Ancillary Revenues
Virgin America lets passengers buy fellow flyers a cocktail via the IFE system
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
23 April 2013 | Virgin America’s in-flight entertainment and communications (IFEC) platform, known as Red, may very well be the world’s most feature-rich IFEC system. For example, the high-definition touch screens on each seatback feature live satellite television, the first ever seatback digital shopping platform, an open tab service, and interactive Google Maps with terrain view that tracks the flight’s location. Passengers can also use the system to chat with other passengers, play 3D games such as Doom, offset carbon emissions for their flight, or purchase snacks, meals, and beverages from their seats via Red. Flight attendants receive the orders via a tablet device and bring the ordered items to the seat.
Seat-to-seat delivery
The latest innovative feature Virgin America has added to the Red platform is a ‘seat-to-seat’ delivery service (images here and here), which lets passengers use their seatback touch-screen to send a cocktail, snack or meal to a fellow traveler onboard their flight using a digital seat map. Similar to the ‘open tab’ function on Red (passengers only have to swipe their credit card once per flight to make purchases), this is a smart way to increase the onboard sales by adding an element of fun to the experience.
“Get Lucky”
In true Virgin style, the airline is playing the flirting card to promote its new seat-to-seat delivery service, encouraging passengers to “send an in-flight cocktail to that friendly stranger in seat 4A – and then follow up with a text message using the seat-to-seat chat function also on Red.”
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson also helped introduce the new seat-to-seat feature with a tongue in cheek video called “Sir Richard Branson’s Guide to Getting Lucky at 35,000 Feet.” Read full article »
Airline buy-on-board catering goes local
By Nikos Loukas, InflightFeed
16 December 2012 | Airlinetrends.com has reported earlier how Canadian low-cost carrier Westjet has differentiated its buy-on-board catering offer by partnering with local, often family-owned, restaurants across Canada for its buy-on-board catering program. Unlike many pre-packaged airline snacks, WestJet’s sandwich options offer fresh, local flavors from the city of departure.
As the number of airlines – including full-service airlines – that offer buy on board (BOB) catering increases, Westjet’s local BOB initiative is part of a trend that sees carriers looking at ways to add special touches to the paid-for menus on offer. This may go down well with the growing number of passengers that are happy to pay for a quality onboard meal or snack, instead of the cut-down complimentary offer served on many full-service carriers on short-haul routes.
Here’s a look at some ‘local BOB’ catering offers from airlines around the world.
AirAsia
AirAsia’s ‘Café’ menu features options such as chicken siew bao from popular local Malaysian brand Mr Siew Bao (RM 4; USD 1.30), as well as bubble tea from Taiwanese specialist tea maker Chatime (RM8). The airline says it hopes the popular bubble tea drink will boost its in-flight sales by two percent over the next 12 months.
Transavia
Passengers traveling with Dutch low-cost airline Transavia can choose from a range of sandwiches (EUR 4.50 to 5.00) from local producer Sanday’s. Not your typical airline sandwich, this product is made by hand on the day of departure and uses organic bread and quality ingredients (video here). In fact, InflightFeed has voted the Sanday sandwich as one of the best paid-for sandwiches in the sky.
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines, meanwhile, has teamed up with local food producers to provide passengers with tastes from Hawaii. Kona Chips, a family owned business which has been around for 50 years is on the menu, along with the Kauai Kookie company and the Punalu’u Bakeshop, which all add a local element to the in-flight catering offering.
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WestJet teams up with local restaurants across Canada to serve fresh sandwiches sourced from the city of departure
By Nikos Loukas, InflightFeed
1 November 2012 | On many flights originating in Canada, WestJet offers a little taste of home. Whether it’s a meaty Spolumbo’s sandwich from Calgary, a Thai chicken wrap from Vancouver’s Bread Garden or the smoky pastrami from Au Pain Doré in Montreal, WestJet is offering an increasing number of locally made fresh sandwiches on most flights over 2.5 hours in length. All sandwiches cost CAD 6.50 (CAD 6 when pre-ordered).
