Slashdot Mirror


Alaska Airlines Trials Virtual Reality On Some Flights (pcmag.com)

Alaska Airlines is trailing virtual reality onboard 10 flights between Boston and Seattle and Boston and San Diego. The headsets are provided by French in-flight entertainment company SkyLights and will only be offered to first-class passengers. PCMag.com reports: The trial kicked off on Sunday, Sept. 23 and runs through Thursday, Sept. 27. Forget trying to pay attention to that small seatback monitor as jet engines and crying babies blare in the background. "Wearing the headset is comparable to having a personal movie screen in front of you," the airline said. "When paired with noise-cancelling headphones, it's easy to feel like you're at the movie theater instead of flying." Passengers participating in the trial can choose from a selection of 2D and 3D movies. [...] There's also several "360-degree immersive experiences that let guests explore different worlds by just slowly moving their head around," Alaska Airlines said.

2 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If you didn’t get motion sickness you wil by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I myself rarely get motion sickness but the thought of having a VR unit while the plain is bumping, changing altitudes, speeding up or slowing down just makes me sick thinking of it.

    This was my immediate thought and came here to make a similar comment. Some people get travel sickness; many people feel nauseous from VR. Combining the two seem like an absolutely ridiculous idea. The barf bag industry must have petitioned the airline to give VR a try.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. Re:First class passengers... by AlwinBarni · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm seriously considering traveling as freight next time. I'd have way more room and pay less.

    I mean, if I get stacked like a sardine in a can with no room for my legs or my arms, I can as well call a spade a spade.

    You know things can get even worse, you might be told that the seat you paid for was assigned to a higher priority customer, and better don't argue about your rights, they will not bother knocking teeth out to prove you're wrong, and the CEO will say "what's the fuss about, we asked politely 3 times first".