Foreign Airlines have Better IFE's

[ptbodale]

From "The Daily" at Air Canada.

USA Today recently carried a story on airline in-flight entertainment systems, and Air Canada’s IFE product compared favourably with other international airlines. The article noted that more airlines are rolling out high-end in-flight entertainment products in the economy cabin, ushering in an era in which passengers have greater control and selection of movies, songs and video games.
"Basically, there is no U.S. airliner that provides entertainment equipment in economy class comparable with foreign airliners," says Herkea Jea, an executive in Fremont, Calif., who frequently travels internationally and ranks Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic as among the best. Other carriers consistently cited by travelers and experts for having advanced systems include Korean Air, Etihad Airways, Air Canada, British Airways and Australia's Qantas. To read the entire article, click on:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2008-05-05-inflight-entertainment_N.htm

[TAP-A343]

Foreign airlines have everything better.

[HalcyonDays]

Foreign airlines have everything better.

"Foreign" is a relative term. It's hard for some Americans to credit this, but America is a foreign country to 95% of the world's population.

[DeltaFlyer]

Wonder why he left out Delta, guess it wouldnt have played out to his theory that all US carriers or inferior to International Carriers..

By June 1, 2008 IFE will be on 131 aircraft in both cabins and 59 aircraft in bizelite only, by Dec 2008 IFE will be added to an additional 15 aircraft in both cabins...by the end of 2008 Delta will have the largest IFE fleet in the world..

Delta (except the new 777LR):

Screen Location: seatback

Screen Size: 7"

Video: 28 movies
60 hrs of HBO on Demand
18 channels live TV (domestic)
25hrs on demand TV (international)

Audio: 3000 MP3's

Other Features: 12 video games
realtime moving map

The new 777LR offers:

Screen Location: seatback

Screen Size: 10.6" bizelite/9" economy

Video: 200 movies
100hrs HBO on Demand
150 TV shows

Audio: 4000 MP3's
40 music vidoes (20 from Bollywood artists)

Other features: "flykids" a designated childrens area
realtime moving map
12 video games
language tools

[el]

Wonder why he left out Delta, guess it wouldnt have played out to his theory that all US carriers or inferior to International Carriers..

By June 1, 2008 IFE will be on 131 aircraft in both cabins and 59 aircraft in bizelite only, by Dec 2008 IFE will be added to an additional 15 aircraft in both cabins...by the end of 2008 Delta will have the largest IFE fleet in the world..

There you go... one step ahead of LH where the majority of longhaul planes will still be without IFE in economy for the foreseeable future. But then flying LH longhaul in Y has never been very appealing anyway.

[ptbodale]

Since this website is based in the U.S. I labelled the thread this way.

[AA 1818]

Since this website is based in the U.S. I labelled the thread this way.

Somantics aside (and I do not think that it was wrong to use the word 'foreign'), I wonder why this is news to anyone. In the U.S., most LCCs provide better IFE than their Legacy carriers competitors. The only carrier that is attempting to change the depressing trend is DL. I was hoping that by now AA would consider similar moves, but it seems as if they have no incentive to change and even more problems internally to fix prior to improoving their in-flight product. On a side note, their new business-class cabins on the 767s are quite nice:

[Bok269]

Somantics aside (and I do not think that it was wrong to use the word 'foreign'), I wonder why this is news to anyone. In the U.S., most LCCs provide better IFE than their Legacy carriers competitors. The only carrier that is attempting to change the depressing trend is DL. I was hoping that by now AA would consider similar moves, but it seems as if they have no incentive to change and even more problems internally to fix prior to improoving their in-flight product. On a side note, their new business-class cabins on the 767s are quite nice:

CO is installing LiveTV across their 737NG and 757-300 fleet. They are also installing AVOD in the 757-200 and 777 fleets.

[AA 1818]

CO is installing LiveTV across their 737NG and 757-300 fleet. They are also installing AVOD in the 757-200 and 777 fleets.

Wow - really, I didn't know. COOL! Why is there a differentation of the product, though? I mean, why put LiveTV on the 737NGs and 757-300s and not on all? Routes served not conducive to the service? BTW, what routes do they use the 757-300s on? Do the have the range to do Transatlantic with decent loads? Or are they really only used for domestic/North American operations?

[Bok269]

Wow - really, I didn't know. COOL! Why is there a differentation of the product, though? I mean, why put LiveTV on the 737NGs and 757-300s and not on all? Routes served not conducive to the service? BTW, what routes do they use the 757-300s on? Do the have the range to do Transatlantic with decent loads? Or are they really only used for domestic/North American operations?

The 737 classics aren't getting them because they will be retired in the near future. The 737NGs and 753s will be getting them since neither do much in the way of international flying (LiveTV only works domestically). The 752s and 777s are getting AVOD since they both do TATL service. The 767s are staying with the old PTVs for the time being IIRC.

[AA 1818]

The 767s are staying with the old PTVs for the time being IIRC.

Hinting that they may be replaced soon? I mean, what will they replace them with? Do they have the money to place an aircraft order for more 787s soon?

[DAL767-400ER]

Hinting that they may be replaced soon? I mean, what will they replace them with? Do they have the money to place an aircraft order for more 787s soon?

The 767s won't be replaced anytime soon, the oldest CO 767s aren't even 8 years old yet, and the average age is around 7 years, so they'll be with CO for at least a decade.

[Bok269]

Hinting that they may be replaced soon? I mean, what will they replace them with? Do they have the money to place an aircraft order for more 787s soon?

A wild, uneducated guess would say that they will be next to get AVOD. Whether that will wait until the economy recovers I don't know.