“We want to offer our guests onboard menu items that will enhance their WestJet experience and support the communities we serve,” says WestJet’s On Board Product Manager Layne Ward. “Being able to partner with local caterers to offer guests a wide variety of fresh sandwiches is ideal.”
The sandwich story all started in 2010 in Calgary with a WestJet executive’s penchant for the chewy Italian sandwiches created by three ex-Calgary Stampeders football players at the local Spolumbo’s restaurant. “They were here having lunch, talking about airplane food, and wondering why it couldn’t be more local and more fresh,” says Tony Spoletini, one of the owners of the popular Italian sausage shop and deli.
Local, fresh
The Spolumbo’s crew signed on for a test run and, when guests gobbled up their airline sandwiches, WestJet looked for entrepreneurs in other Canadian cities to expand the program. Now, fresh and unique sandwiches are loaded on board every day from caterers and delis in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Montreal and St. John’s.
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How iPads are changing the way plane tray tables are designed
By Louise Driscoll, Terminal U
7 October 2012 | Let’s face it, economy class was never built for comfort. But the experience can often fall short of what we expect at the most basic level.
Take the flimsy tray table, for example, which is more ‘tray’ than table. It’s capable of holding your meal steady, until the plane hits turbulence and your drink starts sloshing all over the place, or lands in your lap when the seat in front catapults in your face.
Some major airlines, including Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have introduced sturdy cup holders in economy on long-haul flights, but not all carriers have thought them through, as this video shows.
Economy tray tables also haven’t been engineered for the growing numbers of passengers using their own iPads, laptops and other personal electronic devices in their seats.
A few aircraft manufacturers have been working to make tray tables a bit more user friendly for the tablet user, but the incentive is largely to help airlines make money.
The ‘iHolder’?
US firm Smart Tray International recently unveiled, a new economy class tray table with a built-in groove for docking personal electronic devices.
If the new version catches on with airlines, passengers will be able to watch content on their iPad or iphone screens hands-free with the tray table up or down, and charge their devices at the same time.
With this set up, airlines could also install their own tray-table based inflight entertainment systems and bring in advertising revenue with targeted ads on-screen.
Read full article »
Long-haul low-cost carrier AirAsia X to offer kids-free ‘Quiet Zone’ onboard
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
2 September 2012 | Two recent surveys conducted by TripAdvisor found that 40 percent of U.S. travellers said they would pay extra to sit in a designated quiet section of the plane, while nearly 80 percent of Britons agreed there should be child-free zones on board, and a third of of respondents would pay more for their flight if there were no children on board.
Quiet Zone
Following a controversial decision by Malaysia Airlines to introduce a ‘child-free cabin’ on the upper deck of its new A380 superjumbo (Business and Economy), Malaysia-based long-haul low-cost carrier AirAsia X has announced it will be launching a so-called ‘Quiet Zone’ on its fleet of Airbus A330s.
Starting in February 2013, the airline will create a “Quiet Zone” in the front section of its widebody aircraft, located between the airline’s Premium Class section and the front galley. Children younger than 12 years old will not be able to book seats in the Quiet Zone, and passengers opting for the zone will be asked to keep noise to a minimum, while there will also be special ambient lighting in the cabin. Passenger will also be among the first to disembark.
The dedicated zone will consist of the first eight rows of the Economy section (rows 7 to 14), and as the front area already houses the airline’s Premium Class, turning this part of the aircraft into a Quiet Zone will also be appreciated by AirAsia X’s premium passengers.
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Airlines ‘crew-source’ new onboard duty free products
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
14 August 2012 | As airlines around the world are looking to increase the average revenue per passenger beyond only the ticket price, carriers are getting more creative with their onboard retail offering. Korean Air, for example, features an onboard duty-free showcase on its A380 superjumbo (which takes up the space of 13 Economy seats), while Virgin America’s feature-rich RED IFE system contains the first ever seatback digital shopping platform, including an ‘open tab’ functionality that allows passengers to make multiple purchases during the flight and pay just before landing. Delta Air Lines, meanwhile, has added a ‘Delta Picks’ shopping list to its retail program that lists the best travel products picked by its well-travelled flight attendants.
