Okay, air travelers, which do want first—the good news or the bad? Let’s start with the good (perhaps, it’ll soften the blow of the bad).
GOOD NEWS
With stiffer carry-on rules in place, passengers are looking for ways to pass the time when flying. Enter Delta’s new entertainment system. According to news reports, the carrier is unveiling “an in-flight entertainment system that gives every passenger on long domestic flights access to on-demand movies, TV, music and games.” Delta reports that the installation of the system will be complete by March 2008. Which means the airline has less than two years to install the mechanisms that will allow passengers in first class and coach on U.S. flights of four hours or more with the option of choosing from “20 movies, 24 channels of live TV, 1,600 songs and 10 video games.” If you are riding in coach, you will have to fork over $5 for each movie, while games, songs and TV shows will be free. If you happen to be camped out in first-class, you will not have to shell out a single penny for the service. Delta executives say the introduction of the in-flight entertainment system is designed to “help us gain (market) share.” According to airline executives, the first wave of in-flight entertainment systems will be installed by the end of November on Delta’s transcontinental flights from New York’s JFK Airport. Now for the…
BAD NEWS
If you are preparing to take a flight anytime soon be prepared to do so with a full wallet. In previous blogs I have discussed the fees airlines are demanding for previously free perks, such as food (some airlines are even charging fliers for comforts, such as pillows and blankets). Unfortunately, it seems that those fees were just the start. According to Travel Weekly, “at least one airline could start charging customers to check in at the airport counter.” Sadly (for travelers like me who actually like to communicate with a living, breathing person rather than a machine when checking in), the move could come “within the next 12 to 18 months” from European low-cost carrier Flybe. Flybe executives tell Travel Weekly that they think the charge would be “justified since most of the airline’s customers can check-in for free online.” Frankly, I disagree. What’s more, I think it opens the floodgates to charges for other previously free services such as getting to use the airplane’s rest room, overhead bins, etc.
What do you think?
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