I'm writing this post roughly 40,000 feet above the Earth. Yeah, as I write this, I'm on my way to Las Vegas for a work-related convention and it's kind of blowing my mind how far things have gone in terms of technology. When I was a kid we brought two things with us on flights, playing cards and books. I must've played 48 games of "War" and "Spit" with my sister when we flew down to Florida decades ago.
Sure I've traveled a lot since then. I've seen GameBoys change the entire scheme, keeping even the most Ritalin-withdrawn kids glued to their seats for the bulk of the flight. Then came cell phones and laptops popping up here and there. Nowadays it's a pretty safe bet that at least 1 or 2 folks in every aisle has a laptop out during flight. Not to mention iPods.
And now as I sit here in seat 26F on a Continental Flight I see even the major airlines are finally catching up with the tech-advanced types like Jet Blue. The back of every headrest has a video monitor to watch any of 20 movies, play games, listen to music, or just check the in-progress flight map. Plus with an adapter, every seat can have an outlet on it, so no more fears of running out of batteries on your laptop. (Yeah, had I know that, I could've saved some big bucks on a spare laptop battery.)
I know it's just a matter of time before all airlines start using satellite technology to offer live TV programming and full internet access. Once that hits, there'll be no excuse not to travel for work.
I just wish some airline would go the other route and opt for comfort all around, including a huge entertainment room chock full of video game systems, walls of HD TVs and big comfy couches. Yeah, I guess those are called "private jets" to some degree. But how cool would it be to fly "Rock Star Airlines" where you can just hang out with your fellow passengers eating complimentary cheese balls, drinking cold frosty root beers and banging your fingers away on your guitar controller as you guys battle for music supremacy on the Xbox 360's "Rock Band"? Okay, okay. I'm dreaming. Must be the high altitude.
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2 Responses to “Flight of Fancy”
Its amazing all the technology offered on flights but they charge $2 for a headset! Just took a flight from NY to Vegas myself and couldnt believe how little you are offered on a $500 flight!
@JB - I think they only charged $1 on the flight I was just on. Though it might've been too. Granted you do get to keep them and just keep re-using them on your future flights. But considering the economy, how poorly airlines overall are doing, you'd think they'd toss in free headsets already!