American Airlines’ latest and greatest planes have in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) systems to match. Alas, they weren’t working so well on day one of service but hopefully those bugs are worked out quickly.
in-flight entertainment
Stream from the cloud while in the clouds!
JetBlue and Amazon Prime are teaming up to offer streaming media for free while in flight. That’s a bold move given bandwidth costs but it just might work out given the changes in the economics the industry is experiencing.
Pay per byte coming to more in-flight internet plans
The days of flat-rate pricing for in-flight internet may be coming to a close. Panasonic is shifting to megabyte packages rather than per flight offerings as it seeks to make the experience more “fair” for all consumers. At least that’s what they’re saying.
Have they all given up hope for the economy cabin??
It is no secret that economy class cabins have been squeezed ever tighter in recent years. Bad news: Doesn’t seem that’s going to change any time soon. When even the designers and “blue sky” thinkers have given up hope it is hard to remain too optimistic.
Faster in-flight internet planned for Southwest from Global Eagle, SES
Another agreement has been inked to bring faster satellite connectivity to the skies. Global Eagle (IFEC provider to Southwest Airlines, among others) signed a capacity purchase agreement from SES for bandwidth from three new satellites launching in 2017.
Google Flights now featuring RouteHappy flight data
Google Flights better in-flight amenity data than ever thanks to a worldwide partnership with RouteHappy. Get details on entertainment, connectivity and seating as part of your comparison shopping process.
Lufthansa’s Eurowings long haul flights now on sale
Lufthansa has launched its Eurowings long haul LCC brand with five destinations now on sale. Eurowings service to Dubai, Bangkok, Phuket, Varadero and Punta Cana starts at the end of 2015.
Wifi on international flights: Present and future
Who is winning the race to provide wifi on international flights? Probably the consumers, with United Airlines following and Delta close behind. American is a distant 3rd among the major US carriers right now.
Friday Flyday: Departing Love Field on Virgin America
Taking a quick hop on one of the new Virgin America routes from Dallas to LaGuardia was an opportunity to explore the airport for my first time and fly a carrier I haven’t been on in a while.
A few notes from JetBlue’s annual earnings call
JetBlue made a few hundred million in profits in 2014. It plans to do better than that in 2015, with new planes and new fees. Ancillaries are huge in the industry and JetBlue is pretty good at scoring on that front.