nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
 ·Cox HSI
 ·Speakeasy
| Hardly Surprising
I fly all the time. Most of the airlines don't even have working AirPhones installed (only one that really went ga-ga over AirPhones was United).
Not exactly related, but even Airtran, who put XM in their business class seats hasn't exactly maintained those installs. Most of the flights I've taken recently, the XM controls are just broken.
I just can't see the airlines installing such frills on airplanes when they can't be bothered to set up WiFi in their airport waiting areas.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis |
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moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| It used to be that headphones were free. Now, they cost.
Food (even bad food) was free. Now, it costs if you get any. Airlines used to give you real silverware with your food. Now, you're lucky if the plastic fork and knife don't break while you are eating.
Airlines all over are in major trouble and how many will actually spend the moneyto buy in-flight wifi? |
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phrider
join:1999-12-17
Los Angeles, CA | reply to nixen
Verizon and AirPhone
Verizon has pulled the plug on AirPhone as well.
It ceased operation on September 1. |
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motoracer
join:2003-09-15
Valencia, CA | Do we really need AirPhones? I've never people getting much use out of them. Can people not stay away from the phone for the duration of the plane ride? |
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DSLmontgomery
@verizon.net
| reply to phrider
I just don't understand how GTE/Verizon intended to ever profit from Airfone given the exorbitant rates they charged. Really, how many people are that desperate to make calls from their seat? Even one call per flight would be a success with the rates they charge, and I doubt most flights get even that. Airfone's a nice enough idea, but given the rates, they should have restricted the installation to one or two phones per airplane... and just reduced the fees! |
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Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY | I know BPL will do it.  |
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Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
·Qwest.net
2 edits | reply to moonpuppy
Re: Hardly Surprising
Heck the Airlines kick, scream, and try to put off safety improvemnts to their airplanes you can bet your jet lag they are not going the spend money on anything else.
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The older I get the more I prefer the company of my dogs over that of man kind. |
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alg
Just a shot away
Premium
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX
clubs: 
·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| reply to DSLmontgomery
Re: Verizon and AirPhone
Of all the times I have flown I have only seen the phones used once, and that was by a drunk guy who talked for the duration of a 2.5 hour flight. I would hate to see the bill for that one.
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IT'S SPELT 'LOSE' YOU LOSERS. |
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phantom6294
join:2002-02-27
Abingdon, MD
·Comcast
| reply to moonpuppy
Re: Hardly Surprising
Continental still serves meals at meal time, for free. For airline food, it is actually pretty good.
As for the headphones... when I was 10 (back in 1990) and my family moved to Korea, the sound system on the plane was basically 'air powered.' Meaning... you didn't have electronics. The "headphones" were just tubes that the sound waves traveled through. This was an international flight on Delta; I can't speak to other airlines. So, I can imagine the "headphones" weren't that expensive. Contrast that with today that have normal stereo jacks (some have two mono jacks, to limit the use of your own headphones) in the seats, and the headphones, albeit still cheap in quality, are more "normal" headphones-meaning electronic headphones. Handing out headphones to nearly every person on every flight with a movie (normally about 4 hours or more flight time) can get real expensive, real fast. I don't blame them for charging for them.
BTW - I was on a Delta about 2 years ago and I noticed the headphones were regular stereo headphones with a detachable adapter for the two mono jacks. I bought the headphones just for the adapter... so now I can use my own headphones and still get stereo sound. |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| reply to Transmaster
said by Transmaster  :Heck the Airlines kick, scream, and try to out off safety improvemnts to their airplanes you can bet your jet lag they are not going the spend money on anything else. Saftey improvements don't yield an increase in revenues.
