Problem with QF IFE system admitted to by QF

[Dave Noble]

A serious glitch found in the Qantas in-flight entertainment system is leaving long-haul passengers without access to movies and music for large portions of their flights.

The issue, which affects 27 aircraft in Qantas's 747 400 fleet, is so common that the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia (FAAA) has complained of cabin crew exhibiting "stress related problems" resulting from aggressive passengers.

David Cox, executive general manager of engineering at Qantas, acknowledged there was an issue, following a report on the website Smarthouse.com.au.

Full story at Gremlins give passengers a dose of cabin fever - Technology - theage.com.au

Dave

 

[fursten]

Last trip to Lax in Novmber better half of Fursten experieced Gremlin, could not access movies propely . Staff tried resets etc no avail
of course no apology
Fursten

 

[timekeeping]

The IFE locked up on the seat next to me in Y when I flew HKG-SYD earlier this month. The passenger next to me was moved to another seat which was good for me. :mrgreen:

But yes, QF really need to get its act together with the IFE.

Perhaps the much rumoured new seats etc will also mean a new IFE system..

 

[Evan]

Windows CE with Z-Modem download for boot.... When i first saw that on the 330's a few years ago now i laughed and realised why they had a rockwell engineer on the flight to help solve issues !

Still i presume the issue is the server, so you would think QF could push rockwell collins to replace the server side, or atleast some to some deal to replace at cost or share costs.

Having said all that i generally have not had issues very often a few flights requireing reboots but atleast not mid movie and right at the begining of the flight.

Evan

 

[timekeeping]

Windows CE with Z-Modem download for boot.... When i first saw that on the 330's a few years ago now i laughed and realised why they had a rockwell engineer on the flight to help solve issues !

Still i presume the issue is the server, so you would think QF could push rockwell collins to replace the server side, or atleast some to some deal to replace at cost or share costs.

Having said all that i generally have not had issues very often a few flights requireing reboots but atleast not mid movie and right at the begining of the flight.

Evan

<geek speak> WinCE? Gee.. You'd imagine they would be smart enough to put something like this on a more reliable, scalable and customizable os like Linux. On the other hand, MS was making a push for CE to be on set top boxes a few years ago. That got no where. </geek speak>

I've only had the experience of the IFE freezing or rebooting on me mid-flight 3 or 4 times. Once was the FA mistakenly rebooting my IFE instead of the one next to me. The crew was always apologetic about it.

 

[Altair]

"experieced Gremlin, could not access movies propely"

I keep chuckling to myself when people talk about "gremlins". Didn't you know that QF bans them on their flights? Have a look at the safety card and you can see a "Gremlin" in the crossed out circle.:shock:

 

[kyle]

I keep chuckling to myself when people talk about "gremlins". Didn't you know that QF bans them on their flights? Have a look at the safety card and you can see a "Gremlin" in the crossed out circle.:shock:

That's a Furby!

 

[Dave Noble]

latest news

A CRISIS meeting between Qantas managers and air crews will be held tomorrow after breakdowns in the airline's multimillion-dollar entertainment system sparked a passenger backlash.

Full story at Air rage prompts Qantas action - Travel - smh.com.au

Dave

 

[Mal]

I still can't believe this issue has been happening for around 2 years already and Qantas is only now going into panic mode.

It's amazing that an issue has to be written up in the media and whinged about there to get the attention it deserves. Wasn't the X number of complaints logged with Qantas good enough?

Maybe we need more articles on fuel surcharges

 

[NM]

Maybe we need more articles on fuel surcharges

Don't give them any ideas ... I can see the introduction of an AVOD surcharge coming next :evil: .

 

[oz_mark]

I still can't believe this issue has been happening for around 2 years already and Qantas is only now going into panic mode.

It's amazing that an issue has to be written up in the media and whinged about there to get the attention it deserves. Wasn't the X number of complaints logged with Qantas good enough?

Perhaps it demonstrates that Qantas does not analyse in a statistical way the complaints being made. Or, perhaps it is reflective of the contempt that Qantas has for passenger viewpoints. At least the crew have decided to make an issue out of it.