US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - No more music on US?

Anyone else experience this? Last night I was in F on PIT-LAX and none of the music worked. When I checked with the flight attendant she told me that it is a cost cutting measure-no more inflight music on trans continental flights.

It amazes me that US can use that excuse to cut costs when UA shows TV programs and you have headphones to listen to music. And HP uses their monitors to show trivia. Very good ways to pass the time on these flights if you ask me. But then again, US is slimming down to be nothing more than a regional airline so I guess there is no reason to institute these perks to make the PAX easier to deal with.

Soon they will be passing out sleeping pills to us so we just sleep on the planes. But would that be an increase in cost for them?

I find this so annoying as well. The headphones are the best way to shut off discussion if you aren't in the mood to chat.

This is another example of how the "full-service" airlines are handing their business to the Southwests and Jet Blues type carriers. They are leaving nothing that differentiates their product; in fact, by dumping music, they're behind Jet Blue, which offers video. These are actually the sorts of fairly inexpensive perks that US should be adding to its flights.

I don't understand this. I would think that music and tv could be a source of revenue for the airlines. If they ran it right they could charge companies to advertise.

I just don't get it. I flew Delta last week from LGA-ATL, had music and in flight tv. What a great way to pass the time.

If this keeps up I may migrate to Delta and UA permanentyl.

rawbert

We were told today that 'the music is not working.' I didnt realize that this is a permanent problem. Most unfortunate.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SouthernCAFLyer:
Anyone else experience this? Last night I was in F on PIT-LAX and none of the music worked. When I checked with the flight attendant she told me that it is a cost cutting measure-no more inflight music on trans continental flights.</font>

I got the same story heading to SFO 2/27 and coming back last night.

They could at least add "Channel 9" a la UA... A "white noise" channel would be nice too http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

What is included in the entertainment section of the March Attache?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ATC:
What is included in the entertainment section of the March Attache?</font>

As I recall the usual description of musical selections was there.

Last Thursday night on the redeye from SFO to PIT they handed out headsets and then didn't show a movie. Since I was trying to sleep I never checked to see whether there was music...

I was on two USAirways Shuttle flights last week...not only was there a Fox News in-flight presentation, but they handed out the expensive headphones (i.e. not the tube-like ones commonly found on Delta and others) and there was a full selection of music. Sure this product has to compete with the Delta Shuttle which offers the same, but on a 45 minutes flight one can easily do without such perks whereas on a transcon, this is much more appreciated by passengers. I would say the same about the food service found on the DL and US shuttles.

I called GP res line and the agent had to really dig to find the info, but on March 3, all music was removed from the narrowbody fleet. We both joked that it would actually cost them more to do this than they would save. Smells like another half-baked Baldenza decision to me.

Hey EmoryFlyer,

Please drop me an e-mail if you see this message http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif (My e-mail address is under the 'profile' icon of my posts).

BackOfTheBus

FYI, Continental permits you to bring your own headphones on their flights and use them without an entertainment charge.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TTT103:
FYI, Continental permits you to bring your own headphones on their flights and use them without an entertainment charge.</font>

US uses a non standard double jack, if you
use a regular headphone you only get audio
on one side. Anybody ever seen a adaptor for
those jacks?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by djk7:
US uses a non standard double jack, if you
use a regular headphone you only get audio
on one side. Anybody ever seen a adaptor for
those jacks?</font>

I've never seen one for sale, although my Sony NC-20 headphones came with an adapter jack for the "two pronged" airline outlets.

You might try Radio Shack, although if US is doing away with music, I don't know that it matters....

------------------
Saving the world, one clue at a time.

All you want is a Y-adapter with 1 single female 1/8" female stereo end, and 2 male 1/8" mono ends.

You could probably build one from $3 in parts and some soldering skills, but why bother when Ratshack has it: CAT# 42-2495. I believe they even call it an "airline headphone adapter." Should be about $5.

I love it because it allows me to use my noise-cancelling or high-fidelity headphones instead of the cheap plastic ones that US provides.

Go to froogle.com (excellent e-commerce search site run by the google people) and use the search term "Airline Headphone Adapter" You should find plenty of them.

edited for spelling

[This message has been edited by Oxb (edited 03-06-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by djk7:
US uses a non standard double jack, if you
use a regular headphone you only get audio
on one side. Anybody ever seen a adaptor for
those jacks?</font>

Brookstone sells a small folding headset with such an adapter for about $15.

[This message has been edited by us2 (edited 03-06-2003).]

The issue is not headphones - they still give those out; the issue is there is no music even if you have headphones.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by markbach:
You could probably build one from $3 in parts and some soldering skills, but why bother when Ratshack has it: CAT# 42-2495. I believe they even call it an "airline headphone adapter." Should be about $5.
</font>

Yes, that's where I got mine. I actually started off with a pair of noise cancelling headphones, but they were a bit bulky so I returned them and bought one of the Radio Shack adapters and a pair of small in-the-ear headphones. Although I do lose the noise cancelling feature, the size more than compensates. A couple fo colleagues of mine that travel primarily on trans-pacific flights purchased the Bose headphones for $299. Although they are awesome, they are huge. Sony and Aiwa also make lesser expenseive (and smaller) noise cancelling models.