Flying can be such a drag. Any type of extended travel has the potential to become a negative experience, but none is a match for flying, even when you only do it on occasion, are trying to stay zen thinking of your destination, or use whatever amount of goodwill you have accumulated until that point.
That's why in-flight entertainment is a godsend. When you spend any amount of time over a couple of hours in such a compact space, with no possibility of getting out or getting some privacy, sharing the same space with countless strangers, good ol'-fashioned escapism through cinema is always the winning ticket. It's even better if you get to enjoy it on the latest in tech, Apple's Vision Pro VR (virtual reality) headset.
This seems to be the reasoning with the bosses at Beond, which brands itself the "world's first premium leisure airline." As of June 1, 2024, passengers onboard Beond flights will be able to use the Vision Pro for their in-flight entertainment, in what CEO and chairman Tero Taskila calls "another step in our vision of delivering a premium travel experience to our customers, from the start to finish of their journey."
Beond is the first airline in the world to deploy this technology, and this goes to bragging rights. The move is clearly meant to attract more customers to this budding airline, which was launched in Maldives a couple of years ago. Now headquartered in Dubai, Beond offers flights from Munich, Zurich, and Riyadh to the Maldives, but the plan is to expand as soon as 2024.
Photo: Apple
New flights to the Maldives will be introduced later this year from Milan, Dubai, and Bangkok. A new lay-flat seating configuration will be introduced for enhanced comfort, and the goal is to grow the fleet to 60 aircraft in total and to include as many destinations as possible linked to the Maldives.
It's an admirable goal for an airline that started with a single Airbus A319, and maybe the Vision Pro is the stepping stone to getting there. The airline says that the headsets will be loaded with the existing library and will only be offered to customers in Opulence class. Indeed, there's a catch to this offer, and this is it.
Still, this is a much better use of the Vision Pro and its Travel Mode than what we've seen recently. We're not even two months into the new year, and we've already seen countless viral videos of drivers using the VR headset while in the driver seat of their FSD-enabled Teslas.
The Internet can be a very stupid place where many people do stupid things for attention, that much we all know. But even by this low standard, this was a very, very stupid thing to do.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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