pptp

Of course it's a very different product. Apples and oranges.

aviators99

Yeah, because it's being subsidized by the money they get from Continental's customers! ;-)

Steve GadFly

I beg to differ. Steve GadFly's recent flight count (about 95% on CO but not exact numbers since I don't have a complete history in FM):

2002: 125+
2003: 150+
2004: 170+
2005: 170+
2006: 115+
2007: 130+
2008: 112
2009: 110

I've sat in Y for more flights than I care to count and the ability to use some CO-Currency to get free DTV a few times a year now that upgrades have become so hard to come by would be great.

channa

I suppose from a technical sense, but for the most part, it's TV for the flight. I would think the DL/B6 product has a reasonable number of channels for most customers on a typical duration flight. Just like at home -- additional channels starts to have a diminishing return. The price difference between 200 and 500 channels from your cable company can be significant compared to how often you watch those additional channels.

If it's a choice between DL/B6's free TV vs. CO's system with more channels for $6, I think I'd prefer to find something to watch on the DL/B6 system.

westlaker

At least give Plat 8 coupons, Gold 4 coupons and Silver 2 coupons a year just as the drink cert. They can be electronically deposited onto the Elite membership card and just swipe the membership card instead of credit card.

channa

Couple of issues:

First with the swiping, I don't believe it's a live validation of the credit card. It's stored, and synched up on the ground (at least that's what it's like for the handheld devices). In fact, it's not necessarily on the ground, it's when they make it to a hub. So, if you want to debit an Elite card, they would need live validation, or an agreement to charge the customer if they ran out of e-coupons.

Second, as for CO comping this, the problem with CO's arrangement with DirecTV is that they have to pay money to DTV for the use. I'm not sure what their bulk arrangement is (e.g., when they comp the plane), but if they had to pay hard dollars to DTV, they'd be more reluctant to do it vs. say comping a drink where their procurement costs are a much, much smaller fraction of sticker price. I'm not sure how CO would overcome this, short of renegotiating something with DTV.

Renard

this would be nice to see happen but it won't happen... too many elites & they need their revenue to pay for the fancy new TVs

sbm12

But how many of those were mainline jets rather than Qs and ERJs? You're not going to get the IFE on the smaller birds with any carrier.

CO sees very little of the actual revenue and what they do see they don't have to pay out to anyone. LiveTV simply takes the lion's share right off the top in exchange for installation of the systems. So CO isn't paying for the systems.

TWA Fan 1

Almost any carrier: AC has AVOD at every seat on almost its entire fleet, including its ERJ's and its CRJ-705's...All free, BTW

davidash

That sounds like a resonable benefit. Swipe your Plat OP card in Y and it works! You can only swipe it once and it will only work in Y.

sbm12

AC flies E75s, E90s, CR7s and CR9s. Those are smaller but not small jets, IMO. Most carriers configure them like their mainline rather than their express operations, AC included.

fireworksboy

I agree that 100 flights having to pay $6 in a lifetime isn't much to worry about. But I've flown anywhere between 70-90 flights a year for the last 7 years or so and much of that is spent in the back of the bus. I'm sure others fly much more than me but I can't speak to their percentages.

trm2

shows up as:

Continental DirecTV SV

(yes I bought it one flight I wasn't upgraded on.)

channa

If we're talking about sitting in Y, you'll definitely be in Y on CO's RJ fleet, whereas on most other carriers, you have the ability to upgrade.

eastcoastcan

Air Canada fly's lots of CRJs, all with very comfortable Y seats and most with VOD