Airlines upgrade entertainment in economy cabin
Still No Legroom, But Better In-Flight Flicks
Traveler Jea says he recently flew on a United 777 uaua flight and found only nine channels of video and about 20 audio channels: "The system condition is not good. I can say that on almost every flight I have been on, there was something wrong with the equipment. Either the video image was not there or the audio channel produced no sound."
JetBlue jblu, which has stood out among domestic carriers for its satellite TV and radio programming, is eliminating free headsets as of June 1. Passengers will have to bring their own or buy one at the gate.
Still, there have been recent signs of improvement. Most large U.S. carriers, such as Continental cal, Delta dal, American amr and United, are upgrading their existing fleets, particularly in premium-class cabins. "There's not one domestic carrier not making significant upgrades," says James of Panasonic Avionics.
Virgin America, a U.S. carrier started last year and linked to British businessman Richard Branson, features its highly touted in-flight entertainment system, Red, which has many of the features found on foreign airlines, such as movies on demand and in-seat messaging. But it comes with a cost: The airline charges $5 to $7 for its movies.
Among other in-flight entertainment developments:
•Video. Perhaps the most applauded development is on-demand delivery, which lets users pause, rewind or fast-forward movies and songs. In the old system, movies were simply "distributed" from the server or played on tape. In overhauling its entertainment system in the last two years, Air Canada installed its entire fleet with on-demand capability. Lufthansa is undergoing a similar conversion.
Individual seatback monitors have also become the industry standard. Emirates has one of the largest screens — 10.6 inches — for coach seats.
Thanks to the expanding capability of the aircraft server, the volume of movies, songs and games is constantly growing. Several foreign carriers boast more than 100 movies, categorized in various genres targeted at customer demographics.
