Jaunted

In-Flight WiFi / WiFi / South African Airways / Mango / Airline News / Airlines / In-Flight Entertainment / → All Tags

It's Now Possible to Surf the Net from a Plane Over South Africa

There’s plenty of domestic in-flight WiFi to be found in and around the nifty fifty, and even long-haul options are starting to pop up here and there. However, if there was one place where all this up in the air connectivity has been limited it's Africa, but thankfully that’s not going to be the case for long.

Low cost carrier Mango—they’re kind of like the little brother of South African Airways—is getting ready to connect passengers at 35,000 feet. It sounds like Row 44, Vodacom and Wireless G are teaming up to provide the in-flight internet magic. G-Connect In-Flight WiFi isn’t just some limited gimmick either, as it sounds like email, websites and all the other World Wide Web tidbits are yours for the browsing. There’s even plans to bring some kind of text message system to the comfort of your tray table as well.

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In-Flight Entertainment / Garuda Indonesia / Garuda / Indonesia Travel / Food Travel / CGK / DPS / HKG / SYD / JED / → All Tags

What's Cookin' Good Lookin': Garuda Indonesia's Secret Recipes

...And we're not talking in-flight food, but off-flight food.

Did you know that in-flight entertainment systems can be more than just an avenue for catching up on episodes of 30 Rock or Gossip Girl? Well, on Garuda Indonesia, there's heaps of information in a very well stocked seatback TV.

When we perused the offerings to watch some television on a recent Garuda flight, we found more than just Bahasa-language sitcoms. Since we don't speak enough of the language to even get one wise-crack, we opted to go deeper into the pages and pages designed to keep passengers happy until final approach.

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Virgin Takes on In-Flight Filmmaking (on Three Airlines!) with 'Departure Date'

Leave it to Richard Branson to take on in-flight filmmaking.

Last week the Virgin Group's film and TV company left the studio behind and teamed up with Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia airlines to shoot and edit a half-hour movie aboard several different commercial flights.

Departure Date, which follows a developing romance between two people who meet on a plane, was entirely shot in nine days on previously scheduled flights over three continents, from Los Angeles to London, Dallas-Fort Worth and Sydney, Australia.

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Airline News / Virgin Australia / Australia Travel / A330 / Business Class Travel / Economy Class Travel / WiFi / Airplane Seats / Seats / Virgin / In-Flight Entertainment / → All Tags

Virgin Australia's Airplane Upgrade Shopping Spree

Some big news from down under comes in the form of refurbished aircraft cabins. Don't tune out just yet, because it really is huge news, especially if a trip anywhere down under is in your future.

Virgin Australia has already announced some big plans for their 777s with an entire overhaul of all classes flying from Oz to the US and Abu Dhabi.

After paying some attention to the big birds, Virgin has now decided it's also time to update their domestic wide body aircraft. Both Airbus A330 business and economy cabins will be getting some love, so all passengers will travel in renewed comfort.

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WestJet Hooks Up With Tablets That Hook to Your Seatback Traytable

Late last year we heard about a new in-flight entertainment idea that would put a little bit of fun right into your tray table. Well it looks like the suits and salespeople over at Skycast Solutions are pretty darn convincing, as they’ve already signed on WestJet to utilize their new product. Things look slightly different from the initial concept we first checked out, but the final product isn't too shabby.

"TrayVu Slim" is the name of the new device, and if all goes well, it’ll be clipped on before too long. It’s basically an Android tablet—a 8.9” Samsung Galaxy to be specific—that will be distributed by flight attendants, and you're invited to attach it right to your tray table. It’ll flip up and open towards the seat back, so you’ll still be free to play a game of gin rummy with your seatmate while resting your Diet Coke.

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Digiboo is Definitely Onto Something with Their Airport Kiosk Movie Rentals

The next big thing to hit in-flight entertainment might just be yours to watch before you even reach cruising altitude, as Digiboo wants to bring you movies and more right from the terminal. Think of them as a sort of next generation RedBox—those are the guys with the DVD rental kiosks—except that with Digiboo, you’re getting a file rather than a disc, and it’s all just downloaded to your handy dandy USB device.

Sure there’s a lot of flights with live television or in-flight WiFi, but unfortunately there are still way too many flights without either one of these awesome options. That’s where Digiboo comes in, as they want to hook you up with something to watch and enjoy while you’re still connected within the terminal. Basically all you do is browse from their hundreds of movie choices, download your pick onto your storage device, and then you’re free to watch your selection on your computer.

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JetBlue Spreads Their 'Even More' Marketing to the Size of Their TVs

Everyone knows that JetBlue loves them some in-flight television, and now they’re expanding their love for channel surfing at 35,000 feet—literally. JetBlue is taking their “Even More” marketing beyond just legroom and extra space, as it looks like now their in-flight TVs will be getting a little bit bigger as well.

Over on their blog—it’s a good one—the airline is proud to announce that new planes will be getting new TV screens. Up first are their smaller—yet still plenty comfy—Embraer E190s. The jets will be scoring 8” screens, so now when you’re flying for business or pleasure there will be a little bit more screen real estate to distract you.

The airline’s larger Airbus A320s will also be scoring new screens with higher definition as well, but those won’t begin until May. The installation will start with plane N804JB—you know—just in case you want to keep an eye out for it at the airport.

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In-Flight Entertainment / Qatar Airways / Boeing / Boeing 787 / Boeing 787 Dreamliner / 787 / 787 Dreamliner / Airplanes / Seats / Seating / Business Class Travel / Economy Class Travel / → All Tags

You'll Definitely Want to Watch TV on Qatar Airways' Boeing 787 Dreamliners

While most of us were working like normal last week, grabbing coffees and going home to watch sitcoms, thousands of travel industry C-suiters were having champagne cocktails in Berlin and toasting their latest product unveilings during ITB, the largest travel show in the world. One of the most exciting reveals comes from Qatar Airways, who lifted the veil on their economy and business seat designs for their Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The fresh new plane begins flying between Doha and London come later this summer, and the 22 business class passengers and 232 in economy will have the latest seatback, in-flight entertainment technology (lots) of money can buy. Yes, there will be power outlets and USB ports at every seat, but the real wow factor—at least for us—is with those huge TVs.

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Pogo and Gogo Team Up for Free In-Flight Gaming

If you’re tired of the in-flight WiFi offerings in the skies above the nifty fifty—like that’s even possible—there’s some new stuff coming from Gogo that might keep you interested.

Gogo—purveyor of fine in-flight WiFi—has partnered up with the Pogo folks who are all about online games. This Pogo/Gogo partnership sounds pretty promising, as it might just give you some time to play a few free games while cruising at 35,000-feet.

First Class Solitaire, Monopoly, and Mahjong Safari will be free for all after just a few clicks. However, they’ll be quick to sell you even more access to games if you want to play something different or something a little more involved. That’s when you’ll need to hand over those credit card digits to pay for your internet access. Still, we can’t complain about the ability to hit up some more sites—and games—for free.

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British Airways' Unexpected Adult Film Selection

As we found out on our flight to New York last week, British Airways takes its holding-onto-children’s-innocence policy very seriously. For a start, it’s the only airline we know of where the crew announces that it’s possible to block some of the channels, if parents don’t want their little darlings watching things like Crazy Stupid Love.

And in case you missed the announcement, there's still time to hold on to their innocent—BA is also the only airline we’ve recently flown that flashes a warning when you select adult films. On this flight, What’s Your Number scored it; on our last one, it was Friends With Benefits.

Interestingly, uber-violent Drive didn’t come with a warning. Because nudity will scar your kids for life, but Christina Hendricks’ brain splattering across the camera totally won’t. How reassuringly British.

Photos: Juliab for Jaunted

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Australia Travel / Qantas / In-Flight Entertainment / Technology / iPads / Travel Tech / Q-Streaming / → All Tags

Do Not Stow That iPad; Qantas' New Q-Streaming Starts Now

What do you do when you find an Apple iPad in the seat-back pocket? Naturally, watch hours and hours of the newest television and movies. Duh.

This week, Qantas announced testing of their new in-flight entertainment system. We've already talked about the technology the Australian airline brings to cabins both domestically and internationally, and this news is an even more important cog in the wheel.

The fresh entertainment system is called Q Streaming, and it's being trialed on one aircraft at the moment. The technology allows passengers to stream, on demand, the entire portfolio of Qantas entertainment to an on-board iPad. Both business and economy customers can spend the majority of their flight with their eyes glued to the 10-inch screen.

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Japan Airlines / JAL / In-Flight Entertainment / Airlines / Airline News / Boeing 787 / 787 / Boeing 787 Dreamliner / 787 Dreamliner / Cartoon Travel / → All Tags

Japanese Manga Will Be Yours for the Reading Aboard JAL's 787s

We were certainly all pumped up over the arrival of the very first Boeing 787 to All Nippon Airways, but now we’re getting just as enthused over the offerings arriving aboard Japan Airlines’ new bird.

To get everyone in the mood for a little slice of Japan the airline is planning to roll-out in-flight manga—like Japanese comic books—on all 787 flights. There’s going to be like 30 different comics from which to choose, and they’ll all be there for your reading pleasure right in the seatback entertainment screen. The airline is partnering up with Japanese publisher Shogakukan Inc and eBook Initiative Japan Co—just in case those names sound familiar to you.

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