skycubbie

Curious when the removal of the DirecTV will commence in favour of PDE. I seem to recall reading that the satellite TV to be under a ten-year agreement.

Having used both more than once I'm personally partial to PDE - although I certainly wouldn't object to United also arranging for a satellite TV feed to appear as a function of PDE alongside the sizeable onboard server-stored content.

Skycubbie

LASUA1K

I like the sat tv. Hopefully UA can offer sat tv for PDE.

jp12687

i like seat back entertainment. i want to use my tablet to do work or search the web while watching TV/movies-- i hate the removal of seat back entertainment in favor of use a device.

channa

Delta is adding seatback TVs to its A319/A320 fleet. Why would UA remove TVs when the competition is adding them?

ryman554

1. Because they are heavy.
2. Because the strategy is to move toward streaming PDE.
3. Newly delivered 737 do not have them.

You may disagree with #2. Many reasonable people do, but there is something to be said for consistency across the fleet -- particularly within a class of plane.

emcampbe

But which kind of seat back entertainment?

Even if you use the 'DL is adding it argument' as Chana does, let's not be rediculus and suggest it's the same as what UA has on their 737s, which is a pay per flight version of the cable you have at home, with only about 20 or so channels. It's difficult to find something watchable, IME, and so even in F, where it's free, I often don't watch.

IME, your argument holds more water if you're talking about an AVOD system where one can choose what they watch. When we're talking about a screen that you have to pay to activate with barely anything on, I'd much rather have the streaming solution, which IME, works fairly well.

I'd be happy if PDE replaced the DTV seat back entertainment, or at least was offered as an option alongside of it. Even if you had to pay for it, I'd sooner pay for PDE than the DTV that UA has.

critten

I am down for personal device over paying for directv but would like these in addition:

1. better wifi
2. seat back ipad holders(I cannot stand looking down for 3 hours!)
3. plugs that would be closer to the seat in front, rather than below my legs(and plugs that can hold a charger without it falling out!)

meh picky but that would be a nice perk to be able to choose to watch my own itunes stuff over commercials/things I don't want to watch.

Just my thoughts - recently flew LATAM who has this now...just did not get the app/have time to get the app to use it properly.

emcampbe

A seat back tablet holder would definitely be a nice touch.

The plugs on the 737/Airbus fleet are a bit of annoyance from a placement perspective, I agree - would rather have them to the seat act in front, like NH does. But the BF seats on PMCO metal also are horribly places behind ones head (to the side) when sitting up. And on the 737s, I agree it can fall out when I adjust my legs even slightly. But they are still way better then the F plugs on the E75s. On the single side, at least I can get my iPhone charger in, though it constantly falls out. On the two seat side, I have never been able to get them to plug in properly at all. I saw someone else having the same issue last week, and I told them not to bother.

As for having iPad content play to the screen, I thought PMUA used to have that option in IPTE seats, though it required a special adaptor.

EWR764

All UA aircraft equipped with hard-wired AVOD have Panasonic eXport installed.

I've never once seen it used, though.

pseudoswede

I'm not sure if you're aware, but on Airbus aircraft with PDE, your tablet cover can easily slide into the magazine holder.



(I cannot take credit for this, but this has been an amazing lifehack since it seems all of my flights recently have been on A319/320s. I'm taking a 739 on Friday, so we'll see how that goes.)

critten

Yep the airbus and maybe some newer crafts has the area where you can put a flap in (Don't even try the magnetic apple ones though!) I haven't tried it much though now it will be PERFECT with my new bose QC35 wireless.

I always try to opt for the plane with the largest open first seating so rarely fly the airbus. It would be nice if UA put a simple cloth band or something cheap and easy to hold the device in place! If it didn't stick out and made other people crash into it on the way out of the isle, that would be a huge perk!

tods27

I thought that this was covered several times in the past. IIRC, the Directv install was paid for by DirecTV and will stay as long as the contract is in place for those planes. I don't know what the length of the contract is, but a search should yield more info on this.

LarryJ

I also prefer the current PDE over DTV but the DTV 737s have a lot more than 20 live channels. I don't know the number but it is extensive. Where that system is limited is in the number of movies available with only 8.

The free PDE live TV on SWA has a very limited channel selection but it is free. They charge for the onboard movies/episodes.

It would be great if we could get the large DTV lineup added to the PDE system but I don't know if that will ever happen.

EWR764

In the works, as I understand.

sbm12

Thales has the systems in testing right now; I still need to schedule a visit to see them in action. Install timeline on UA aircraft is an open question as I understand things. I think JetBlue might be first starting early 2017 but things keep shifting with the whole product so it is hard to nail down.