Free DirecTV on Frontier

by Outlawyr

First, the usual disclaimer: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.  Don't do it!

And now, on to the show.

I recently flew on Frontier Airlines for the first time.  Not bad for a discount airline.  They must not whip their employees like the other carriers.  The airline is in Chapter 11, but has actually started turning a profit as of November 2008, so perhaps that accounts for the cheerful disposition.

Anyway, every seat has its own little TV screen with DirecTV, a broadcast satellite service controlled by Liberty Media.  On your arm rest you have controls for volume, channel and brightness, as well as a standard stereo headphone jack.  If you turn brightness all the way down, the screen goes black.  Earplugs are free, but after the initial teaser phase when you can channel surf at will, a message comes up telling you to stick your credit card in the slot if you want to continue watching.  Satellite TV is $5.99.  Movies are $8, and there are three to choose from.

Frugal man that I am, I resisted the urge to give up my hard earned money for a couple hours of television.  But this left me time to ponder how one might hack the system and watch for free.

At first, I tried playing with various button combinations, but this got me nowhere.  Then I remembered that I'd been carrying around an old American Express gift card.  These cards look and function like a credit card, but have a predetermined amount on them when purchased.  The one I had was originally worth $100, but I'd used it all, so the balance was $0.  Unlike a credit card, this gift card isn't traceable to an individual.

Of course, they know who is sitting in what seat on the airplane, but one can always play dumb.  How was I to know what the balance was on the card?  And, this was all in the name of science.  If it wasn't for science, we wouldn't even have airplanes.  Or DirecTV.  Or gift cards.  Thanks science!

So I swiped my gift card in the credit card slot, figuring that they don't process the credit cards while in flight, but rather wait until they land.  After all, why clog the airways with more transmissions?  After swiping the card I was told to press the up channel button to confirm, and then, like magic, I had access to all channels, including the three movies.  I then turned the brightness all the way down, because there really was nothing interesting on.  Solving this little puzzle did, however, serve my purpose of killing some time while stuck in a tiny little seat.

This, of course, leads one to ponder what other situations require a credit card but don't actually run the card at the time of purchase.

Since I always carry my zero value gift card with me, I'm sure I'll get a chance to test it out in the future (without breaking any laws of course).  If anyone has some insight, I'd love to hear from you.

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Shoutout to my lady, Mrs. Outlawyr!
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