Quote:
NYTimes
July 25, 2006
Will Better In-Flight Movies Buy Brand Loyalty?
By JOE SHARKEY
To many frequent travelers, those blurry movies that most domestic airlines show on overhead screens the size of a college diploma have become as much of a joke as the food used to be.
“By and large, domestic coach entertainment is terrible,” said Joanne Smith, the vice president for marketing at Delta Air Lines. But for most domestic air passengers, in-flight entertainment does not factor into their decision whether to buy a ticket, she added. Far more than anything else, price is still the most important consideration.
Many airlines, Delta among them, are focusing on improvements in premium cabins on international flights, outfitting them with sophisticated new entertainment systems with seatback video monitors and digital on-demand movies and music.
Delta, for one, is also hoping to change attitudes with new in-flight entertainment systems in all cabins on domestic long-haul flights.
The goal is to increase brand loyalty as the industry claws its way back to profitability. The rationale is that some customers may well pay a few dollars more — or at least remain more steadfastly loyal — to fly on an airline that offers better entertainment.
On long flights and on routes frequented by business travelers, the quality of the in-flight entertainment can be a real differentiator in a purchase decision, said David Spurlock, the founder and chief strategic officer of Eos Airlines.
After the price, the overall quality of in-flight service and a comfortable seat, then the in-flight entertainment is next in importance in a long-haul premium flight, Mr. Spurlock said. “I rate it just above food,” he said.
Eos Airlines, a low-fare all-business-class carrier that started flying Boeing 757’s configured with just 48 lie-flat seats between New York and London late last year, offers entertainment systems with 25 on-demand movies, as well as a large selection of television programs and music.
Many premium airlines that fly far longer international routes offer even more extensive selections. The in-flight entertainment system in all cabins on Singapore Airlines, for example, has more than 60 on-demand movies and a huge choice of television programs, music and video games.
United States airlines have fallen far behind world industry standards in domestic in-flight entertainment, typically offering only one movie and a small choice of worn music selections played on low-quality sound systems.
Surprisingly, some low-cost carriers are the exception to the rule. When it started flying in 2000, JetBlue Airways established a loyal following with low fares, leather seats, excellent service and individual in-seat video monitors with satellite-relayed television programming. Several other low-cost carriers, among them Frontier Airlines and Alaska Air, offer personal digital devices with video and music on demand.
When JetBlue entered the game, major network carriers had no immediate incentive to improve entertainment systems. Then came the near collapse of the industry financially after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and as low-cost carriers began to grab more market share, the major carriers had no money to improve in-flight entertainment.
Delta Air Lines decided to invest in new domestic entertainment technology. That decision was based on its three-year experiment with Song, its low-fare carrier created in 2003. After Song was shut in April, its 48 Boeing 757’s rejoined the Delta mainline fleet.
Starting in late August, Ms. Smith said, 117 aircraft in Delta’s long-haul domestic fleet — including the 757’s as well as some 737-800’s and 767-300’s — will be equipped, in both first class and coach, with in-seat digital entertainment monitors offering 10 movies that have not yet been released to DVD, as well as 24 television channels and a big selection of music.
Another virtue of in-flight entertainment systems is that they can be programmed with revenue-generating promotional material, and even with ads specifically aimed at an individual frequent flier whose basic profile is already known to an airline. Some existing video systems already allow passengers to shop by video.
“The system is capable of doing all that,” Ms. Smith said.
But is enhanced in-flight entertainment able to generate higher fares? “It certainly is when you’re talking about premium cabins” — first class and business class, on long-haul international flights, said Rob Brookler, a spokesman for the World Airline Entertainment Association.
Many airlines are also evaluating other new areas of digital and Wi-Fi in-flight services, like Internet access and cellphone and text-messaging connectivity.
Besides Delta, other United States carriers have also made significant investments in in-flight entertainment.
In late 2004, for example, United Airlines began its United p.s. service between New York and the West Coast, offering better food, better seats and personal DVD players in first class and business class.
And after Northwest Airlines redesigned its trans-Pacific business class cabins in 2003 with a product called World Business Class, several other major carriers have followed on international routes.
Most recent was American Airlines, which said it was outfitting its international 767-300 fleet with lie-flat seats and personal digital entertainment systems. Delta also recently introduced a better-quality international business-class service called BusinessElite.
Here in the United States, though, most long-haul domestic travelers, whether in coach or in first class, remain hostage to flip-down video screens.
Delta is aware of that, Ms. Smith said. In fact, she said, the airline plans to offer better movies across the board.
Domestic airlines typically choose movies so as “not to be offensive to anybody, and therefore we chose stuff that was of interest to nobody,” she said. At Delta, more thought is being given to movie choice on all flights.
“We’re showing ‘Prairie Home Companion,’ which was not a box-office hit but which is a movie a lot of people would watch” on a plane, she said.
