Qantas trials iPad in the sky

Qantas has decided to trial Apple iPads as an in-flight entertainment option on selected flights from October. The Australian carrier has been considering the technology platform for some time. Qantas will pre-load the iPads with content including television shows, movies and music to be delivered to all passengers on one …

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't polish a turd

It doesn't matter what they offer, it's still a shitty airline.

[Ascylto]

23456

They've the best safety record around.

It's TurdAir for me!

[Anonymous Coward]

The safety record is a myth

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Qantas_Flight_30#Safety_record

There are other airlines that have never lost a single plane.

They screwed me after a family death and reduced my wife to tears. JAL came to the rescue and even upgraded me to first class for one leg of the flight back to the UK.

This is their latest stunt:

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-under-fire-for-longhaul-longleg-charge-20110915-1kaqv.html

[Andrew Dowd]

Loose

I thought airlines would try to reduce the amount potential loose material flying around the cabin, not increase it.

Though having said that, with several hundred extra sources of the reality distortion field operating, flying could become quite an 'interesting' experience....

And they could save on tray tables as well.....

[DownUndaRob]

Vendor lockin?

Let just hope they make the system Android Friendly too?

[Lemons]

@Mahatma

You can actually polish a turd. In this case however you are right, Qantas blows.

[Azrael]

And then...

... if you don't bring your own iPad, they can charge an extra rental fee.

Which you'll pay, on a long flight, since you won't have any other entertainment options.

And if you do bring an iPad, then they don't need to cover the hardware costs.

So it's win for them.

But if it gives the consumers a better entertainment experience, then it's a win for the consumer too. Last flight I was on, one of the entertainment devices didn't work, and another worked but the buttons were stiff, making game-playing hard. Not to mention the latency on the games. Playing on an ipad would have been much more pleasant. (I'm not staring a gift horse in the mouth - I appreciate that they gave us games & movies. I'm just saying that the current iPad technology is a nicer experience than what they had.)

It might be different elsewhere, but these days everyone seems to have an ipad or similar device. I wonder what the current % of flyers already carry one?

I like win-win situations.

And I'd have REALLY liked to be able to take a few movies with me, when I had a 2 hour wait between flights, no access to my luggage, not enough time to leave the airport, and not much else to do.

[bolccg]

Placement

Will these still be in the seatback or otherwise attached somehow? How do you get a comfortable, hands-free viewing position? And avoid getting stuff spilled all over it, etc?

[Anonymous Coward]

More in-flight cameras too please

I want live camera feeds from around the exterior of the aircraft.

Emirates has a nose-cam and a ground-cam.

I want a tail-cam (looking fwd and aft) as well.

[nichobe]

RE: More in-flight cameras too please

Could get even better with a PTZ control of a camera..... such fun