Thomas Cook Airlines to Offer Passengers Playstation Portables for Entertainment

According to new reports, Thomas Cook Airlines is set to remove all of its existing in flight entertainment systems and replace them in certain planes. In fact, the company will be taking out these in flight systems and replacing them with Playstation Portable systems. However, this in flight entertainment comes at a extra charge of £7.50.

The goal is to offer these Playstation Portable systems on all short- and medium-haul flights. Passengers on these flights will be given the chance to hire these devices. The gaming systems themselves will come preloaded with eight feature films and a selection of television programs and video games.

The Thomas Cook chief executive officer, Mr Derbyshire, claimed that just one out of every 10 passengers actually watches the airline’s in flight entertainment. Thus, it stands to reason that Thomas Cook Airlines would look to replace this system with something else that passengers may enjoy.

Thomas Cook’s decision to replace their in flight systems and replace them with these hand held video game systems is not a brand new idea. In fact, this is an idea that other airlines are using as well. easyJet and the United States-based Frontier Airlines have also chosen to introduce the Playstation Portable on their flights.

However, this idea also continues a very recent trend that people are starting to notice in the airline industry. This is the trend to keep ticket prices low and make that money back up with extra charges. In fact, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, United States carriers’ extra charges have increased by at least 42 percent since 2008. This makes those “extra charges” a very lucrative business.