Emirates ‘The Big Idea’
On a similar note, the duty free division of Emirates recently called on all cabin crew to awaken their inner entrepreneur with a competition called ‘The Big Idea’. Crew were asked to come up with ideas for potential inflight duty-free products, present their proposals individually or as a team, for a chance to win USD5,000 in prize money.
The competition, which ran for two months, attracted 200 entries and eight ideas were selected to be pitched by the finalists to a judging panel. Besides the first prize of USD 5,000, each of the finalists would receive gifts from in-flight and travel retail supplier Scorpio, who sponsored the contest.
The winner of the competition was Emirates flight attendant Michelle Carbonell, whose ‘Spectrum’ design – a piece of jewellery reflecting all colours of the rainbow in crystals – will be produced by Scorpio and be available on board by July 2013 as part of Emirates’ own duty free brand ‘Eduardo Verde’ collection.
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Austrian gives passengers the option to pre-order a premium meal at the airport
By Nikos Loukas, InflightFeed
10 August 2012 | Austrian Airlines is part of a growing number of airlines who are providing passengers with the option to pre-order and pay for a premium dining option in economy class. Whilst not the first they are certainly making it more convenient for passengers to pre-order meals by introducing new innovations in the passenger experience, as well as providing excellent meal choices for passengers.
Premium meals in Economy, for a fee
In the last 12 to 18 months we have seen a sizable increase in the number of airlines offering economy class passengers pre-order ‘a la carte’ meals. Only last week US Airways announced a tie up with Air Meals to offer several pre-order meal options ex Philadelphia and Charlotte to over 24 destinations worldwide making them the only American based carrier to offer such services to their international passengers. In Canada, Westjet is trialing pre-order meals on flights out of Toronto on routes of 2.5 hours or longer to 35 destinations, and within the USA Delta has its’ offering of the DineUp pre-order meal options on select transcontinental services across the country.
In Europe, KLM was first to pioneer the introduction of a la carte dining for long haul services in economy class, whilst Air France followed suit recently with the introduction of their fabulous pre-order range. More recently Estonian Air is now offering pre-order meals to and from Tallinn to over 18 destinations across Europe.
Austrian x DO & CO
Austrian Airlines’ new a la carte offering includes innovations such as being the first airline to offer paid premium meals on flights out of their Vienna hub, but also on flights that depart from New York. Many other pre-order long haul offerings only allow passengers to pre-order from the airlines home port, allowing the airline to control the product and the quality. By using DO & CO Austrian is able to control the quality in both ports as the catering provider has stations in both cities, something that some other airlines can not offer at the moment.
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Canada’s WestJet first airline to launch tray table-based inflight entertainment system
22 April 2012 | Last year we covered a new in-flight entertainment concept called TrayVu, developed by Seattle-based Skycast Solutions. The initial design of the TrayVu, launched in October 2011, combined the meal tray and the IFE system into one, while a hole cut in the tray allowed the display to still be viewed when the tray table is put in an upright position.
TrayVu Slim
Canadian low-cost airline WestJet has now become the first carrier to install the TrayVu IFE system on its new B737-800, albeit in a somewhat modified design. Instead of being fully integrated into the tray table, the so-called TrayVu ‘Slim’ system can be clipped onto the back edge of the seat back tray so that the tray surface remains free for food and beverages.
For the WestJet programme, SkyCast has customized Samsung 8.9-inch Galaxy Tabs, combining the Android operating system with Skycast’s content-management software (which offers full DRM-protection) and a WestJet-branded interface. The TrayVu shell also has a safety seal over the USB connection point. APEX reports that SkyCast emphasized that it is not wedded to the Samsung Galaxy tablet for future TrayVu programmes, as it is “device agnostic.”
