Virtual vacations are starting to compete with the real thing. But Qantas is hoping that by giving you a virtual taste Australia’s offerings, you’ll put get on a plane and go see for yourself.
Qantas first experiments with virtual reality last year, when it offered a virtual reality visit to a couple of Australian destinations on Samsung Gear VR headsets in its First-Class cabin and Lounges.
Now the carrier has released a virtual reality app with 13 videos showcasing a wide variety of Australian landscapes and events, with more promised in the next few weeks.
The app offers two modes: split screen for those who have a compatible headset or Google Cardboard and 2D landscape for viewing directly on a smartphone.
And if you like what you see, you can book flights to these destinations directly from the app.
Here are a few samples.
The first is a helicopter flight offering an aerial view of Uluru, one of the great natural wonders of the world.
Other videos offer a hot air balloon ride of Alice Springs and the Australian outback, a helicopter ride to Hamilton Island and a swim in the Great Barrier Reef, a climb on the Sydney Harbor Bridge and a wide variety of other you-are-there experiences.
Forget the seat-back screen and your bring-on-board tablet.
In an in-flight entertainment first, Australian carrier Qantas will soon be making Samsung’s virtual reality headsets, called Gear VR, available to premium passengers on some long-distance flights.
A three-month trial run begins in mid-March, when Qantas plans to make the headsets available to first-class passengers on some of the airline’s A380 flights between Australia and Los Angeles.
Visitors to Qantas first-class lounges in Sydney and Melbourne have headsets to test now.
Someday, Qantas says the VR technology “will transport customers to an immersive virtual world … and showcase the sights and delights of network destinations, new Qantas products and the latest in-flight blockbuster movies.”
But for now, Qantas is just giving passengers a virtual reality sampler of short features, or “vignettes,” filmed in Australia and produced by Palo Alto-based technology company Jaunt. The playlist that allows headset-wearers to watch a Qantas airplane take off and land and visit the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, a Qantas airport lounge and Kakadu, Australia’s largest national park.
“Travel and VR make a natural pair,” said Jaunt CEO Jens Christensen. “We’ve gone from no in-flight entertainment, to one drop-down screen, then screens in the seats, and now personal screens,” said Christensen.
“VR is the next step on the evolutionary scale,” he added. “Instead of a limited-size screen, a passenger is transported to a new location.”
That’s appealing if the technology is someday used to “virtually transport economy-class passengers in ultra-tight seating … to other more spacious ‘realities’ outside of the metal tube,” said Mary Kirby, founder of the Runway Girl Network. But widespread adoption by airlines “appears unlikely now” due in part to the high costs associated with the headsets and their handling, she added.
Another concern: making passengers sick. For some people find virtual reality experiences can sometimes trigger vertigo, nausea or worse.
“I think putting any device that simulates motion into something that is already moving will guarantee those air sickness bags won’t just be used for scribbling notes,” said Frank Catalano, a tech industry consultant and a columnist at GeekWire.
The stationary filming techniques used in the Qantas VR vignettes should help, said Jaunt’s Christensen, “When you’re in our environments, you’re stable. We found that eliminates the nausea.”
But what if the virtual reality experience is too good? Will travelers no longer need to actually go to the places they’ve “visited” during their flights?
“We think by transporting our customers to the immersive virtual worlds of destinations that [they] have never seen, the VR Gear will actually inspire our customers to travel more,” said Olivia Wirth, a Qantas executive for marketing and corporate affairs.
Catalano, a frequent traveler, agreed. “You simply can’t replicate the smells, the tastes, the serendipitous discoveries, the off-handed casual conversations with locals, the immersion into a new and different culture,” he said. “All virtual reality can do is stimulate the appetite for the real thing.”
(My story about virtual reality testing Qantas first appeared on CNBC in a slightly different format.)
Qantas has reached way back for its first ever “retro” inspired livery, which can now be seen on one of the airline’s brand new Boeing 737 aircraft.
The design is a tribute to 70 years of the airline’s iconic flying kangaroo logo and was unveiled at a special hangar event in Seattle.
Qantas Ambassador and aviation enthusiast John Travolta (last seen welcoming the first Qantas A380 that flew from Sydney to Dallas) was on hand to help unveil the aircraft and the new/retro livery, which also brings back the ochre band around the window line of the aircraft, a signature element used from 1971-1984 referencing the colors of the Australian outback.
The winged kangaroo logo on the tail of this new aircraft was adapted from the original 1947 version designed by Gert Sellheim and brings back the wings on the flying kangaroo that were discarded in 1984.
The 737 will operate across all Qantas domestic routes starting November 20th.
It’s been a big A380 week for DFW International Airport:
On Monday, I was pleased to be on board when Qantas began flying the world’s largest airplane – the Airbus A380 – on the world’s longest nautical route – from Sydney to Dallas/Fort Worth.
On Wednesday, DFW International Airport celebrated the arrival of another A380: this one belonging to Emirates and arriving from Dubai.
As part of the celebration on the ground, not cupcakes, but cake.