Posted by Christopher Stevenson
I travel a bit for work, not a huge amount, but enough. The challenge for me when traveling is finding enough to do to fill the time I have to sit on the plane. I usually bring a book or two, my iPod, and some work. Unfortunately, I have a tough time doing the same thing for an extended period of time and by the end of a long flight I'm usually in a boredom-induced daze. I'm tired of reading and listening to the music on my iPod, and I've finished whatever work I can do without Internet access. What are my options? 1.) Closing my eyes in hopes sleep will come. 2.) Reading People magazine over the shoulder of the lady sitting next to me (No, wait. Don't turn that page; I haven't finished reading yet.) 3.) Eating the beef stick and processed cheese spread out of my $5.00 snack box.
But that was then and this is now.Gogo in-flight Internet access is changing it all.
Aside from the benefits of having in-air Internet, I love that Gogo took an obvious pain point for consumers and found a way to resolve it. Look around at the other passengers the next time you're on a plane and you'll see that I'm not the only person crawling out of his skin by the end of a four-hour flight. Everyone is looking for something to do. Gogo gives it to them. Facebook? Sure. Twitter? Yup. E-mail? Absolutely. It's full Internet access. Gogo has figured out how to scratch that itch that's been bugging travelers for years and they did it right.
In contrast, JetBlue launched a limited Internet service on some flights late last year but there were too many restrictions to really solve the problem. Passengers can't surf the Web or receive e-mail attachments. In my mind, all JetBlue managed to do is create another source of aggravation for travelers. Instead of scratching the itch, they just kind of tickled it.
The question is, are there itches credit unions aren't scratching for their members? Or worse, are there points of pain the credit union should be resolving, but are only tickling instead? Now, more than ever, consumers are looking for real down-and-dirty solutions to their financial needs. Are credit unions providing them?
