Originally Posted by
jsloan
The problem with the DTV seats is that nobody knows how to turn them off. If they turned themselves off with inactivity, or if there was an obvious, one-press OFF button, I wouldn't have an issue. Instead, you get a cabin full of screens at full brightness, showing the same looping ads and whatnot, while nobody pays attention.
I often watch the same channel for the whole flight so I would find an auto-off pretty annoying.
The button does say OFF and I suppose it is "one press" if you hold it down long enough. But I agree, a dedicated off button would be better.
Sometimes, I do hear the FA's make an announcement.
Perhaps if it was made more like the regular on-demand screens. Have a home screen (like the tv guide). Let that have an auto-off. But if you go to one of the TV channels, leave it on. They could also default the screens to off after the safety video and for the passenger to turn it on if they want to use it. However, I assume they didn't want to do this to entice people to actually use the system and allow them to make the ad revenue.
I've seen passengers that can't figure out how to turn off a light that was left on (they press directly on the light as if that will do something) and I've found the light bothersome when trying to sleep. I've seen passengers who don't understand how to close the air vents and instead redirect them (sometimes at my head). That is bothersome because it gets cold. I don't expect the airline to remove all lights and vents. Some people don't like window shades being up, that doesnt mean they should remove all the windows. Some passengers can't figure out how to open/close their tray table or unrecline their seats.
In all these cases, I don't see passenger ignorance as a reason to remove something. It is easy enough to ask the FA.