Starting in June the TrayVu Slim IFE tablets will be deployed on WestJet’s two new Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with the tablets coming to another two WestJet 737s by the end of 2012. WestJet currently offers live TV on its fleet of 737 jets, but Greg Latimer, Skycast’s chief marketing officer, said the airline has taken its latest 737-800 direct from Boeing without any IFE system and intends to offer the TrayVu tablets, 68 of which will be available on each aircraft.
Skycast has not yet settled on a rental fee for the tablet, but says that it will be in the region of CAD10 to 15. SkyCast’s Latimer reckons that although as many as 85 to 90 percent of passengers could bring their own iPad, Kindle or some other portable electronic device aboard longer flights in the future, Skycast hopes that the so-called early window content – latest release movies and TV shows — available on the TrayVu will persuade many of those passengers to rent a portable device. WestJet says it will evaluate the success of the TrayVu Slim portable IFE programme, and based on the results, will decide on possible expansion.
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Delta Picks – airline sells products curated by its flight crew
11 November 2011 | Airline crew are one of the most important assets an airline has. Witness Southwest, who is actively encouraging its employees to make a difference, and describes them as someone “who dares to make mistakes; dares to be different; finds a way to utilize people’s special talents; and lives a little on the edge” (examples include a Southwest pilot who held his plane so a passenger on his way to a funeral could make it, or the airline’s famous rapping flight attendant David Holmes).
Cathay Pacific
Airlines such as Cathay Pacific and SAS are also putting their employees in the spotlight. Cathay’s ‘Meet the Team’ campaign has been running for some years now – and recently took some hitting- and introduces a dozen of the airline’s staff through profiles and behind-the-scenes stories in print ads, YouTube videos, on Facebook, and via an iPad app.
SAS
On a similar not SAS has just introduced ‘The Face of SAS’ on Facebook, which highlights several of its employees every week as the airline’s Facebook profile-picture, as well as present themselves and what they do at SAS. In SAS’ words: “We believe that our employees are our single most important asset. Here’s your chance to get to know them – and SAS – a little better.”
SAS also publishes an annual ‘SAS Crew Guide’, a ‘crew-sourced’ guidebook consisting of recommendations by SAS cabin crew and pilots for accommodation, shopping, dining, sightseeing and nightlife in many of the cities served by SAS. The 350-pages guide also contains 13 personal profiles by individual crew members and their favourite cities and is sold online for EUR15 (or 4,410 SAS Bonuspoints) as well as in select bookshops in Scandinavia, the UK and the U.S. The New York section of the SAS Crew Guide is also available as a free iPhone and Android app. Read full article »
Aeroports de Paris teams up with consumer brands to offer free airport amenities
See our Facebook page for more images
7 November 2011 | Faced with ever more experienced consumers, who routinely ignore the commercials and ads thrown at them, brands have found new ways to break through the advertising clutter to reach and engage consumers. Coined by trendwatching.com, ‘tryvertising’ can be thought of as “product placement in the real world, whereby brands integrate their goods and services into daily life in a relevant way, so that consumers can make up their minds based on their experience, not on the message.” Being high-traffic locations with a diverse and international mix of consumers, brands see airports as a good setting for tryvertising campaigns, while for airports they are an economical way to improve the service, or even as an additional source of revenue.
The free, branded, airport amenities are also examples of the ‘marketing as a service’ trend (or ‘Brand Butlers’ in trendwatching.com lingo). When advertising no longer talks at you but actually does something for you, then it becomes a service. Brands get meaningful exposure, airports get happier travellers and consumers perceive the brand as an emphatic and helpful resource.
While tryvertising/brand butler services can be found at airports around the world (see our Facebook page for an extensive slideshow), Aéroports de Paris, which operates Paris’ Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly airports, has embraced the concept on a large scale.
Samsung and Sony brand spaces
At the end of July 2011, consumer electronics brand Samsung opened the ‘Samsung SoundCorner’ at Charles de Gaulle airport’s terminal 2B boarding lounge. The free entertainment and music lounge consists of individual alcoves equipped with Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets to relax while listening to music. The tablets give access to the SoundCorner application, developed by Universal Music, which offers a selection of a hundred songs to listen (the selection is renewed every month). The alcoves also have connection stations to plug in passengers’ own devices so they can listen to their own music via the directional sound speakers fitted in every alcove. A central screen also plays video clips non-stop.