You can be certain that they'd be right on board with this if they had any kind of assureness of it helping their bottom line in the near-term.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| reply to motoracer
Re: Verizon and AirPhone
said by motoracer :Do we really need AirPhones? I've never people getting much use out of them. Can people not stay away from the phone for the duration of the plane ride? I've used the in-seat AirPhones a couple times. Mostly for arranging ground transport on a delayed itinerary. However, at $2/minute, it's a bit steep for just chatting on.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| reply to alg
said by alg :Of all the times I have flown I have only seen the phones used once, and that was by a drunk guy who talked for the duration of a 2.5 hour flight. I would hate to see the bill for that one. Nice $400 phone call! Probably on the company AmEx.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to nixen
Re: Hardly Surprising
in flight BB is pointless until all the seats have a power jack.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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Topmounter
Sent By Grocery Clerks
join:2001-02-20
Evergreen, CO
·Cox HSI
| reply to moonpuppy
You only need to "buy" the headphones once for $2 on Delta. I just picked up the adaptor off a pair left behind as I was deplaning once and just use my regular headphones.
Delta lost even more money by trying to sell food, so they stopped doing it.
In coach I usually don't have room to even open my laptop, wtf am I going to do with Wi-fi?
Everyone carries a cell Phone and uses it constantly before and after a flight, but how many times have you seen someone actually use the in-flight phones so prevelant on many planes?
Southwest figured out how to make money in the airline business, too bad almost all the others can't do the same.
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"If PCs are hard, then Macs are flaccid" -bb |
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Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL
| reply to moonpuppy
Well I mostly always fly with Copa airlines, the food is ok and headphones are free. They also have Sirius satellite radio when tuning through the channels on board.
But for American airlines all those bastards would give you is something to drink and a bag of pretzels for a flight from Miami to Denver. Headphones where not even given out. |
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Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL
| reply to Transmaster
You mean the fuel tank explosion vulnerability that happened from a flight leaving from New York to Great Britian? Where basically because of in-proper cabling can cause the fumes of jet fuel which is compressed and heated up to explode?
Yeah that vulnerability exists in almost all jets still flown today. Only difference now any new planes made will not have that vulnerability anymore. |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| reply to Kearnstd
said by Kearnstd :in flight BB is pointless until all the seats have a power jack. Commuter flights it'd be worthwhile. They're short hops, any way. Plus, many of the people on them tend to be business flyers (e.g., DC to NYC, DC to Boston, NYC to Boston, etc.). When you're on an expense account, you're more apt to buy those types of services, any way.
-tom
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." -Louis D Brandeis |
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moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to Michieru2
said by Michieru2 :Well I mostly always fly with Copa airlines, the food is ok and headphones are free. They also have Sirius satellite radio when tuning through the channels on board. But for American airlines all those bastards would give you is something to drink and a bag of pretzels for a flight from Miami to Denver. Headphones where not even given out. Copa Airlines = Continental Airlines
My parents have flown both and say even the font on their aircraft is the same. |
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Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL | Yes, and they are correct  |
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phrider
join:1999-12-17
Los Angeles, CA
| reply to DSLmontgomery
Re: Verizon and AirPhone
They did reduce the rates, in a Verizon-centric way.
If you were a Verizon cellular customer, you could sign up for two alternative plans:
1. VZW cellular customers could sign up for a $0.69/minute plan for no monthly cost.
2. VZ@ cellular customers could sign up for a $10 per month plan that had an AirPhone airtime cost of $0.10 per minute.
I travel a lot for business -- and this was the excuse I needed to switch my cell service to Verizon. That's now up for grabs again.
With either cell-linked Verizon/Airphone plan, you could program the AirPhone to ring your cellular number at your seat while you were in the air (and your cell was turned off, as it is supposed to be). On one ocassion, I actually caught the AirPhone ringing (a flashing light). The rest of the time it just went to my cell voicemail, but by checking the AirPhone you could see that a call had been received and the Caller ID on that call.
In the last 9 months or so, the AirPhones could be programmed to receive calls like this on only about half the flights. The rest of the time, it was just "could not register with ground" or the phones just didn't work at all. Maybe I should ask for some of my money back.... |
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