Originally Posted by
jamesinclair
The movie selection was in fact great. There's just no such thing as a smart phone that will have enough battery to get you through the flight with juice left over for your destination.
I'm sure I'm not the only one with the issue. Even though three announcements were made explaining how the system worked, it seemed like maybe one out of twenty people were using it. Fifty movies with no battery to watch one is not an amenity
Oh, and the FA made an announcement clarifying that there are no power outlets on board, and sorry.
That's a fair criticism. Like others above, I always try to stay as fully charged as possible before a flight and bring a portable battery charger. The A319/320 fleet is scheduled to be retrofitted with power starting Q3 this year, though only to F and E+.
I just don't understand how purchasing ten overhead lcd monitors to show a movie would have broken the budget on the aircraft.
The Airbuses used to have those drop down LCD screens though they were removed when they were redone with slimlines, larger bins, and WiFi/streaming. So I don't think it's that the screens are necessary expensive to install themselves— it's that the plane (presumably) burns less fuel without the weight of the overhead screens. I guess it sucks, but who's watching that old crappy rerun of Big Bang Theory or NBC Inflight (remember that?) anyway?