Originally Posted by
ukchris
I beg to differ, but only partailly...! I flew BOS-CLT yesterday and there was indeed a power plug but it's dead..
That is what perplexes me, I can see why they wouldn't bother retro-fitting these planes but why would they disable existing in seat power points?!
My post said the power ports were
disabled and the IFE was
removed.
neotope is correct, the stated purpose at the time was to reduce non-essential weight on the aircraft to cut fuel costs and to cut costs relating to the licensing of the IFE content. The financial world was melting-down and what not. I think they removed a bunch of galley ovens and other non-essential equipment at the same time. IIRC, the IFE backbone weighed something like 500lbs. Digging out the outlets and capping them off would have cost money, and US wasn't interested.
[And I started carrying an extra battery +.5 lbs]