United Announces Some Product Upgrades

United announced some interesting product upgrades this week...and I think it's worth mentioning some of the highlights. Some of what United was promoting in its press release has been known for awhile (like United's popular Economy Plus option coming to Continental), but here were some more recent pieces of news (inclduing some that were already known):

• The Q400s flying for Continental/United seat are similar in size to the large regional jets in the United Express fleet, they don't have first class or Economy Plus. That will be changing.
• The 14 domestic 767-300s flying for United will be upgraded, and receive flat-beds.
• United is well-known for its Channel 9 offering, which allows passengers to listen to air traffic control from their seat (it's the captain's choice to turn it on or off). This feature will begin making its way to the Continental fleet. Many fellow airline geeks (myself included) were concerned about this. Seriously.
• The airlines p.s. service from JFK to LAX and SFO is getting an overhaul. First class is going away, but expect refurbished cabins featuring on-demand entertainment.
• United's A319 and A320 aircraft will receive an interior update, and, more important, will be equipped with larger overhead bins.

Overall, these are some nice changes, and I look forward to seeing United implementing them.

Say Hello to American’s Shiny New IFE

American Airlines is the first airline to unveil a new offering in the inflight entertainment (IFE) space - streaming video. The service, Gogo Vision, uses a server onboard the aircraft to stream television shows and movies to portable devices through a Wi-Fi network.

The concept, of course, sounds very exciting, but unfortunately you'll have to pay up. TV shows start at $0.99, while moves will set you back at least $3.99.

So far, the new service is only available on American's 767-200s, which primarily fly from JFK to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The carrier has said, however, that the service will be rolled out to all of its mainline aircraft equipped with Gogo's inflihgt Wi-Fi service.

Here's a video explaining the new service: