Virgin Atlantic Answers Passenger Questions Inflight

Virgin Atlantic Airways is launching a new inflight entertainment service that enables passengers to get any question answered during their flight.

AQA, which stands for Any Question Answered, is a text service whereby any question can be sent to 63336 in the UK, or 57275 in Ireland, and the answer is texted directly back to the phone. In the first deal of this kind, Virgin Atlantic will be offering the service onboard through the in-flight entertainment system. Passengers can send a question via their seat-back TV screens and receive an answer to their seats within minutes.

Virgin Atlantic’s onboard media development manager Dave Tharp said, “We thought it would be fun to offer a service that is the perfect  solution to that niggling question you don’t always know the answer to. It is a great way to ask for a recommended bar in New York, the best way to get over jet-lag, or even the best way to chat up the cabin crew!

“Virgin Atlantic always tries to ensure passengers have plenty to keep them entertained and occupied during their flight with us, from the best blockbuster films to seat-back sudoku and an onboard meditation programme - the AQA text service complements these perfectly.”

Paul Cockerton, Marketing Director from IssueBits, the provider of the AQA service commented, “We’re delighted to partner with Virgin Atlantic to provide the world’s first airborne text question answering service. We already have thousands of customers who use AQA for advice, information and entertainment whilst abroad, now they don’t even have to wait until their land planes to find out the latest restaurants, bars or chat up lines in the local language.”

The AQA service will be rolled out across the Virgin Atlantic fleet of aircraft later this month. All Virgin Atlantic aircraft are fitted with personal seat back TV’s for every passenger. The V:Port entertainment system has over 500 hours of Video and Audio on demand which allows passengers to stop, start, fast forward and rewind all the action.

Any Question Answered (AQA) is a privately owned limited company based in London and has over 500 researchers working from home answering questions 24 hours a day. AQA has answered over three million questions since its launch on 22nd April 2004. The first question asked was ‘What’s the population of London?’. To test out the AQA service in the UK, and to find out why the sky is blue, text a question to 63336 from your mobile phone. Each question costs £1 in England. In Ireland, text questions to 57275 (cost €2).

Sample Q&A

Q. Why is New York called the Big Apple?
A. New York was called "The Big Apple" in the 1920's in reference to its many race tracks, as horses were rewarded with apples. It became official in 1971.

Q. What was the first film to show a flushing toilet?
A. The debut of the flushing toilet on the silver screen came in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho. A flushing toilet used to be a cinema taboo.

Q. How many people in the world have a cold right now?
A. 86,191,000 people in the world have a cold right now. Adults get 2-4 colds a year, children get 6-8 colds a year, and women get more colds than men.

Q. Why after you yawn is everything louder?
A. Yawning clears the opening of the Eustachian tube, much like swallowing to equalise on a plane. The Eustachian tube is around 35mm long.

Q. How much typing do you do with your left hand?
A. On average, a person's left hand does 56% of the typing. The words ''stewardesses'' and ''reverberated'' are the longest words typed with only the left.

Q: Which cereal is better for making trousers, Shreddies or Shredded Wheat?
A: The best cereal for making a pair of trousers depends on the effect you’d like. Shreddies work well for patchwork, Shredded Wheat is better for weaving.

Q: Why did Lady Penelope never get laid by any of the thunderbirds?
A: Lady Penelope clearly thought there would be too many strings attached. Sleeping with the Thunderbirds can only lead to a complicated, tangled mess.

Q. Does POSH originate from Port Outward Starboard Home?
A. Posh dates back to at least 1867 in the sense of meaning a dandy or fop. The best guess as to its origin is that it derives from Romani, Gypsy language.

Q. How many countries drive on the left?
A. There are 75 countries that drive on the left, including Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bermuda, Botswana, Brunei and the Cayman Islands.

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