QantasAirways
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Qantas lands Passbook-enabled iPhone app
Australia's Qantas airline has released a brand-new iPhone app (free) with many great features, including Passbook support. The Qantas Airways app lets customers find and book Qantas flights, book hotels worldwide, view flight bookings, access up-to-the-minute flight status and create personalized alerts for specific flights and prices. With Passbook support, fliers can check-in for most domestic flights and add their boarding pass to Passbook, meaning there's no need to carry a paper ticket when traveling. Furthermore, Qantas frequent flyers can use the app to view their points balance and what their next flight is. Handy! The Qantas Airways app is available now from the iOS App Store. [Via AppAdvice]
Qantas tests iPad as in-flight entertainment
Starting in October, customers on select Qantas flights will be able to choose an iPad for their in-flight entertainment. The iPads will come with pre-loaded TV shows, movies and music to help pass the time on the plane. Eventually, Qantas hopes to deliver this multimedia content wirelessly so passengers can use their own device to watch in-flight movies and listen music while flying. Qantas is not the only airline to offer iPads to their travelers. Jetstar is renting iPads to passengers on their A320 flights in Australia and Asia and British Airways is handing out the tablet to passengers in First Class and Business Class.
Jetstar Airways first to rent out iPads, only $8.40 a flight
The world's first iPad inflight entertainment system definitely came sooner than we thought; though Bluebox just announced the idea two weeks ago, it's slated to hit Australia at the end of the month. Qantas budget carrier Jetstar Airways will hold a trial of the service in the last two weeks of June, doling out iPads to passengers on flights 90 minutes or greater for AUD $10 (approximately $8.40) a pop, and will extend the service to their entire network if the business... well, you know. Since Jetstar CIO Stephen Tame famously predicted the iPad would kill the inflight movie business earlier this year, it seems we're looking at a classic case of if-you-can't-beat-em syndrome. Call us biased, but that sounds a good sight better than what Microsoft's up to.
