These may seem like two different topics but there is one key commonality – whether you’re an adult traveling for business or a parent traveling with children, distraction is of the utmost importance.
People who travel frequently for business spend a significant amount of their downtime on flights. For many professionals, this time is precious and helps maintain good mental health. You should never waste an opportunity to unwind, especially if those opportunities are few and far between.
Children have a different set of problems. Most parents are familiar with the attention spans of children, or the lack thereof. Finding one source of inflight entertainment to last for several hours or more often isn’t feasible.
Parents should ideally have an IFE game plan before they leave home for the airport. Failure to prepare IFE results in its own unique form of agonizing distraction that will make the traveling experience exhausting on an entirely unwelcome level.
IFE for Business Travelers
Adult entertainment is often easier than children’s entertainment thanks to accessibility, age appropriateness and an array of options. Maybe most importantly, adults have the wherewithal to know what they want to do to fill their time and how to get those things.
Readers can bring physical books, listen to audiobooks or read eBooks on a Kindle or another eReader device.
Flyers who would rather catch up on the latest shows or movies can easily watch a couple episodes or movies on a tablet, seatback screen, phone or laptop. Many major carriers are partnering with streaming platforms so passengers can watch their favorite TV and movies on seatback screens, which are bigger than the average phone and don’t drain precious phone battery life.
Delta has partnered with Disney to offer Disney+ through their Delta Studio IFE. This is a great option for adults and kids, with many adults enjoying the Mandalorian or Marvel movies and kids having access to the virtually limitless animated options on the platform.
This isn’t the first time Delta has offered premium content. As far back as 2007 Delta has partnered with HBO to offer an array of content. HBO was free for First Class and International BusinessElite passengers, but economy passengers needed to pay $5 per film or $2 per television program for access.
That’s not exactly an unreasonable price. For less than a value meal in an airport terminal fastfood joint, an economy passenger could watch three episodes of The Wire or The Sopranos.
Today’s Delta flyers have access to even more IFE. In addition to Disney+ the airline boasts a library of 300 movies, HBO, Showtime, 12 channels of live TV, podcasts and a library of more than 2,500 songs.
Modern business flyers are certainly not bound to the seatback screen, at least as long as their flight has adequate connectivity.
Whether a business flyer is on a private charter flight, in business class on a commercial flight or flying coach, time in the air shouldn’t be squandered. It’s in every carrier’s best interest to make sure traveling professionals can make good use of their downtime in the sky.
A business flyer is far more likely to become a repeat flyer on airlines that provide a quiet, comfortable journey where they have a chance to unwind and recharge.
IFE for Children
Flying has gotten a lot better for children over the past 10 years. Millennials and older generations will remember a time when the only IFE children had on a flight were some small toys and maybe a book or a Discman/Walkman with kid-appropriate music.
Today’s children have access to a seemingly limitless supply of educational/fun games and apps for inflight entertainment. They can watch their favorite shows on seatback screens and tablets or even study geography or the states on travel-oriented learning apps while heading to their destination.
Parents looking for good travel apps may want to consider some of these educational options that focus on countries, flags, states, capitals or other map-based tools.
There has been greater concern in recent years about inappropriate content making it into children’s programming online and on platforms like YouTube. One of the benefits of using carrier-supplied IFE on the seatback is the safety of the media offered there. Movies on Disney+ or kids programming through platforms like Delta Studio are vetted and safe for consumption.
Adequately entertained children are good for everyone on flights. They won’t cause scenes or annoy other passengers, they won’t get in the way of flight attendants or other airline employees and they let parents enjoy at least a modicum of relaxation on their way to or from what could be a stressful vacation/trip.
Developing IFE Solutions for Professionals and Children Alike
The good news for carriers of all types is the universal nature of today’s IFE technology. The screens and network infrastructure that enables adult IFE works just as well for children wanting to watch cartoons or play games. From an aircraft operator’s standpoint this is great news – relevant media and applications targeted at completely different types of flyers can run on the same platform.
The engineering and design experts at Rosen Aviation have decades of combined experience creating and implementing IFE solutions for clients ranging from international carriers with large fleets to charter operators or private aircraft owners. Our team has the knowledge and skills necessary to develop a customized solution to fit your needs.
You can also browse our aftermarket networking and IFE options to find out if we already have a solution that will work for you.
Call us at 888-668-4955 for more information.