Doing the Math

Following up on my last post:

I was just on a flight (Alaska Airlines - usually a really good company), where they wanted to charge us $10 for a portable entertainment device thingee. It sits on your lap and plays movies, TV shows, music, etc.

Looking around, it appeared that maybe one in 10 (if that) people actually paid for one.

So, let's do the math:
Assuming 1 in 10 buy, a plane with, say, 200 passengers = 20 buyers.
At $10 each, that's $200 revenue.

Compare this to the "old way" of just having a few screens drop down from the ceiling.
If the airline simply added $1 to every ticket on the flight, revenue would also = $200.

Cost-wise, both options have their own pros and cons.
As far as actual "product", I'm sure the personal players are better in many ways, since they allow users to pick and choose their entertainment.

But, all these other things being equal, what's the brand impact?

Personally, I feel that the airline is being cheap with the "personal player approach". It just serves to remind me of all the other things that used to be included in the price of a flight that are no longer available (at least not for "free"). I'd much rather pay an extra buck for my ticket and put up with a mediocre movie or two. Or, ideally, still keep a handful of the personal players for those passengers who want them -- treat it like an extra, not a substitute.

I'm a cheapskate, so I appreciate airlines reducing costs by cutting services. That's especially good for short, low-price, regional or commuter flights. But when we're talking about a several-hundred-dollar, multi-hour flight, how many passengers would care about (or even notice) a price difference of less than, say, $10 on their ticket?