Sometimes when flying, you get a jolt as you realise there’s change in the air — and it has nothing to do with turbulence.
Settling in for the seven-hour Scoot flight from Tokyo to Bangkok, as a regular previous passenger on the low-cost carrier I knew I needed my own device and to pay an extra fee for in-flight entertainment.
Deciding a few movies would help while away the hours, and with my laptop charged up, I couldn’t locate the ScooTV option anywhere on my device. As a crew member passed by, I asked for assistance, and then came the reply I had not expected.
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“Sorry sir but Scoot no longer offers in-flight entertainment,” she said. “We have Wi-Fi, but we don’t have any movies or TV on our flights anymore.”
No seatback screens is one thing, as airlines like Qantas, United and American have already phased them out on certain routes, but I’d never known an airline to remove screen entertainment all together. A Scoot spokesperson later confirmed why.
“ScooTV was removed from Scoot’s fleet in September 2019, following a customer survey conducted in December 2018 which saw 80 per cent of our customers selecting in-flight Wi-Fi as their preferred form of in-flight entertainment,” the spokesperson said.
“Acting on our customers’ feedback, Scoot decided to replace the ScooTV component in the ScootPlus package with complimentary 30MB in-flight Wi-Fi, giving customers greater value and better meeting their need for connectivity while on a flight.”
Scoot might have made the first move, but it’s expected other airlines will follow suit in the future as the in-flight entertainment landscape undergoes a major overhaul.
“Rather than in-flight entertainment becoming less important, it has evolved with the advances in technology to allow more consumer choice and personalisation,” Skyscanner’s Paul Whiteway says.
“Travellers are flying with their personal devices, which are sometimes pre-loaded with their favourite content so that they can continue to watch their choice of movies and TV shows and listen to their playlists.”
Sure enough, during that flight to Bangkok, many fellow passengers were using their own devices to watch movies and TV series they had downloaded before boarding. It was a reminder of living in the age of Netflix, when downloaded entertainment can be watched offline at any time. Thankfully, a good book in my carry-on kept me entertained.
American Airlines executive Kurt Stache has claimed more than 50 per cent of American’s passengers bring two devices on board when flying. In the International Air Transport Association’s 2016 Global Passenger Survey, 51 per cent of passengers stated they would rather use their own devices than a seat-back screen. And the increased focus on the availability and speed of on-board Wi-Fi adds to the changing rules by allowing passengers to make other choices.
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This shift in demand is also a win for the airlines, as scrapping screens and entertainment machinery avoids the expense of costly and heavy hardware, and less weight onboard also means reduced fuel costs.
Virgin Australia offers free Wi-Fi on some domestic routes and packages start from $6.99 on international flights. Qantas has free connectivity on many domestic flights but is yet to offer Wi-Fi on international flights. Being a low-cost carrier, Scoot’s Wi-Fi packages range from $7.20 for 30MB to $48 for 200MB.
Flight Centre’s Haydn Long believes these changes to flight entertainment mark a definite shifting of the times. “I think it might come as a surprise to people who don’t travel regularly,” he says. “It’s important to factor in all the inclusions when comparing fares and carriers before making a booking.”
And as we move into this changing landscape, it will also mark a shift in my own travel habits. I will definitely miss flicking through the menu of movies and TV shows as part of settling in at the start of a flight. I will also probably invest in a new iPad with a bigger screen and more storage. And when on the road, I will definitely be making the most of hotel Wi-Fi to download screening selections between flights.
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