriate. Here are two examples given:

  • A child sitting next to a person watching an R-rated movie that is either sexually explicit or violent
  • A person surfing a Victoria Secret lingerie catalog could be disconcerting as well.

As the article also points out, the reason why these issues are felt so strongly when people fly is that they are confined and can not escape from what is distasteful. You can’t move seats and you can’t get off.

Although flight attendants are trained to deal with conflict, as you may have noticed if you read Gadling comments whenever a flight issue is posed, there are a lot of stresses from flying as it is. It seems to me that Internet may be great to have, but could be adding more trouble than it’s worth.

US Airways Charges for Water

by Josh Lew on

Like every other airline in the country, US Airways is making cuts and adding charges. But the struggling carrier is going beyond charging for checked baggage and snacks. They are even going to charge you for water. So far that just means bottled water and soft drinks aren’t free anymore. Not many travelers would be surprised if the next round of fees include a charge for flushing the toilet or washing your hands.

The airline has already made drastic cuts. They removed movie screens from planes flying domestic routes, claiming that the extra weight added to fuel costs. Now, the pay-for-water scheme has passengers wondering what’s next.

Airlines seem to be wary of scaring off customers by raising fares significantly. For some reason, it seems that they have no fear of thinking up new fees and smacking you with them when you least expect it.

Sure, the no water thing can be easily remedied. Stop by the terminal convenience store or bring a bottle to fill up at a drinking fountain or (sigh) buy one from the flight attendant.

But, it’s the principle.

Why not raise fees a dollar per person and keep offering water on flights? At least then, people would know what they were paying up front and wouldn’t have to stick their heads under the lavatory faucet to remedy a dry mouth.