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Airlines go wireless with their in-flight entertainment systems
5 September 2011 | Updated December 2011
In another sign that in-flight entertainment (IFE) is increasingly mimicking the fast developments in digital consumer electronics (witness the flurry of recent announcements by airlines to make the Apple iPad available to passengers and crew). A similar burst of activity is currently taking place in wireless in-flight entertainment (IFE) as airlines are responding to the growing number of travellers bringing their own devices on board.
Essentially an intranet on a plane that replaces the several kilometers of cables needed to connect every single seat, with a wireless network that allows passengers to connect to content on an onboard server with their own laptops, smart phones or tablet PCs, wireless IFE is a relatively cheap and light-weight solution for airlines. The system vastly expands the ‘standard’ IFE features with services such as online shopping and reservations, destination information, real-time travel information and seat-to-seat chat. Following early roll-outs by American Airlines, Delta and Brazilian LCC Gol, half a dozen of other airlines are currently testing (or have announced) a wireless IFE service.
GoGo ‘Vision’
American Airlines (AA) in early August 2011 launched the “initial phase” of Gogo’s new ‘Vision’ inflight streaming video product, which AA calls ‘Entertainment On Demand’. Passengers flying on AA transcontinental fleet of 14 B767-200s on routes between Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York JFK, can wirelessly stream more than 100 movies and TV shows from an in-flight library to “select types” of wi-fi enabled laptops (video here). American is the first airline in the world to offer streaming video to passengers via their own wireless devices from an onboard server.
How it works: Customers click on the Entertainment On Demand banner on AA’s in-flight wi-fi homepage, select a movie or TV show from the titles in the content library, create an account or log in, enter the form of payment (all major credit and debit cards are accepted) and click “rent.” Passengers can sort titles by movie or TV, genre, length of feature and other categories, and trailers are available for complimentary viewing prior to renting content. Movies and TV shows will remain accessible for viewing after the customer has landed – movies for 24 hours and TV shows for 72 hours. The service charges an “introductory price” of USD 0.99 per TV show and USD 3.99 per movie, and will not require customers to purchase inflight Wi-Fi to utilize the Entertainment On Demand feature. See this video for more.
Ryanair and Samsonite offer ‘guaranteed’ carry on bag
29 July 2011 | In the U.S, most major airlines (with the exception of Southwest and Jetblue) now charge passengers to check their luggage. This has led to an increase in the size and amount of carry on luggage that passengers take on board, which in turn has caused issues with available space in the overhead bins. Airlines such as American Airlines have responded to this by introducing early boarding fees, allowing passengers to board early so they can store their luggage, while low-cost airline Spirit Airlines has even introduced a fee of USD20 to USD40 to take hand baggage on board.
In Europe, meanwhile, Latvian-based airBaltic recently introduced its so-called ‘airBalticBag’, an airBaltic-branded Samsonite suitcase which for EUR169/181 (depending on size) can be carried as free checked luggage on an unlimited number of airBaltic flights for a year. AirBaltic normally charges passengers in Economy a fee of EUR20 to 30 per checked bag one way.
Ryanair
On a similar note, Ryanair has teamed up with Samsonite to offer a hard-shell carry-on bag which is guaranteed to meet the airline’s carry-on luggage weight and size restrictions. Each Ryanair passenger (excluding infants) is permitted to carry one piece of cabin baggage on board free of charge, which should weigh no more than 10kg and not exceed the maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm.
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Airline ‘fare clubs’ offer regular travellers a standard discount
7 July 2011 | As ancillary fees for checked baggage, priority boarding, extra legroom seats, etcetera, become more commonplace in the airline industry, several airlines have been introducing branded/bundled fares and annual ancillary subscriptions as a next step. United Airlines, for example, offers unlimited checked baggage for USD349 a year, while airBaltic recently introduced a similar fee in partnership with luggage brand Samsonite. Another category are ‘fare clubs’, which for an annual fee, provide regular travellers with a standard discount or access to member-only fares.
