Lessons from a cafe in Argentina
In my keynote speeches, I like to share the example of a cafe in Argentina that was in a dilemma about whether to charge for wifi or not. They had the option of charging for wifi, giving it free for a while then charging for it or not charging Instead of going down the conventional route, they did something different.

The cafe finally did something that’s called “flip-thinking”, in which they now give you free-flow coffee, and you pay by the hour for being in the cafe and using their “free wi-fi” and power outlets.

There are lessons here to be learnt for airlines from Urban Station, I’d highly encourage you to check them out next time you’re in Buenos Aires.

The challenge of making revenues from in-flight wifi
The recent IPO filing by in-flight wifi provider shows an abysmal usage rate of less than 5%. That means out of 100 passengers on a flight who have access to wifi, only 5 pay to log on. Typically, wifi costs $12.95 for a 24 hour period on Gogo.

At this adoption rate, despite the growth, …

***This is an article written and published from scratch at 35,000 ft, in-flight on Virgin America flight 342 from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Made possible by Gogo Wifi. A first on SimpliFlying**

In a recent conversation with a South American airline executive, we were talking about the state of commercial airlines in the US. And the consensus we reached was that the travel experience  within the US is just bearable at best, often frustrating and most noteworthy innovations are actually taking place in other regions around the world.

Then I took my first Virgin America flight. And I stand corrected – innovation is indeed taking place in the US too. And in addition to just flying their own airlines regularly, I’d highly encourage every senior airline executive in the world to come give Virgin America a shot on their next trip to the US. And here’s why.
Red, White and Purple – ah..so..Virgin
Virgin America probably has the best in-flight product on a narrowbody aircraft (trust me…I’ve flown a lot of them). And the brand personality truly stands out!

The ambience: The number of innovations inside the cabin are astounding. The first thing that strikes you is the cabin ambience – purple …