Both Hilton Hotels and American Airlines announced this week they are ramping up programs to entertain their traveling clientele.

First up, American Airlines revealed they will be running a four month pilot (pun!) program in which business/first class customers will be loaned Archos 704 PMPs and Bose QuietComfort headsets. Don’t worry, though — us working class coach customers will have the option of renting a lower-end Archos with earbuds. (Fees haven’t been disclosed yet.) The portable media centers will be preloaded with movies, shows, and tunes.

I can’t imagine the maintenance of the devices (loading media, wiping them down) will be efficient and I wonder how well the hardware will hold up. I also wonder if folks in coach will bother paying. I know I won’t. However, I would pay big bucks for an Internet connection.

Meanwhile, Hilton Hotels is rolling out home theater accommodations in Chicago and San Francisco. The 50 rooms will each be outfitted with a 42″ plasma, Yamaha YSP-800 digital sound projector, HD DirecTV, and XM radio programming. In addition, a “connectivity panel” and Monster Cable pack will be provided to link all sorts of MP3 players and digital cameras. Paris Hilton had no comment.

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