In Flight Metaverse

VR and metaverse technology offers airlines great revenue potential, if they can overcome operational issues

One of my favourite TV shows is Red Dwarf, a low budget sci-fi originally shown by the BBC about life on a space ship three million years in the future. Inspired by Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey (but much more grungy) it chronicles the life of sluggard Dave Lister and his accidental crewmates.

So the story goes, scouser Dave signed onto the crew of grimy mining vessel Red Dwarf to get back to Earth after being stranded out in the solar system some time in the 21st, 22nd or 23rd century – all are mentioned at some point in the series.

Lister survived a lethal radiation disaster due to being placed suspended animation (frozen in time) as a punishment. Only three million years later is it safe for him to be released by Holly the ship’s sentient, though senile, computer.

Accompanying Lister is a hologrammatic representation of his annoying and neurotic dead bunkmate Rimmer, resurrected by ship’s computer Holly to keep him sane. Lister’s cat Frankenstein was safely sealed in the hold during the disaster and three million years later a race of human-like creatures evolved, one of whom is left on Red Dwarf and known only as Cat. Later in the series a robot called Kryten appears.

Perhaps the greatest episode of Red Dwarf is Gunmen of the Apocalypse, which is set on Red Dwarf’s transporter vessel Starbug, first aired on 21 October 1993 and won an Emmy. Here is the episode summary from Wikipedia:

Starbug narrowly wins a battle with "rogue simulants", but the "simulants" have infected Starbug with a computer virus and the ship is locked on a collision course with a volcanic planet. Kryten attempts to fight the virus, with the battle taking the form of an old wild west movie in his digital mind. The virus overtakes him, so Lister, Cat and Rimmer enter Kryten's wild-west dream using an artificial reality video game in attempt to help Kryten come up with an antidote.

The Red Dwarf posse: Kryten, Rimmer, Cat & Lister in cowboy garb

As well as being a rip-roaring space and western yarn, Gunmen of the Apocalypse is interesting for it’s nearly 30-year-old depiction of virtual reality (VR). The headsets flash satisfyingly and there are various attachments, gloves etc… that help the Dwarfers feel totally immersed.

And now Red Dwarf’s take on in-flight VR is more than quarter of a century old, a significant time in the history of flight, real VR is finally taking off in aviation. There are several emerging use cases.

VR is helpful for training, simulating emergencies for crew and maintenance procedures for engineers. In the real world VR’s cousin augmented reality (AR) places images and text over aircraft parts to help spanner wranglers follow their check lists.

Challenges

But it will be on the passenger experience side of things that VR has the most potential for airlines to generate revenue. Although unlike other devices like laptops, tablets and music players that people have been using on planes for decades, VR presents unique safety challenges that may make it difficult to use their headsets without adjustment. Inflight VR, a VR IFE supplier, told me that there are four.

First up is turbulence. When the seatbelt signs come on you will not know this if you have a VR headset on. In case of rapid-onset turbulence the cabin crew may not reach you in time so there is a risk passengers could be shaken out of their seat and injured. But this is easily solved – you can put on a seat belt with your headset

Next is cabin depressurisation, when the Oxygen masks deploy so passengers can breathe safely while the aircraft descends to a safe altitude. Sleeping passengers would normally be woken by the associated commotion, but passengers using VR headsets and headphones might not notice anything.

Inflight VR is working to develop software that interfaces with aircraft Cabin Management Systems wirelessly so that when seat belt lights ping on or Oxygen masks come down, the passenger knows about it. This might be in the form of the headset turning off or switching to AR so the passenger can see what is required of them. Or it might be a notification within the metaverse, the fancy name for VR-generated worlds.

A third issue for VR in aircraft cabins is motion sickness. Planes in the air can move in eight dimensions – up and down, side to side, nose up and nose down, and twisting around a centre – so the ride can feel a bit bumpy even without turbulence.

When people are looking at the cabin through their own eyes or asleep the brain tunes this motion out. But when a virtual world is presented that is not moving in the same way, the brain gets confused and the result is air sickness. Future VR headsets will need to sense the motion of the plane and cause software to adjust the images accordingly. Inflight VR are on the case.

A final problem is the content that people enjoy while in the metaverse. VR by it’s nature is an interactive experience and users react more than they would to a normal film or TV programme.

Games like tennis where people swing their arms will not work well in a cramped aircraft cabin. Driving a racing car might be better as peoples’ hands will be firm on the steering wheel they imagine they can see in front of them. Inflight VR choose the software they work with carefully to avoid these problems.

All these issues make it hard to get a VR environment working on passenger planes. But it is still desirable for airlines as the technology offers revenue generating potential, both in the plane and on the ground.

Seat sale opportunities

Turn left when boarding a longhaul flight and you can look forward to non-stop pampering and comfort. Turn right and it is a 16.9 inches wide seat all the way to San Francisco. Space is tight in economy but fares are low. When people buy tickets the human brain exchanges the pain of a tight seat in the future to avoid the pain of spending money today. But when the time to travel arrives many passengers wish they had a bit more comfort.

Virtual reality is one way to deliver this comfort at much lower cost than paying thousands of Pounds for a plus business class bed. Slip on a headset and the brain will be fooled into thinking that you have more space than you really do. You will have a more comfortable journey and get off the plane thinking you had a better flight than you would have done without VR. One of Inflight VR’s team completed PhD research on this subject.

Passengers having a better experience as a result of using VR on a flight will eventually filter through into higher revenue for the airline as some people will surely think better of the carrier than they would otherwise. Some of them will buy tickets again and recommend the airline to their friends, increasing demand.

Following higher demand the airline will find that some seats no longer go unsold (or spoilage costs go down, as we say in the trade). Some seats may sell for higher fares as whizzy revenue optimisation algorithms push up a few passengers into higher fare classes (which we call a reduction in spill costs).

VR is still great when you turn left though. Here I am enjoying one of Inflight VR’s Pico Goblin 2 headsets on a BA flight to Nairobi.

Even the BA crew got in on the action.

Retail & sponsorship opportunities

VR is an immersive experience and a more flexible platform than the traditional Hollywood movies and TV series that we have all seen on flights. Dynamic advertising will allow route-specific promotions shown to users without needing to degrade the experience.

Consider racing a car along a VR track during your flight on a flight to Dubai. Maybe the billboards trackside could show the ski experience at the Mall of the Emirates. Once the passenger has finished racing they might make a booking to ski through their VR headset and the in-flight wi-fi, from which the airline might earn a commission of say 10%.

Opportunities at the airport

Sometimes passengers can be inspired to upgrade to premium economy, business or first class at the airport. Airlines like British Airways sometimes offer special deals to people who do not normally purchase a higher cabin, if seats are available (see article).

VR headsets showing what exactly people can enjoy at the pointy end or in the lounge can make the experience much more convincing than pictures, words or videos alone. These might be headsets available at check in desks or content sent to a passenger’s own headset when they check in online at home.

Airlines who use VR as part of their paid upgrade strategy are likely to sell more upgrades, raising revenue accordingly.

oliver AT ransonpricing DOT com

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