Updated I believe..DigEplayer Portable VOD Big Hit With Alaska Air Passengers
Alaska Airlines 737-700
AIRFAX.com recently visited Dave Palmer, Alaska Marketing Director, and the man in charge of the DigEplayer development at Alaska Airlines. As an airline objective, Alaska Airlines (like many other US carriers) has been analyzing the cost and value of their airline service product. In the past, Mr. Palmer has had product brand responsibility but now has taken on an evaluation of the whole customer experience from a marketing perspective – the process and procedures - evaluating if they are in line with the corporation’s goals and objectives. “We are looking at things like the meal service, ours and our competitors, to see if we can get our costs down like many of the low-cost carriers because that is where the growth in the industry is today. We have watched the major carriers who have not changed…or who have not changed fast enough, and like them, we are trying to take cost out of the equation in an effort to be more competitive.” Alaska has determined that the passenger expectation has changed so much in the last 2 years that most airlines must re-evaluate their offerings. This is probably a reasonable proposition for most airlines today.
Alaska has been known as a high quality airline, but high quality, in many cases, can equate to high cost. In-flight entertainment equipment systems have no problem falling into that category and Alaska has looked at the installed hardware and come away from the experience looking for another solution. “We are placing an emphasis on the ‘value’ of our service offering, not just the cost,” said Palmer. “What is the fair proposition between the prices paid for a ticket versus the value received for the flight experience?” Alaska is using almost every form of passenger feedback and research group to evaluate the needs and wants of passengers and how Alaska stacks up.
Alaska Airlines' Dave Palmer shows off the DigEplayer portable VOD unit
And that is where Bill Boyer and DigEplayer come in for Alaska Airlines. Life in the West involves a lot of air travel. This is one of the factors that have helped the growth of Alaska. Their single-aisle, long haul boom began, in part, with their service from Seattle to Washington DC in 2001. With the advent of the longer haul B737-700’s and 900’s, they quickly saw the need for entertainment. As these longer segments grew with the addition of more East coast and Mexico destinations, Alaska knew the time had come for more IFE.
“Portable DVD players were the first answer,” said Palmer, “and they will be with us for some time to come.” But, the problems associated with the handling and updating of media are continually a headache he told us. As a result, Alaska put a notice in their company newspaper asking for ideas and solutions to the IFE problem…and Bill Boyer had a better one. “Bill brought us a simple concept, but one we thought, might be difficult in execution.” Given a cautionary go-ahead, APS built a mockup and after agreement, took the concept to eDigital for the initial design of a development unit.
Meanwhile, Boyer took the idea to Harvey Applebaum at 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. “It was his guidance and help that got the content part of the equation solved early on,” said Mr. Palmer. With the high level of encryption that APS designed in to the little unit, the DigEplayer portable video-on-demand unit stands alone in IFE offerings…from any new or well established IFE vendor. At less than 2 pounds per unit (with battery,) Alaska has opted to pass out the units as the flight prepares to depart (no charge for First Class) and rents players to Economy as well. Mr. Palmer told AIRFAX.com that they are providing 41 units on flights from East to West but since the eastbound flights are early and passengers are less interested in entertainment because of sleep or work, fewer units are sent. “This is one of the beauties of a revenue-shared, portable product,” said Palmer, “We can allocate our assets on an as-required basis.” We asked if Alaska or APS was responsible for handling the units during the flight turns – meeting and greeting the plane, cleaning the units and charging batteries and storing them for the next day. “Rockwell Collins is performing that duty for us and APS,” he said.
DigEplayer portable VOD player
We asked about the passenger popularity because the unit differs from many of the installed systems and we were not surprised to find out that there was not one negative input from customers. The positive, overwhelming acceptance should make most IFE vendors sit up and take notice of this product. “With the acceptance of this feature, we have not “lost” one unit yet, but we have had to pry a few out of the hands of some employees…our flight crews love them.” There are a few lessons here: 1. Portable IFE is here and IFE vendors better be prepared to compete in this universe. 2. Passengers love the “choice” offered by the device and we predict that this product will be passenger differentiable – they know Alaska has them and will come back for the experience. 3. Busy crews see the value in an IFE product that keeps their passengers entertained, in their seats, and happy. Win-win-win!
The DigEplayer story is another chronicle of IFE success and may define a new paradigm in the industry. As we mentioned, portable VOD players are a far cry from cargo loaders and you are probably asking yourself how a sophisticated electronic entertainment device came from a cargo loading equipment maker, not an IFE vendor or equipment maker. There are numerous answers to this question but we liked Dave Palmer’s best; “Bill probably didn’t know he could not develop one, so he did.”
There is quite a success story brewing at APS and Alaska. Customers love the product – they line up while boarding with $10 dollar bills on outstretched hands, vying for one of them. The underlying message is that customers will pay for choice. Airline customers do not need installed entertainment systems with complicated and expensive entertainment solutions. Not only will they pay for them on the plane, they will sign up for entertainment options on the Internet before they leave on a flight. Portable equipment and the inherent battery issues can be made to work as well as the issues surrounding fulfillment. Alaska and the DigEplayer unit have broken so many stereotypes about IFE; most people in this business should be humbled by this incredible IFE experiment. Hats off to Dave Palmer, because he is living up to the grand old Alaskan tradition of self reliance and inventiveness. He and Bill Boyer should get some kind of an award from the WAEA – these guys are the Wright Brothers of our industry!
The Alaskan Airlines DigEplayer entertainment offering:
4 New Release Movies
6 Seasonal Favorites Movies
15 Other Movie Titles
4 TV Shows…and more
Music selections from: alternative, Broadway, childrens, classic rock, classical, country, jazz, pop, R&B, and “Alaska FM”
