On recent USAirways flights to the Caribbean, our flights were late – and so the headsets for the in-flight entertainment were provided free of charge. Meanwhile, a return flight from San Francisco to Charlotte last week had a charge of $5 for the headset – on a red-eye flight that didn’t even have a movie. You get to keep the headsets for future use in either case.
Strangely, the United flight from Washington to San Francisco provided free headsets, but I’m not sure that you’re supposed to keep them. Perhaps by providing them free, they figure that fewer of the headsets will leave the plane, thus reducing replacement costs. I recall that Continental used to charge $1 for the headset, again allowing you to take them with you for future use. I haven’t flown Continental for a while, so I don’t know if this is still the case.
Who comes up with this stuff? The plans of both Continental and United make some sense. I could deal with a $1 charge, especially if I get to keep the headphones. But $5 for a set of headphones that aren’t compatible with any other audio system on earth? That’s just ridiculous. Maybe USAirways ought to refit their planes with a standard headphone jack and let you bring your own. Personally, I’m glad that I’ve been collecting these things for a few years and don’t have to worry about it – I just travel with whatever model(s) I happen to need. But the airline industry apparently could use some help in the customer service department.