inflight entertainment

On the subject of 'inflight entertainment'....

Malaysian Airlines has made a big fuss lately of it's games that you can supposedly play between passengers on the same plane (even across banks of seats, so I can play against someone further away in the cabin).

So far, I've just seen the TV advert, where two people are fighting on a 'kendo' game, and then one turns off a light sabre at the end, where the whole cabin is dark. There's also the newspaper ads, where it says words to the effect of 'between (seat number) and (seat number), a galactic battle is being fought'

Questions - have these come out yet on Malaysian ? Are they stock standard in the cabin, and if they are, what's people's opinion on it all ? I know that Singapore Airlines have got the old Nintendo games (mario etc.) in economy.

Second Question - If Qantas have just received an award for in-flight entertainment (as I belive that they have where I read from the national Australian newspapers), where are these 'in flight games' etc. in economy ? Can I just say that IMHO, BA do a damn sight better job in economy, on the inflight entertainment, giving everyone their own TV in the back of the seat (in economy), so you can watch whatever you want, when you want. Qantas have just got a few screens for everyone to share. I flew back from LAX to LHR a while ago in the economy cabin, and having my own screen (yes, even in economy) was a welcome change.

BTW - the word that I've heard from the adverts is that in some cities, you'll get helicopter transport (instead of the limo) in London and Paris to get to the airport with Malaysian Airlines ; but only if you're flying first. Is this true - can someone clarify please ?

 

The QF award for IFE was for the overhead entertainment and not the games. QF are all but 1 or 2 B744s off for the in seat games for the whole aircraft and one reason you don't see the same games across rival manufacturer systems is due to copyright. The other driver for the type of interactive entertainment is how much the airline wants to spend.
Believe me when I say that if you send an email to their Customer Centre and say something like "Airline X & Y have better games than QF, maybe I'll fly them instead" then that may drive change.
QF are VERY sensitive to customer criticism.

If you've flown Air NZ lately, you'll see that they only have 1 of the latest movies and all the rest are obscure types that may show only on SBS or the ABC one late night. Sometimes they're good but really offbeat themes.

I commented to Air NZ Public Relations once that their seats were too shallow for big people and before long they changed the seat cushioning. It's relatively comfortable once more.

 

In Flight Qantas

I'm due to fly QF internationally in June, will be going MEL-LAX, then taking AA through to CHI and ALB, then back from ALB to CHI to MAN with AA, on from MAN to FRA with BA, QF down through to SIN, stopover and then SIN-PER-ADL-SYD.

I wouldn't mind sitting there and just having a couple of generic games on the flight, e.g. Tetris, pacman. As it stands, I have to unpack the laptop and go with that, but more often than not, I'm bored out of my head on the plane and sit there working / reading instead Maybe catch a bit of sleep.

The individual screen on BA, even in economy is really good. The beauty of that is, if you don't like what's on the big screen, you can sit there and watch what you want instead. Personally, I'd go for a sports digest channel or a 'discovery channel'.

It would be funny if the Sega-Nintendo rivalry was translated through to Star Alliance / One World - e.g Sega on *A, Nintendo on OW.

I might just do that and send QF a letter - it is a very good way of making a point, and who knows, by the time I get on the plane, something may be there ?

 

icemann, I wouldn't be too worried about the QF flights. The new QF IFE is great, games in steerage (which you will NOT get on BA), no main screen movies (so if you want to sleep, you can do so and the cabin is dark).

Dave

 

Just back from a SYD-JHB-SYD trip with the Seat Back IFE a great hit with the kids. The one strange thing though was that the kid's channel (A Nickleoden selection) had the exact same program on both the outbound and inbound flights - this was not a major issue with Miss 5 and Miss 8. I however was somewhat miffed to see the same program on the Comedy Channel, Discovery (including a Michael Palin episode on Sahara) and the Sports channel...not happy Jan, particularly when the movie selection was poor. I then had two SYD-CANB-SYD flights a week later and the Sitcom (An episode of Everybody loves Raymond) was the same as the one on the Internatinal flight! I guess it's part of the problem of having monthly programs. Anyone else had similar problems.

 

Yep. Had the same problems.

That's why, if I can, I will try to get different carriers throughout my itinerary. Different IFE, different inflight mags.

Nothing against any carrier, it's just, after getting on the plane, reading the in-flight magazine, I know that on the way back, I'll have the same magazine to read / entertainment to watch. Boring. Personally though, I like the CityFlyer because I catch up with the day's news.

Failing that, I try to do a business trip / holiday at the end of a month so that it overlaps into the next month. Result - new magazine edition, kept up to date with the latest news / offers from the QFF pages.

I notice that with the IFE, if it's to and from the same region, e.g. Asia to Australia within the same month, the IFE should be the same (looking at the back of the inflight magazine), because that's what they show on that particular route.

 

I always carry my own CD player, at leat then I have some alternatives

 

There's been teething (birthing a new system) problems on the A330s.
Some aircraft are better than others, however I think the screens have got poor viewability from an angle.

Where the B744s have TES, the A330s have eTES. eTES supposedly has a greater capacity for content.
There is some talk about the A330s going INT but SARS may have put a temp delay on that. If they go INT the A330s will be probably conformed to the B744 style of IFE. (seat back video, etc.)

 

A330 In-flight Entertainment

I flew the A330 this morning MEL-PER and found the IFE better than you'd find in some of the older 733/734.

The screens were quite far away in Economy (level with the next screen), especially when sitting next to the window.

Having the screens at the back of the seats would be better! (As would flying business class, but you get what you(r company) pay(s) for!

 

Domestically... who cares whether they work or not, it usually ain't worth watching. What is the point of having IFE as a something to differentiate themself from Virgin Blue, when they only half do the job. When you have a 2hr + flight (eg BNE-MEL) all u get is mindless on Q adds followed by Everybody Hates Raymond and some old music videos. In the good ole days AN used to play movies on BNE-MEL sectors (a 90 min movie would fit quite well even with the on Q adds) .... alas maybe that is one of the reasons they are no more! Really, if you can't do a job properly why do it at all?

 

I don't mind the IFE on short hops, particularly if it includes the news bulletin.

Dave

 

...and you don't even need headphones with the subtitles.
I suppose a movie would be nice on the MEL-BNE type legs. Anything to switch out the mindless boredom of economy flying.
(which is why i go for the upgrade on these type of flights).

 

In-Flight, or In-Fight ?

Which brings me to the FA defence courses. I laugh at them whenever I see them on TV doing a 3 day defence course that would never work. I know because I've been a mixed martial artist for 11 years.

I would feel far more threatened by an Air marshal holding a .357 Desert Eagle.

 

Or an In-flight movie on the PER-SYD leg / PER-BNE. News/sport digest suits me on the ADL-MEL / MEL-SYD red-eye flights.