American Airlines Announces Complimentary Inflight Entertainment

[skyangelnflight]

[BR][BR]
[BLOCKQUOTE][BR]----------------[BR]On 10/1/2002 10:49:41 AM MrMarky wrote: [BR][BR][BR]Let me see if I've got this right. The entertainment will now be free, but they will charge you for the headset. How is that any different from the way it is now? It's always been that way. They can't blindfold you so they charge you for the headset. They called it an inflight entertainment charge. Now they call it a headset charge. What's the difference??[BR][BR]m[STRONG]AA[/STRONG]rky----------------[/BLOCKQUOTE][BR][BR]It was a $5.00 charge even if you had your own company approved head-set. You paid $5.00 to plug in. If you had your own head-set but it was not a company approved head-set you could not use it, you had to use the ones provided on the flight.[BR][BR]Now if you have ANY head-set, you can use it and there is NO charge. If you do not have a head set, you can buy one for $2.00 keep it and use it on any and all future flights, again no other charge.[BR][BR]See the diference??

 

[MrMarky]

[P]Hi SkyAngel,[/P]
[P]Thanks for clearing that up for me. Now you can use any headset whether it's company approved or not. Was there ever a list of what headsets were company approved under the old system? Why would a headset have to be company Approved? I'd imagine the only ones which were company approved were the ones with AA on them, and the only way to obtain those was to steal them. I've got headsets from quite a few airlines. Mostly, they're all identical except for the company logos on them. Other headsets from Walkman players and the like (Panasonic, Sony, etc) are of the same design. It's hard to imagine why a headset would need company AApproval.[/P]
[P]Anyway, I do appreciate you explaining it so that I can now see the distinction.[/P]
[P]Take care,[/P]
[P]m[STRONG]AA[/STRONG]rky[/P]

 

[Oliver Stone''s Apprentice]

This may be where the brunt of the cost savings comes from.

We have an entire department who tests headphones to ensure that the quality of the sound coming thru them meets our standards, and that their use in-flight doesn't interfere with cockpit navigation or coffee makers (we have four similar departments, each with their own VP, who do similar certifications with CD/MP3/DVD players, and laptops.).

 

[Striker]

[BR][BR][BR]
[BLOCKQUOTE][BR]----------------[BR]On 10/2/2002 8:54:53 AM eolesen wrote: [BR][BR]This may be where the brunt of the cost savings comes from.[BR][BR]We have an entire department who tests headphones to ensure that the quality of the sound coming thru them meets our standards, and that their use in-flight doesn't interfere with cockpit navigation or coffee makers (we have four similar departments, each with their own VP, who do similar certifications with CD/MP3/DVD players, and laptops.).----------------[/BLOCKQUOTE][BR][BR]Well, once word gets out that we're no longer testing for headset-related problems with the [STRONG]coffee makers [/STRONG](WTF???), we'll lose the entire coffee drinker demographic.

 

[Oliver Stone''s Apprentice]

[blockquote]
After all the schedule reductions and layoffs of front line employees, it's taken this long to eliminate such a wasteful department? I hate to see any jobs eliminated, but this is ridiculous. Just how much useless overhead does AMR have, anyway?
[/blockquote]

par·o·dy
Pronunciation: 'par-&-dE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -dies
Etymology: Latin parodia, from Greek parOidia, from para- + aidein to sing -- more at ODE
Date: 1598
1 : a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule
2 : a feeble or ridiculous imitation

 

[Striker]

[P]
[BLOCKQUOTE]
[P][BR]----------------[BR]On 10/2/2002 1:23:54 PM eolesen wrote:[/P]
[P]par·o·dy[BR]Pronunciation: 'par-&-dE[BR]Function: noun[BR]Inflected Form(s): plural -dies[BR]Etymology: Latin parodia, from Greek parOidia, from para- + aidein to sing -- more at ODE[BR]Date: 1598[BR]1 : a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule[BR]2 : a feeble or ridiculous imitation[/P]
[P][/P]----------------[/BLOCKQUOTE]
[P]Didn't pick up on your sarcasm. Still, given the amount of waste and ineffeciency I've seen so far in this company, nothing would surprise me anymore, even a department like the one you described.[/P]
[P] [/P]

 

[MrMarky]

[P][BR]Hey Eric--[BR][BR]I want that job!!! And since I'm from that industry, I'm qualified!!! I want to be the VP of Scopin' Out Consumer Electronics Toys!! And I don't need a whole department to do it. I can do most of it by myself. Just give me a helper or two. Maybe Gambit can help me. [BR][BR]m[STRONG]AA[/STRONG]rky[BR][BR]PS-- If AA is paying for the products they're testing, I have the contacts to get them for free. Probably enough to pay my salary. Such a deal! [/P]
[P]PPS-- Another money saving tip for AA. Headsets cannot interfere with navigational equipment, coffee makers or anything else. They are passive devices which do not emit any kind of RF signals, except for wireless headsets. So no need to test them for interference. If they want to test them for sound quality, they should do it in the front row of an MD-80 with all that wind noise. What kind of quality do they expect from a $2.00 Taiwanese headset anyway? And why would they care what kind of sound quality a passenger gets from his/her own private headset? Why doesn't the company who makes the inflight entertainment system do this?[/P]