LB's Rambles

Flying the Wi-Fi Skies

I'm seeing a lot of tweets and status messages from surprised and happy travelers over the past couple of days: Google and Microsoft are both providing free Wi-fi services to some airline passengers and airports. Oh, there's a price of sorts: usually the users have to sit through some brief promotion from the sponsor. But that seems a very small price indeed for a service which can make flying time more productive - and, if not productive, certainly more entertaining.

Om Malik has the details. He thinks it's a smart marketing move, and he's probably right. Seems like a nice holiday present for many of us. Or, as the irrepressible Gizmodo puts it, "Holiday season air travel just got a little less crappy." That's really saying something.

Hat tip: MediaPost (which calls it a "freemium." Not bad!)

Why Are We Online?

Ruder Finn asked that question of Internet visitors and came up with some interesting results. eMarketer has a summary. I'm not sure how much weight to give the first finding - that 100% say they go online to "pass time" - I mean, as opposed to what, exactly? - but it's interesting to find that about a third say they go online to make a purchase, twe-thirds roughly to "escape," 96% to educate themselves.

I do note, with some satisfaction, that "seniors," meaning, I suppose, people like me, are nearly twice as likely to manage their finances online as young people. Maybe it all depends on your definition of passing time...

Shopping on the Fly

Having just arrived back in New Jersey after a flight from Southern California, I can attest to the truth of an observation in today's Daily Dog newsletter: retail business at the airport seems to be booming. Where you used to be lucky to find a fast food joint or two along with the ubiquitous newsstands, a surprising number of airports now boast upscale, sophisticated shopping malls - and they appear to be paying off for the owners, too: the article quotes FAA figures showing sales increased last year to 6.5 billion dollars.

As I fly Continental a lot out of Newark, I can tell you that in Continental's terminal C, you can shop at a couple of Brookstone locations, Borders Books, Johnston & Murphy Shoes, a Metropolitan Museum of Art store, L'Occitaine, LaCoste, and Swatch, among many many others. All of these are along the flight concourses, past security - meaning they're only there for passengers (and crew) who clear security.

Why? Well, maybe because flight delays are getting more common, and more people seem willing to browse the upscale shops and spend money. Clever advertising undoubtedly pays off, too, and delayed passengers are being targeted by sophisticated advertising and good store displays. It's an interesting sidelight on how we adapt to these delays which have become so much a part of the travel experience.

The Corner of the Picture

Gerald Vanderleun tells a funny, heartbreaking, beautiful story about old age, museums and Seattle. He tells it so well I had to share.

Video: The Simpsons Ride

This is kind of neat. I've been working on behalf of the new Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios Florida, in Orlando. It's a new roller coaster simulation ride using the latest technology, including some really great Simpsons video. Anyway, there's a preview - a welcome from Krusty the Clown, followed by some video from the start of the ride itself. Just imagine yourself in a ride car...and...

A Reprieve for XP?

There may be some hope of prolonged life for Windows XP, despite what Microsoft has been saying. The Daily Dog quotes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as saying Microsoft may reconsider its decision to stop selling XP at the end of June - though he insists that people really love Vista. Really. No, honestly. Truth. Meanwhile, keep those cards and letters coming...

Bad Way to Do Business

My friend Peter Shankman travels a lot on business. I mean a lot: he's platinum in several airlines' and hotel chains' frequent flyer programs. So when he posts a scathing blog entry about a really bad experience at a Sheraton hotel in Miami, I tend to pay attention.

Now I don't travel nearly as much - but enough to hit silver level in some of the programs. I'm one of those customers Starwood (Sheraton's parent) tries to reach with its advertising and I even belong to their program. But the next time I'm flying into Miami - or elsewhere - which do you think I'll remember and act upon - their ad about how wonderful the Sheratons are or the first-person complaint of someone I trust?

I've been over this ground before: advertising can't and won't wipe out first-person reports from people we trust. Study after study has shown us that consumers more and more are relying on comments and recommendations from people they know. That represents a challenge - and a huge opportunity - for companies that pay attention to customer service.

I'd add that I have stayed frequently at Starwood hotels and, like Peter Shankman, rarely had reason to voice complaints. But any company that decides it doesn't need to pay attention to customer service these days probably deserves what is likely to happen to it.

Air Wi-Fi

With several airlines getting set to launch in-air Wi-Fi service, Online Media Daily is throwing some cold water on the plans. They cite a study from Orbitz for Business that says a majority of business travelers don't want or need to be connected in flight.

I don't know about that. I suspect that in-air Wi-Fi would be a terrific plus - it sure beats those dreadful movies they show in-flight. And while I can understand why travelers say they wouldn't pay extra for a flight with Wi-Fi, I'm willing to bet that the service gets a pretty good workout.

Speaking personally, the service I await with considerable dread is in-air cell phone service. How wonderful - a plane full of yammering idiots braying at the top of their lungs into their cell phones, as they do now on commuter trains, in restaurants, during movies, etc. Looks like we'll all be faced with the difficult choice between acquiring noise-cancelling headsets or buying rolls of duct tape, to be forcibly applied to the mouth of a chattering seatmate...