Song Airlines

Cribbing some riffs from low-fare competitors JetBlue and Southwest Airlines, but adding its own distinctive touches, Song is designed to be "a breath of fresh air" in the not-so-friendly skies of the post-9/11 era, marketing Vice President Tim Mapes said.

With 24 channels of free satellite television, pay-per-view movies and video games for entertainment and a menu of gourmet meals and snacks for sale, Song seeks to offer choices to travelers weary of shedding their shoes at the security gate and worrying about a possible pat-down search, he said. There are also a couple of inches more leg room, making it possible for someone taller than 6 feet to cross his legs in comfort.

"Research told us that people find airline travel oppressive, overly militaristic in terms of the regimen that you have to go through," he said.

Song sounds neat. They are even providing for mixed-viewer entertainment on their cabin LCD screens, like Bob McGee was asking about.

The idea.. is that Dad can lock onto ESPN while Mom enjoys the Arts & Entertainment Network and the children choose the Cartoon Network or Animal Planet -- with no bickering.

For a fee, the screens can also serve up any of 10 video games, something with particular appeal to young teens who might otherwise get restless on a coast-to-coast flight lasting more than five hours.

Song even has music! This is quite an in-flight entertainment setup, and I wish I knew the vendor that they sourced the contract to.

If music is your thing, Song lets each passenger assemble a personal playlist of 32 selections from among 1,600 MP3 audio files that include classical, rock, hip-hop, jazz, country or whatever.

"The idea is to let 199 people on a Song plane have 199 different experiences together," Mapes said. "Our research indicated that people want something other than a one-size-fits-all experience, and Song tries to provide that."

For those used to enduring in-flight movies they neither choose nor control, that's a treat, said Kiran Jain, director of marketing and air service development for Bradley International Airport. She has flown Song several times to Florida.

"People discuss how good this is when they get off the flight," she said. And within minutes of takeoff Tuesday, virtually every seatback screen was lit, and passengers -- even those who were reading -- had the plug-in earpieces in their ears.

You can read the full article over at RedNova News, Low-Fare Airline Sings a Fresh Tune and originally published in The Hartford Courant, Connecticut. See Song's IFE page here.  ¶ 2:51 PM