Our flight home on a new Frontier Airbus exposed us to a new … thing on airlines.
Every seat on the plane was equipped with a small TV and a credit card reader. For $5 (per segment), you could watch any number of live TV channels via DirecTV. And there were, in fact, some decent channels listed.
Headphones were provided free at the entrance to the flight, and folks were encouraged to bring them with them on subsequent flights. (Some airlines, I know, have started charging for headphones, with a similar exhortation.)
If you didn’t buy any TV, your screen cycled between a nice map of the flight path (similar to what United has been doing for some time), and various commercials. Some were for the TV offer, some where for products (Pepsi, vacations). They were all still commercials, no video.
I was not nearly as offended at yet another advertising intrusion both because the images were relatively benign, and there was that useful map (which Katherine enjoyed watching). Unlike some other TV monitors, there did not seem to be an obvious way to shut it off (I didn’t try ratcheting the picture brightness down all the way.) Oddly, Frontier didn’t make use of it for the safety drill.
I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. A mixed thing, perhaps. The $5 price point felt a bit high, but I always resent paying for “free” TV (e.g., PPV of popular series in hotel rooms) — except, of course, for DVDs of TV series I want to collect. But that’s different, right?
Anyway, something new to natter about.