Miss Flying Coach? This Video Game Recreates a Six-Hour Flight in Real-Time
Jennifer Billock November 27, 2019
Thanks to the magic of modern video games, you can now enjoy the generally unfun experience of sitting in coach on a flight, for a full six hours and in real-time, with all the same flight distractions—including, at least, a window seat—at your disposal as you would have on an actual flight.
Just in case you didn’t think actually sitting on a plane in coach for six hours was enough fun, now you have the opportunity to do it from the comfort of your own couch. Airplane Mode is a new game from AMC Games (the video game arm of the television network) that mirrors a flight in real-time, and you’re the passenger in the window seat in economy class. You’ll do exactly what you do on a plane—which is basically nothing.
The game at least keeps you occupied with the same perks of an actual flight. You’ll get to look out the window at actual satellite footage of what the plane is passing over. You’ll get served a meal. You’ll experience turbulence, crying babies, other people milling about the cabin, unreliable wifi, and delays. The in-seat entertainment system has a variety of 1930s films that are now royalty-free, plus there’s a magazine in the seatback pocket with sudoku and a crossword puzzle, the safety information cards, and one book to keep you occupied throughout the flight.
According to Gizmodo, the game provides a similar experience to Desert Bus, a video game created by Penn and Teller that has players just drive a bus across a desert for eight hours straight.
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"…love to see a retro version that depicted coach in the old pre deregulation days." With the old headsets that were basically tubes that you stuck in your ears? And the hazy smoke-filled cabin, with burnt orange and puke green upholstry. The version shown is almost retro with nobody competing for the armrest. The whitenoise needs to be amplified to around 80 dB to mimic an actual aircraft cabin's noise. For the more contemporary experience, you need to wire your couch so that you can feel the kid behind you kicking your seat. And the guy behind you sneezing into the window so the phlegm ricochets into the back of your neck and side of your face. And the television needs to encroach within inches of your face when the guy in front of you reclines all the way.
...love to see a retro version that depicted coach in the old pre deregulation days.
I'm not sure there's anything special about the Milan flight. I paid $2,470 in Sept. for business class, Seattle to Paris r/t, nonstop on Delta. I have seen that flight for under $500 in economy. Granted, business class in Emirates is a good notch better than Delta. But that's gotta be a lot of notches for the price difference. I don't know anything about India flights so can't comment there.