deltheking

Hi,
As everyone knows, EK's ICE entertainment is the best in the world. I, for one, will travel EK only for the ICE, irrespective of seat pitch,food etc. Those 15 hr journeys are a breeze courtesy ICE.

I have often wondered why no other world airlines have copied EK's ICE. I mean, the variety and choices on ICE are unbeatable. I thought maybe another Middle East airline like Qatar or Etihad or maybe Singapore would try to get a better system or atleast a comparable one to ICE.

Yes, Qatar/Etihad/Sing entertainment options are pretty decent- but no way near EK's ICE. So, why have other airlines not been able to do this ? Is it the cost or does it not matter a lot to the paying public ?

eightblack

I think it probably does come down to cost. Licensing/royalties or whatever fees they pay the media companies for the content on ICE wouldnt be cheap.

I remember an interview with Tim Clark where they spoke about ICE and his comment was something like "we will continue to outspend the competition on IFE" and that EK wants to lead in this space no matter the cost. I think its personally become a big differentiator for the airline.

Gringuito

For sure ICE is good, but there is a lot of censorship in the movies...

Havoc10G

Some editing as with all airlines. I was surprised to see Derek and Clive on the radio section, however!

grahampros

It's less and less a differentiating factor as folks carry tablets etc now. On board power and wifi is more the key now for many of us when it comes to long trips. IFE is just not the deciding factor for most travelers. Nice bonus but not why most choose airline A or B.

B747-437B

Good luck if you wind up on 332/343 equipment without ICE then. IFE on those aircraft is a joke.

lazard

Because most passengers use their laptop or tablet for entertainment, especially in coach. And almost all modern planes have an outlet for every seat so you don't have to worry about running out of juice.

flyinganglo

virgin Atlantic has a similar system on some of there aircraft

UA Fan

As I found out on my DXB-TRV flights recently.

jackiedada

Agree, its not so much of a differentiating factor now as compared to some years ago, but it adds to the overall EK experience especially given the wide selection of choices that is available even for Y pax...

kitbag1984

Can't remember the last time I used it. Much prefer my ipad.

subject2load

I don't see it as much of a differentiating factor. Obviously it's good to have a reasonable selection of entertainment on offer, but I very much doubt that many FT's choose an airline based on ICE alone. For me, the overall service standards & general comfort are much more important, and in particular I have always felt that it's the quality of crew who ultimately determine the passenger 'experience' - in whatever class - rather than any technology, facilities etc etc.

I myself seem to find all manner of things to do on board, whether listening to (my own) music, reading, sleeping, or chatting to crew (plus, if it's the A380, making use of the bar.....)

silver-tls

In the belly of the aircraft they have a little man running around loading tapes and due to weight, they can only carry so many tapes. Oh wait, I'm thinking of 10 years ago when they used to walk around offering movies and you'd be angry if your neighbor picked the movie you wanted to watch :P

dddc

I really don't understand why you would want to use a tablet instead of the IFE? Would you really find it hard not to find something to watch amongst all that entertainment available?

I'm looking forward to seeing what all the fuss about ICE is about on my upcoming flights (A380 and 777 with the older ICE) so I'm not going to load any entertainment on my tablet. I did that ages ago, downloading gigabytes before my UK-OZ flight and ended up quiet happy with Qantas' selection.

I can understand if you wanted to watch a box set or something, but I'd rather carry less on the plane with me if I know that there was a decent selection. I can understand it if you are on a aircraft that doesn't have a good set up, or the horrid ones that have the 2 hour loop and you get stuck having to wait for them to rewind it all so you can watch something else!

YohYohY

I always have my laptop and iPad with me but very rarely watch movies on those when travelling with Emirates.

Travelling on Emirates means I get to watch most of the latest movies with little distraction - I live in Dubai, going to the cinema there is a nightmare, people constantly talking, on the phone or texting.