We're in full-on crisis mode here at Jaunted HQ because our favorite in-flight entertainment expert, Charles Ogilvie, is leaving Virgin America. We know! (Don't worry: He won't miss Paris Hilton's first flight on a WiFi-enabled VA aircraft.)
Here's the official announcement from CEO David Cush:
It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Charles Ogilvie is leaving his position as Director of In-flight Entertainment and Partnerships at Virgin America. Charles will be pursuing a unique opportunity: to lead Panasonic's in-flight entertainment and new airborne technology platforms in China. Charles will be based in Shanghai and will report directly to their CEO.
It's not quite a MILF promotion, but AirTran is definitely aiming for the 18-to-35-and-male set with its newly christened 717, "AirTranica Won." Named in honor of Danica Patrick, the plane's special livery celebrates her historic IndyCar racing victory on Sunday.
AirTran is also hoping to lure race fans with its new Flash game, AirTran Raceway. It's not as much fun as some of the internet timewasters we've enjoyed, but it's a decent lunchtime diversion. (While its fun to imitate Michael Bluth, we don't recommend driving the stair car.)
If that's still not enough IndyCar for you, it's worth mentioning that AirTran has XM radio on all its flights. You'll find racing news and updates on channel 145.
It's all good news from Singapore Airlines this week. For a start, the carrier's rolling out a new on-board entertainment system, called eX2, which has quite a few features we like. As well as nice new 1280x768 screens, it will also include some PC applications like Media Player and PDF and photo viewers. That means you won't even need your own computer to look at stuff--just plug in your USB stick and read your own documents, listen to your own music or scroll through your own photos.
At the same time, Singapore Airlines must be pretty pleased with itself that its young spin-off Tiger Airways is growing up. The budget carrier that services the Australasian region is 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines but is already making enough money not to need any cash injections from Mom and Dad. Tiger is even talking about looking for other airlines to acquire.
So that's the week for Singapore Airlines: the mile high club isn't important on planes--plugging in your USB stick is and little Tigers can grow up to be big and strong. They must be smiling over there.
We're flying recently troubled, Delta pretty soon, and we got a curious reminder email from them last night. The carrier's encouraging us to check out their in-flight entertainment page before we get aloft.
Oh hey, is that "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" starring Jaunted heroineHelen Mirren being shown on our flight? Sweet.
If only we could pre-credit ourselves some drinks for the flight at the same time. We'll need 'em if we get stuck in the cheap seats.
One of our favorite things about United is tuning in to channel 9, the direct-from-the-flight deck audio feed. For airline nerds, it makes a cross-country flight pass in no time, as you hear your plane passed from one control center to another and laugh along with pilot in-jokes. For flyers who don't obsess over airlines, it offers a fun way to learn more about how commercial aviation works.
Sadly, anecdotal evidence has it that United pilots are muting the channel, possibly due to fears about litigation and privacy. And we can understand that. As a pilot you probably don't wanna hear some uninformed passenger criticizing your chops and you don't want any flubs ending up on YouTube.
But we have to question the strategy of taking away the one thing that makes a United flight unique. Imagine flying JetBlue without live TV; would it still be the same? And who would fly Southwest if it wasn't dirt cheap but still fun? Maybe it's just us, but it seems like a legacy carrier should do whatever it can to keep customers not disappoint them.
HotelChatter editor Juliana hopped a flight to Florida the other day, and, sadly, she reports rain in the Sunshine State. (Totally reminds us of a childhood trip to Disney World during which it rained for like 40 days and 40 nights.) But this ain't a photo of rainy weather, so what is it?
Juliana explains:
So this was taken Sunday, American Airlines flight 1260 from LAX to Ft. Lauderdale. This is the view from seat 30A. Um... Yeah so even if we wanted to watch "Bee Movie," which of course we didn't, it would be physically impossible to see the screen. Do you think Virgin America will start this route anytime soon??
Probably not. But Miami's rumored to be the carrier's next destination, so sit tight!
Starting today, if you want a headset on JetBlue you'll have to pay for it. We actually shrugged off this policy back when it was announced, thinking, fine, we'll finally plug in our iPod headphones and stop mindlessly taking their free ones.
Turns out, JetBlue staffers agree with us. During the pre-flight announcement on a BOS to RDU flight last Friday here is what we were told (and we are paraphrasing here):
Starting Monday, February 4, JetBlue will be charging for headphones, so be sure to bring your own, which will undoubtedly be better than ours, which are just terrible. No really, our headphones are awful. If you want, you can still purchase headphones from us, but they will be a bit upgraded--your own are no doubt still better.
This announcement was met with chuckles and we immediately plugged in our iPod headphones. Guess what? They did work better, but, as soon as the captain came on to announce that we were reaching our cruising altitude, the in-flight entertainment system let out a shrill high-pitched noise that was very Dementorish. We're lucky our inner ear is still intact.
So, it looks like we'll have to purchase some new headphones, but here is our question: Will all headphones react in a similar fashion?
Apparently, teaming up with Boing Boing wasn't enough. Virgin America has just sealed a deal with Internet video site Revision3, which produces shows like Diggnation, The GigaOm Show, The Totally Rad Show and Tekzilla. With the announcement, we'd say VA is now officially the country's geekiest airline.
The stuff is sure to be a hit with the San Fran crowd aboard lots of Virgin America flights; the programming will be available starting in March.
For those of you coming from the more traditional entertainment capitals of New York and LA, don't despair. When in-flight entertainment guru Charles Ogilvie wasn't chatting up Paris Hilton at Sundance, he made a deal to get exclusive Sundance Channel programming onto VA flights. Also recently announced: a new line up of Spanish-language content, including Toronto Film Fest award-winner "Bella."
