FAMILY TRAVEL TIPS

Make Time Fly While Traveling

New Entertainment Options Keep Passengers At Ease While In The Air

(NAPSI)-Say goodbye to fluorescent lights and annoying co-workers--it's time for the annual family vacation. While anxiously packing a suitcase filled with sunscreen and leisure reading, we often avoid thinking about over-crowded airports, long lines and the dreaded "Are we there yet?" syndrome. However, on-the-go entertainment options have increased dramatically this year, making airline travel more practical, less aggravating and--dare I say--even enjoyable.

In an effort to give passengers a more pleasant in-flight experience, more and more airlines have begun to offer new amenities that allow passengers to stay entertained while in the air, including Web browsing, wireless broadband with e-mail, seat-to-seat instant messaging capabilities, music, movies and games. Larger aircraft with personal media players at your seat offer even more for travelers, with certain airlines now offering such niche entertainment as DirecTV service, the Sundance Movie Channel, more than 100 satellite radio stations, Pay Per View options featuring new releases, the ability to build and share personalized playlists and much, much more.

Even travelers stuck on airlines not equipped with in-flight entertainment or frequent fliers who have exhausted the available movie selection no longer have to rely on bulky laptops or portable DVD players to watch a movie in flight. Digital Copy, a new DVD format backed by several of the major film studios, gives consumers more convenience and choice in how and where they watch their favorite films.

DVDs featuring Digital Copy come packaged with a second disc that includes a digital version of the film along with the purchased standard DVD. Insert the additional disc into your desktop or laptop computer and in less than a minute the film is loaded directly to your iTunes or Windows Media library. Once the film is uploaded to your digital media library it can be easily transferred to a video-enabled iPod or other portable video player--without having to pay extra costs associated with traditional digital media downloads. (Digital Copy works great on road trips, too.)

Twentieth Century Fox is leading the charge for Digital Copy, offering plenty of fan- and family-favorite flicks including "Juno," "X-Men" and "Robots" on DVD with Digital Copy. The studio has more than 30 titles available featuring this new technology, so you can find a film to entertain anyone and everyone in the family. Even better, some airlines are offering in-flight iPhone/Pod connectivity so you don't have to worry about your device running out of power halfway through a second viewing of "Ice Age: The Meltdown."

So, if the thought of sitting at a 90° angle for four hours makes you wonder if you'd have been better off swimming in your bathtub than your destination's luxury resort pool, today's wealth of in-flight entertainment options will surely help make your time in the air seem shorter and more pleasant. Perhaps your next trip will be less about focusing on the destination and more about enjoying the journey.

Digital copy transfers of DVDs such as "Ice Age: The Meltdown" to personal portable video players make the skies seem a little friendlier while in flight.