Virgin Australia Unveils First Phase Of Inflight Entertainment Plans

[Deleted member 29185]

The other factor will be time to distribute and collect them too. Not really suitable for shorthaul.

And let's not forget they have to charge them somehow.

 

[pauly7]

Do you think they will load up 188 of them

Not according to VA's bank balance at the moment that's for sure. It's clear they have gone with this to save $ outlay.

My bad re: the headphones I didn't realize they'd moved to one prong (I never use their "IFE"). Sorry for riling up the VA cheer squad.

Man it will be annoying everyone with their tray tables down, laptops out, you want to be in the aisle on a longer trip, hard to get out!

 

[serfty]

... to my Macbook Air, in saying that, I also have the latest Lenovo X220 with solid state HD and its a moot point difference which battery lasts the longest.

No issues for you - just swap devices when the battery gets drained ...

 

[777]

Not according to VA's bank balance at the moment that's for sure.

Actually last time i looked their bank balance was pretty good.

... doesn't meant that price isn't a major factor driving this though.

 

[AaronBradford]

Do you think they will load up 188 of them

Just thought I'd point out some information that is readily available to the those jumping to conclusions ...

Each aircraft will also have a limited number of tablets on board, which will be handed out free of charge to business class passengers and available for rent at an undisclosed price to those in economy.

Virgin Australia: wifi movies & music for tablets, laptops

Let's see how the trial goes. I'm not 100% sold on the idea just yet but I think there's something in it.

 

[LiamR]

There appear to be too many common sense issues that may have been ignored.

- holidays/familes (4+ devices?? this also increase insurance costs and risk of theft at hotel/destination)
- day trips for business (batteries low by end of the day, no cables..)
- passenger to passenger complaints (can you imagine 3 x 17" laptops side by side?)
- increased risk/damage to customers devices with food/drink
- what if i want to try and sleep with only music?
- significantly increased risk of passenger rage. It's going to happen at some point... some laptops are heavy too..

Not to mention the OHS and Public Liability problems these would create.

The idea of wireless IFE is great; but only as an option in addition to seatback systems.

PS: Live2air is awesome!

+1 with you there mate, completely agree with what you are saying.

*Puts IT Geek hat on*

Can a wireless system cope with streaming video to potentially 186 passengers at once?

There has been LOTS of conversation and speculation on what we will implement.

Understatement of the century.

 

[pauly7]

Actually last time i looked their bank balance was pretty good.

... doesn't meant that price isn't a major factor driving this though.

Meant overall financial health.

 

[oz_mark]

+1 with you there mate, completely agree with what you are saying.

*Puts IT Geek hat on*

Can a wireless system cope with streaming video to potentially 186 passengers at once?
.

Depends how many access points they install I guess.

 

[markis10]

Can a wireless system cope with streaming video to potentially 186 passengers at once?

Yes, no issues at all, 802.11n will do at least 80 per AP in unicast and over 100 in multicast. Have seen it in real life in a much tougher environment - uni students!

 

[serfty]

Yes, no issues at all, 802.11n will do at least 80 per AP in unicast and over 100 in multicast. Have seen it in real life in a much tougher environment - uni students!

All streaming video at the same time?

I'm sure the designers would allow for that however (unlike QF's initial poor choice of AVOiD).

 

[markis10]

All streaming video at the same time?

I'm sure the designers would allow for that however (unlike QF's initial poor choice of AVOiD).

All streaming different video at the same time (hence the reference to unicast)

 

[serfty]

... (hence the reference to unicast)

Never heard/come across "Unicast" in this before, so it meant nothing to me.

(I guess - from context - it's a streaming technology.)

 

[markis10]

Never heard/come across "Unicast" in this before, so it meant nothing to me.

(I guess - from context - it's a streaming technology.)

Multicast is like loop IFE, everyone is sent the same content at the same time, while Unicast is like AVOD, unique content is sent to each user.

 

[notzac]

All streaming video at the same time?

I'm sure the designers would allow for that however (unlike QF's initial poor choice of AVOiD).

There was a (pretty awful) video interview online with people from Lufthansa Systems and VX - ISTR mention of 3 APs on an A321, which should definitely be able to handle pushing decently compressed video down to 120+ users (assuming it ever got that high, which I have my doubts about).

 

[smit0847]

Ordering food and drinks from your seat. Freshly squeezed OJ to 23A Cafe Latte to 2A coke to 14C Wrap to 5F scotch and coke to 17J red wine and nuts to 13C sandwich and toblerone and white wine to 21K Champagne and Caviar to 1A 3 beers to 28A ..........................come off it this stuff will drive the cabin crew mad.

++

I've done this on Virgin America and it was a breeze. So smooth and clean ordering and paying yourself and then its delivered to you. No cabin crew standing around while you try and find coins.

FWIW - I'm a big fan of the in-flight wi-fi as it will greatly benefit business travellers and those looking for something to do for 20 or so minutes but not a fan of removing the screens - I also dont want to take my laptop on holiday or try and watch a movie on my phone. Virgin America have user-pays wi-fi and seat-back screens (free streamed cable tv, pay for movies) and it works perfectly.

I certainly hope they won't be taking the screens out of the 777s - no ones going to look down at a laptop for 15 hours!!

 

[markis10]

. Virgin America have user-pays wi-fi and seat-back screens (free streamed cable tv, pay for movies) and it works perfectly.

I certainly hope they won't be taking the screens out of the 777s - no ones going to look down at a laptop for 15 hours!!

Difference between LOTFAP and here though is the density of terrestrial stations that act as a POP for the internet signals, over here it would be pretty much 100% satellite based and thus unlikely to be profitable if sold at LOTFAP pricing.

 

[cavemanzk]

One would sure hope the ZK-PB* fleet will be getting inseat power!

Most of ZK-PB* fleet sectors will out do the battery life of portable wifi devices streaming video.

AKL-RAR 3:55
RAR-AKL 4:25
AKL-MEL 4:10
MEL-AKL 3:55

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I'm a big fan of the in-flight wi-fi as it will greatly benefit business travellers

May I suggest the wording here could be a tad over generalised?

This business traveller won't benefit at all by in-flight wi-fi. Not all business travellers are so time constrained that they need to be tap-tapping on a keyboard every waking hour. Having to pack a laptop just to have AVOD is a nonsence to me and effectively means DJ has just removed IFE from their inclusions (for me at least). Now that's LCC. (and I won't even go down the travelling with family path).

Will the content be streamed for free, or will that be at a cost as well? Sounds a bit like the move from UDL style spirits to the mini spirit bottles with mixer sold separately..........is this the upselling McDonalds of the air......would you like a screen with that movie??

 

[Justchecking]

Now now swanning_it, I'm sure phase two will involve a deal with devil....I mean Apple.....whereby for a measly 10 trillion velocity points you too can tote an iPad instead of a laptop.

 

[maninblack]

I think Virgin may be pulling their own leg with this. Someone has convinced them it's a bit of a coup maybe,assuming that the latest and greatest hi-tech is what people want, when what most people really want is something that works and is simple and convenient to use. I think that based on what we have been told and what I see in the Lufthansa video they will be making an error with this type of system. Imagine 100+ people on a narrow body jet fumbling around to get their laptops in and out of their carry-ons and in and out of the overheads. STUPID.