Airlines Look at High-def TVs, Games at Palm Spring Expo

Kimberly Pierceall - The Press-Enterprise

Airline entertainment isn't just a months-old movie anymore, a distraction for a traveler who can't manage to fall asleep or whose iPod is out of juice.

For the well-to-do, it's a high-definition television on which travelers can watch whatever they like and when they're done, plug in their own digital cameras to e-mail photos back down to earth.

For the "entry-level" traveler in coach, it's a handheld device that can be pulled out of the armrest and used to watch videos or play games.

There's Wi-Fi Internet access, too.

But travelers wouldn't see any of those features if airlines didn't buy it. And at the moment, recession ravaged airlines have been interested in ways to make money.

Row 44, a leading provider of in-flight Wi-Fi access launched on Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines, was one of hundreds of World Airline Entertainment Association members that shopped wares to airlines this week at a convention in Palm Springs.

For now, Internet access in mid-air typically comes with a price tag, depending on the airline.

As with most things, there are travelers who won't be willing to spend. For them, Wendy Campanella developed a Skytown Center -- a free option accessible mid-air by Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and smart phones that gives the traveler an interactive map and games.

"They have an interest in doing something but they're not interested in paying," she said.

She's added a few more carrots to get them to eventually open their wallets, such as a Web-based shopping catalog, Home Shopping Network episodes and the ability to text a friend's phone for a flat fee.

Airline passengers increasingly are growing accustomed to airborne sales pitches as strapped airlines hunt for ways to make more money.

"You have to have compelling stuff behind the transactions," said Neil James, an executive director of Panasonic Avionics Corp.

Panasonic's exhibit at the annual World Airline Entertainment Association convention in Palm Springs this week was guarded with sliding doors accessible only by executives leading tours. Inside, a layer of fog flowed down from the exhibit's roof in front of Panasonic's "cool room" filled with entertainment options still in the conceptual phase.

There they had a flat-screen televisions with 3-D glasses laid out in front . With Hollywood's infatuation with 3-D films and television manufacturers developing living room-ready 3-D screens, Panasonic says it sees no reason why they couldn't be used in mid-air.

Passengers of the future might not want to put their tray table in its upright position: Panasonic showed off technology that would project an interactive image on the tray, including an air hockey match or a business magazine with virtual flippable pages.

The company's more readily realistic products include a seat with a touch-screen built flush into the back with a USB and headphone port. It could take flight by December 2010.

For the first-class passenger, they had a semi-private room with a 32-inch flat screen at the foot of the seat.

Charging passengers for movies or on-demand television or Internet access may generate revenue at first but probably not for long, said David Wojaczynski, president of Cabin Systems Group, an airline entertainment consulting firm.

"At the end of the day, it's all about putting passengers in seats," who account for the vast majority of an airline's revenue, he told the crowd gathered to hear him talk about the recession's impact on the industry.

Plus, planes are noisy, filled with a host of interruptions making it hardly an optimum viewing environment, he said -- especially one that a passenger would be willing to pay for.

If given a choice between something free or not free, the grand majority will choose free, he said.

The rush to make planes Wi-Fi hot spots reminded Wojaczynski of another much-hyped in-flight technology that flamed out -- the Airfone.

"There was this initial novelty to it," he said, that eventually wore off when people realized what it cost to call a friend mid-flight.

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