Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> Do you ever notice that your in-flight magazine has ads?

Yes. And on a recent trip to India, it got even worse. SpiceJet (domestic airlines) has ads on the back of the headrest of EVERY SEAT.

Physical paper printed Ads!

So you are staring at it for the entirety of your trip. I kid you not.




Wait until screens get cheap enough... you'll have 4k ads rolling on each screen that are tailored from your name in your ticket.


This happens in the back of cabs in a lot of places I seem to remember and it’s incredibly difficult to switch off... we essentially are heading for some super weird dystopian sci-fi film right now. It’s terrifying.


The adverts are why I et uber in New York rather than taxis.


I've been in an Uber that had a iPad rigged up to play ads to the passengers in the back seat.

Good thing you get to rate at the end of the trip, which would (hopefully) put a stop to that.


This already happens on Air Canada (although at least the ads are not personalized). Before each movie or show you play on your IFE screen in economy class, they make you watch two 30 seconds ads. I was very annoyed, especially since AC tickets are already overpriced (little/no competition on domestic flights in Canada).


Air Canada IFE pro tip:

You can skip the ads. Just scrub ahead.


If there IFE system is like all the others that I've experienced so far, you'll lose more time trying to find the start of the movie than you'd lose by letting the ads run :(


Stop telling people this. Just like everything good on the internet, once people find out about it, it will be gone.


Passengers in airline seats seem to make advertisers drool as you can't get much more of a captive audience and for that long in nearly any other situation.

I know for a fact, this is all coming and has already started, and is going to get even more invasive.


I wouldn’t be surprised if the security theatre before boarding and advertisement brainwash after getting to the seats would start to provoke fury sprees among some at least passengers.


Don't worry, they'll be monitoring your sentiment during boarding and passengers that appear agitated will be calmly denied access to board. And you'll be monitored in your seat as well during the flight.

It's not Orwell's imagination anymore, it's reality. Only privacy law can stop it, maybe.


> they'll be monitoring your sentiment during boarding and passengers that appear agitated will be calmly denied access to board. And you'll be monitored in your seat as well during the flight.

Disappointing is that this is the more likely outcome, rather than easing the sensory overload, stress, and discomfort.


To be fair, there are attempts at this being made too. But they come in a weird fashion, for example - seats get smaller but are higher quality. Air quality on airplanes and lighting has generally improved but flights are getting longer.

It’s an interesting balance but it always reminds me that flying through the sky in a tin can is not entirely natural.

Of course, some of the security measures are for your comfort and safety as well. It’s just where the line is between for your good and for theirs that is tough to identify.


I hope you didn't post this from your home IP.


The single most awful thing about flying with Hawaiian Airlines is that they sold out years ago to advertisers. The flight attendants read commercials to the passengers during the safety brief. And lately, there have been some credit card companies advertising this way and so the flight attendants will literally walk up and down the aisles giving every passenger a credit card application. It is foul and atrocious. Just charge $10 more per seat, you goblins.


Ads on the back of he seat in an airplane are very common in European airlines. One of the most obnoxious, intrusive, literally in-your-face ads as it’s 40cm from one’s face with no real option to get away from it.


I've flown LH, BA and FI in Europe this year and don't recall any back of seat adverts

There are some in the on board magazines I suppose, I don't read them though, why would I?


Coincidently I just boarded a short haul China Southern plane (CZ) from Beijing to Seoul

I assume this is an advert. There aren't any in business or first.

https://i.postimg.cc/X7XpF2Th/IMG-2244.jpg


I even flew RyanAir, which I would expect to do something like this, and don't remember seeing the ads either.


They're too busy cramping more seats together at the moment. My last flight (a month ago) featured safety cards glued to the seats.


Ryanair have done that for years. I don't believe their pitch has changed for years either.


At least you can still close your eyes...

...and that's what I usually do when I fly --- sleep. I've found it to be the best way to make the time pass quickly.


Not on RyanAir flights you can't. Not unless you're using earplugs. It's hard to sleep when you're constantly being upsold something, including over the announcement system at least 3 times per flight.


Use a page from the inflight magazine (or the safety card) to cover the screen. I do this on flights that insist on keeping the screen on no matter what.


This is common worldwide, I think. Ryanair in Europe and Spirit in the US come to mind.

Spirit actually sells ads on everything it seems, even on the exterior of the plane: https://skift.com/2014/03/11/spirit-airlines-brings-advertis...


Maybe it's just the flight I was on, but I don't remember seeing ads on RyanAir on either of my flights this summer.


Ryanair wouldn't pay for the screens to show you ads ;)

They do, however, upsell you in person by making some hate-my-job contracted flight attendants go through the cabin no less than three times trying to sell various things to you.


Use a page from the magazine to cover the screen. I do this on flights that insist on keeping the screen on no matter what.


That's common on European low-cost airlines.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: