Inflight Entertainment -- Spend $$ To Make $$

700UW said:
The narrow body airbus were never equiped with the same system as the 330 and the narrow body airbus still have the IFE.
[post="172985"][/post]​

Oh really. Where are they. They even removed the controls for playing music while boarding and did this quite some time ago. I believe this was one of the first things that Davey boy did to thank all of the "loyal" passengers.
 
balloonguy said:
Oh really. Where are they. They even removed the controls for playing music while boarding and did this quite some time ago. I believe this was one of the first things that Davey boy did to thank all of the "loyal" passengers.
[post="173024"][/post]​

Not on any West Coast flights I've been on. I go to San Diego and Seattle all of the time. They don't even list music and entertainment for anything but International 76's and 330's in the USAIR Magazine.
 
They are right up front at the main entry door to the right. I heard music played yesterday on a A319. I flew last week and watched the system in action.
 
700UW said:
They are right up front at the main entry door to the right. I heard music played yesterday on a A319. I flew last week and watched the system in action.
[post="173027"][/post]​

How was the movie?? I know, what movie??
 
US Airways has not removed IFE equiptment from the A319/320/321 fleet. For a time they were not using boarding music, but it has returned. Boarding music should be played on Airbus flights after 10AM.

Domestic movie markets are as follows:

BOS to AUA, CUN, MBJ, SJU

CLT to ANU, AUA, BZE, LAS, LAX, LRM, MEX, PHX, PUJ, SAN, SEA, SFO, SJU, SKB, STT, STX, SXM

IAD to SJU

LGA to AUA, SJU, STT

PHL to ANU, AUA, BGI, CUN, CZM, GCM, GND, LAS, LAX, MBJ, PHX, PLS, PUJ, SAN, SDQ, SEA, SFO, SJO, SJU, SKB, STT, STX, SXM, UVF

PIT to CUN, LAS, LAX, MBJ, PHX, SAN, SEA, SFO, SJU.

Depending on the duration of the flight they are followed by short subject programming. Audio entertainment is also available on the above flights.

Movies are not shown on red-eyes, by customer preference.

Movies are no longer shown on Airbus flights to DEN, DFW, and IAH for the follwing reasons.

DEN- The company feels that DEN-PIT is too short for a feature film and wants to maintain consistency on the CLT and PHL flights.

DFW and IAH- These markets are also served by B737s. Some of the 737s do have video monitors but they are being removed. DFW will also start getting additional service throughout the day from MidAtlantic E170s, and IAH already has MDA service. The US E170s do not have IFE. The company would rather offer a consistent product than varying ones at different times of day, which makes sense.

As for United and thier IFE, keep in mind that its only on mainline flights. I could buy a ticket on United tomorrow from DEN-RDU, SFO-AUS, or SFO-SAT, and not only live without a movie, but be stuffed into a cramped CRJ700. These flights are longer than US's hub service to DEN, DFW, and IAH. US Airways doesnt send RJs on such long flights, the longest I can think of would be maybe CLT-YUL which may be changed to MDA service- MSP is the westernmost RJ city for US, but that will return to all mainline/MDA when the PIT service is discontinued. I do applaud that UA offers it for free on flights that do have IFE, but US does need additional revenue.

The A330 P@ssport system has won US Airways awards for its transatlantic product. The 767 IFE is very inferior to the A330 but pretty much standard for US carriers transatlantic service.

As the A320 family aircraft are moved out of east coast short haul service and onto longer haul routes I wouldnt be surprised to see if not in-seat entertainment, at least an expanded Overture product.

On that note, this paragraph was in that review made up for the pilots:

"the Company also proposed to refresh its product offering by installing [text omitted]. It has generated cost estimates for such modifications to the current fleet based on reasonable intelligence, but we are not aware of any airline that has modified its planes in such manner. [Text omitted.] "

What could the text omitted be?
 
balloonguy said:
Not on any West Coast flights I've been on. I go to San Diego and Seattle all of the time. They don't even list music and entertainment for anything but International 76's and 330's in the USAIR Magazine.
[post="173026"][/post]​

Well either your last flight was a week after 9/11 or you're Helen Keller.

US Airways inflight magazine is called Attache, you can find the website here. Under the section called "Guide", and then Inflight Entertainment, you'll find listings for Flights Within The United States, Transatlantic flights, and Airbus A330. Channels 1 and 9 are English, 2 and 10 are Spanish. For August, Westbound or Southbound, you would see the following:

*Shrek 2
*Twice Upon A Time: The Tale of Shrek 2
*Frasier
*E! Entertainment
*FOX News Channel
*A&E Growing Up Gotti
*Travel A La Mode: Bermuda
*ESPN Sports Century: Greg Louganis

When was the last time you flew? If the magazine was really called "USAIR" and you got an ice cream sandwich then things have changed a good bit! ;)
 
Light Years said:
When was the last time you flew? If the magazine was really called "USAIR" and you got an ice cream sandwich then things have changed a good bit! ;)
[post="173051"][/post]​

It is easy to spot those who are not really flying on US metal and just complain for whatever reason--he says he is "a Chairman".

By the way, I loved those rock hard ice cream sandwiches and foot rests on the 767, and the BA-146 (??) flights from LAX to SAN. Also, it was great when you could fly from SAN to PHL with a decent layover in LAS to go to the casinos to gamble.
 
The awards were for US's transatlantic service. Domestically, US Airways offers IFE on flights of a certain length, consistently, regardless of equiptment type (cant say that for UA or CO with thier long haul RJ routes). Whether or not any kind of IFE is neccessary on say, CLT-ILM, PHL-PIT, or PHL-BUF I suppose depends on one's individual need to be entertained for such short times.

Most of US Airways domestic flights are around 1.5 to 2 hours long because everything is closer in the east. On the flights that are longer, US offers the same (transcon) or better (international) than its network competition. UA offers audio on all mainline flights (I stress this because passengers dont know its SkyWest or Mesa flying them from DEN to the east coast, its United). They offer movies on flights of three hours or more (again, as long as its opertated by mainline), which is pretty much US's policy except that you will always be on mainline for long flights.

I guess some airlines go for consistency and some dont. When the A330 or 767 flies between PHL and PIT, US doesnt show IFE on the 40 minute flight because they dont on the 170, 757, Airbus, 737, or CRJs that also do that route.

If we were to really compare services, you would have to look at United's north-south east coast routes. Most of them are Express carriers. If you compare transcon you'll find a pretty similar product. US doesnt have any midcon hubs, so you cant really compare in that sense, as UA will obviously have longer flights and more generous offerings.

A better comparison would be United vs. American and US Airways vs. Delta as the route networks are more similar.

I was only clarifying misinformation about US's product. I certainly wasnt trying to hurt anyone at United's feelings (?) or get into a sandbox argument about which failing airline is "better". So here's a gold star and a pat on the head to United for having audio IFE on every (mainline) flight. :rolleyes:
 
After speaking to my technical advisory crew (aka - the Fly Kids, Maggots for short), I deleted my previous post. Sorry about that, didn't want to insult anyone.

Carry on