I flew Sunday from SEA-IAH and then IAH-DTW. The DTV worked the whole way from Seattle and it had worked from DTW-IAH-SEA a few days before. But when we boarded in IAH last night, the DTV wasn't working, just the CO channels. This has happened before and the FA has always fixed it. Usually you get on and the DTV is already on, but I have seen it off and then the FA starts it somehow.

Sunday when a few of us pointed out that it wasn't working, the FA said she could do nothing b/c people in economy had already swiped their cards and if she re-set the system, they'd have to swipe them again. Is this true? And wouldn't you be upset if you paid for DTV and only got the CO channels? I certainly wouldn't mind re-swiping my card to get the full channel line up if I'd been in economy. And the FA also announced that those who HAD swiped a card could call CO for a refund. She also said that we were just in a bad zone (we hadn't left IAH yet) and it would come on later. She couldn't get her story straight.

The DTV didn't come on at all. I watched My Sister's Keeper and Nurse Jackie again for the gazillionth time. If we WERE in a bad zone like when I fly to ANC, I'd get it. But I'd just come from SEA and the DTV worked right up to the gate (and then on.)

I'm confused. I heard one FA say it needed to be reset but the one FA wouldn't do it b/c of those who'd paid already. I'd been through this twice before and both times a FA fixed the problem. Now just in case I go through this again in a few weeks, what IS the solution? There must be a way for them to fix it and then have the few people who paid for it get a refund for the 1st "empty" channel line up.

I was a bit ticked off b/c knowing it was a DTV flight I had put everything but my headphones in the overhead bin, and had a very large man sitting next to me who had a difficult time getting out of his seat. I couldn't even put my drink on the arm rest between us in 1st b/c his arms took up the space.

Was the FA wrong? Was there something she could've done? She seemed convinced we were in a dead zone, even before we left the gate. And she mentioned the reset but refused to do so. It was a FULL flight and there were quite a few people not happy about this turn of events. If it was really a malfunction, I get it. But if it was a FA who didn't want to fix it (for her own reasons) or wasn't shown how to fix it, it makes me a bit miffed. And I wasn't the only one.

We pretty much know that it wasn't a dead zone, so the question is, could it have been fixed and if so, would it have caused trouble for the people who had swiped their ccs?