Continental Installs DirectTV to Attract Passengers

Copy Editor Jaclyn Liechti has been with SmarterTravel since June 2009. She holds a master's degree in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College.

Born and raised in the Midwest, she has marveled at the grandeur of Mount Rushmore and been whitewater rafting in Colorado, but has yet to make it to the "ruins" of Carhenge in her home state of Nebraska. A semester in Dublin allowed her to visit more far-flung destinations such as Rome, Mykonos, and London, but her travel aspirations are far from complete.

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Q. What should an airline that lost money last quarter do in a struggling economy?

A. Spend more money, then add more fees.

At least, that’s the answer Continental came up with. The legacy airline is joining several other airlines in offering DirectTV to passengers. Since April, Continental has installed satellite TV on 15 of its fleet, and plans to increase that number to more than 200 by 2011. There are 77 channels offered, more than JetBlue, Virgin America, Delta, and Frontier.

The service, of course, comes along with an additional fee. Economy class passengers must pay six dollars to watch the satellite television. According to the Today in the Sky blog, Continental hopes that the DirectTV option will set it apart from other carriers and appeal to more customers. Apparently, they are betting on satellite TV being more popular than Wi-Fi access, even though Wi-Fi is less expensive to install and has lighter equipment to carry (meaning less fuel consumption, and therefore less money).

So, readers, what do you think about Continental’s DirectTV installation? Is this a service you would pay for? Or is there something else that you would rather see the airlines take up? Leave a comment below with your thoughts. Thanks!

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