How do I work this text thing, Daddy?

PING! Email arrives from Virgin Atlantic boasting about a new Q&A service it has introduced on all its flights.

Apparently passengers will be able to text a question via their in-flight entertainment systems and get an response “within minutes”.

Interesting stuff. The service has been developed by Any Questions Answered, a UK-based company that has been running an SMS-based system for a few years and has already answered three million text questions.

The press release says the top-five flight-related questions are:

“What terminal do I need to go to?”

“Has the plane landed yet?” [Surely even the least sober of passengers would know the answer to this!?! – Ed]

“How long is the flight?”

“What hotels can you recommend?”

“How do I chat up someone in…?”

Kevin May, editor, Travolution