Wizz Air ‘Xclusive Club’
Wizz Air, a low-cost airline from Poland that offers flights from several bases in Central and Eastern Europe, has recently launched a new membership program called Wizz Xclusive Club. For an annual fee of EUR 29.99, Wizz Xclusive Club members get exclusive access to a pool of tickets that can be cheaper by up to 10 EUR per one-way flight than regular prices. Up to 9 passengers can be booked together with the Xclusive Club member on the same reservation and benefit from the discounted fares. Wizz Air is the first airline in Europe to offer a ‘fare club’ and says that in the first two weeks following the rollout, almost 50 thousand customers signed up.
Spirit Airlines ‘$9 Fare Club’
Wizz Air seems to have been inspired by Florida-based low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, which in 2008 launched its ‘$9 Fare Club’. Spirit guarantees a member-only sale, with ticket prices as low as a few dollars, at least once every six weeks, but usually offers at least one sale per week. The special fares are offered on a first come, first serve basis and travellers flying on the same ticket will receive the members-only fare as well. Annual membership of the $9 Fare Club costs USD59.95, but those who sign up for a Spirit-branded MasterCard also obtain a free membership to the $9 Fare Club.
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US Airways offers passengers free branded snack boxes on domestic flights
4 July 2011 | With advertising budgets under pressure and traditional mass advertising losing its effectiveness, advertisers are looking for new ways to reach consumers. At the same time many airlines have begun charging for services that used to be included in the price of the ticket. One solution for airlines that want to cut cost, but maintain their service level, is to team up with advertisers to offer amenities such as in-flight Wi-Fi or Starbucks coffee for free.
US Airways
The latest initiative comes from Air Advertainment, a marketing company that sells snack boxes to advertisers and gives them to airlines to distribute to passengers for free. Air Advertainment today announced it has signed a marketing partnership agreement with US Airways to offer its branded snack boxes on the US Airways Shuttle between Boston Logan International, New York LaGuardia and Washington D.C. Regan National airports, from July 1st on. In November 2010, US Airways Shuttle and Air Advertainment already tested the concept on several flights, with Embassy Suites Hotels picking up the bill.
The branded snack boxes are sponsored by Gilt.com, an online U.S. retailer that stages online ‘flash’ sales, offering luxury goods at discounted prices in a limited-time sale format, typically 36 to 48 hours. Membership can be requested at the website, but otherwise it is by invitation only. Gilt has also partnered with in-flight WiFi provider Gogo to offer flash sales at 35,000 feet. From July 1st, all Gogo-equipped Delta, United, Virgin America, Alaska Airlines and US Airways aircraft will provide free access to the Guilt site. To further entice customers Gilt is offering exclusive in-air deals.
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Delta to let passengers rent iPad at the airport for onboard use, return it via mail
13 June 2011 | Delta Air Lines and airport food and beverage operator OTG Management have teamed up to modernize the food and beverage offering at Delta’s Concourse G in Terminal 1 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International (MSP) Airport. As part of the plans, Delta will upgrade its current food and beverages offerings with 12 new local restaurants and several fresh food markets (images here), and similar to Delta’s New York JFK and La Guardia terminals, seating will be equipped with iPads which passengers can use to order their food and beverages to have it delivered to their seat by a server in less then 10 minutes.
OTG Media Bar
Delta and OTG will also introduce the ‘OTG Media Bar’, a virtual newsstand where Delta passengers can rent an Apple iPad, loaded with the content of their choice. At what looks like a traditional magazine stand, except it will be filled with Apple iPads, passengers can flip through the iPads to see what publications, movies, and music they like, download the content of their choice, and then rent the device for their trip. Once the passenger reaches his or her final destination, a pre-paid postage box received at time of rental is used to return the iPad. This concept of returning rented goods via the mail has been popularized in the U.S. by DVD subscription service Netflix in recent years.
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