Major downgrade to VX entertainment system
Mar 21, 2018, 9:01 pm
#16
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 264
I flew SFO-LAS on Monday and then returned today. No "live" TV, no music and no games. Other than a 30 minute ground hold in Vegas because of low ceilings and ugly weather at SFO, it was a pretty good flight, although the head flight attendant announced about 20 minutes into the flight that we were beginning our descent into SFO. LOL. Uh, not quite. We hadn't even crossed the Sierra Nevada yet. So that kind of made the flight seem a lot longer than the 1+ hour hop it usually is.
Came back on 3/16 and the Dish selection was oddly missing from IFE. Dunno about games either because I took a nap.
Mar 22, 2018, 8:07 am
#17
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....all they've managed to do is lose their AA route network, bleed money in California, get evicted from their JFK terminal, lose a ton of partner airlines, pay $10mil/yr for a (much more valuable) brand they don't use, eliminate their product differentiation, and have the bottom fall out of their formerly lucrative transcon PRASM...
Remember that VX did not swing to consistent profitability until Smisek and the UA-CO merger sent a bunch of Bay Area HVFs shopping for alternatives. The AS business plan for California must still be predicated to some degree on UA continuing to stink up SFO. God help AS if United ever gets its act together... unlikely as that prospect is.
Mar 22, 2018, 8:28 am
#18
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: B6 Mosaic, Bonvoy LT Titanium (x SPG LT), IHG Spire, UA Silver
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Remember that VX did not swing to consistent profitability until Smisek and the UA-CO merger sent a bunch of Bay Area HVFs shopping for alternatives. The AS business plan for California must still be predicated to some degree on UA continuing to stink up SFO. God help AS if United ever gets its act together... unlikely as that prospect is.
Now, I find many people taking UA just because the schedule is better, they want miles for a * Alliance J/F award, or they don't want to watch the slow and steady decline in the VX product while not at all looking forward to the the AS one. AS has been working over time to make themsleves the utterly forgettable carrier at SFO.
Mar 22, 2018, 8:49 am
#19
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 258
We are going to be flying home from Hawaii in June, with a layover in SFO, and booked our tickets with AS (but it shows as Airbus fleet so assuming this is the old VX planes since the seating chart matches that of the A319 and 320). If I am understanding correctly, the TV screens in the back of the headrests will still be physically there, but they will not be turned on or working so we will need to have our own devices to entertain us on the flight correct?
Mar 22, 2018, 11:40 am
#20
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Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Benicia CA
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I don't think anyone here knows exactly what the long range plan is with those seatback screens. They've disabled the Direct TV feed which covered news station and some networks from New York City and L.A. There's still other stored entertainment options there. I suspect the grand plan in the long run is to have all of us use the wi-fi to access stored content, similar to what is done on Alaska aircraft, but that conversion has not been made yet and could be months out and involve new hardware on the flight to provide that content. Hopefully we'll all have a better idea before your June flight rolls around.
Mar 22, 2018, 12:15 pm
#21
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: West Hollywood
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Posts: 173
I don't think anyone here knows exactly what the long range plan is with those seatback screens. They've disabled the Direct TV feed which covered news station and some networks from New York City and L.A. There's still other stored entertainment options there. I suspect the grand plan in the long run is to have all of us use the wi-fi to access stored content, similar to what is done on Alaska aircraft, but that conversion has not been made yet and could be months out and involve new hardware on the flight to provide that content. Hopefully we'll all have a better idea before your June flight rolls around.
Mar 22, 2018, 1:01 pm
#22
Moderator: Alaska Mileage Plan
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 12,307
I suspect the grand plan in the long run is to have all of us use the wi-fi to access stored content, similar to what is done on Alaska aircraft, but that conversion has not been made yet and could be months out and involve new hardware on the flight to provide that content..
Mar 22, 2018, 1:05 pm
#23
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Join Date: Jun 2000
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And a lot will depend, I imagine, on the aircraft reconfiguration schedule. Might take a year or longer to get Alaska seating in those 67 Virgin aircraft.
Mar 22, 2018, 5:49 pm
#24
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SFO, mostly
Posts: 2,203
VX flight crew I spoke with in January sounded pretty confident that AS was just going to switch them off completely on April 25, but not sure how reliable that info is. They were a bit more certain that starting 4/25 they'd no longer play the VX safety video and would be doing PA speeches instead.
Mar 22, 2018, 6:00 pm
#25
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: AS MVPG
Posts: 2,205
VX flight crew I spoke with in January sounded pretty confident that AS was just going to switch them off completely on April 25, but not sure how reliable that info is. They were a bit more certain that starting 4/25 they'd no longer play the VX safety video and would be doing PA speeches instead.
Mar 23, 2018, 12:30 am
#26
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VX flight crew I spoke with in January sounded pretty confident that AS was just going to switch them off completely on April 25, but not sure how reliable that info is. They were a bit more certain that starting 4/25 they'd no longer play the VX safety video and would be doing PA speeches instead.
Mar 24, 2018, 9:33 am
#27
Join Date: Dec 2017
Programs: Alaska Airlines
Posts: 48
I'd wager they don't have the slightest clue what they're doing, and considering all they've managed to do is lose their AA route network, bleed money in California, get evicted from their JFK terminal, lose a ton of partner airlines, pay $10mil/yr for a (much more valuable) brand they don't use, eliminate their product differentiation, and have the bottom fall out of their formerly lucrative transcon PRASM, call it more than a hunch.
But hey, let's check those numbers down the road once the screens and onboard ordering get yanked out in exchange for those fantastic Microsoft players.
But hey, let's check those numbers down the road once the screens and onboard ordering get yanked out in exchange for those fantastic Microsoft players.
Apr 2, 2018, 1:34 pm
#30
Join Date: Sep 2001
Programs: Alaska Tanzanite 100K
Posts: 3,857
FluxTZ, I'm told that's what Alaska is working on. Alaska already has pre-ordering of food for those in Y and rolling it out in F for everyone.
Rumors also going around that the Alaska tablet/dige is making its way onto VX aircraft. This is a decent alternative, especially since you can also stream the GoGo Vision library on to it. I'm one of those people who like to watch a tv while doing work or whatnot, leaving my device free for texting/browsing, etc.
Rumors also going around that the Alaska tablet/dige is making its way onto VX aircraft. This is a decent alternative, especially since you can also stream the GoGo Vision library on to it. I'm one of those people who like to watch a tv while doing work or whatnot, leaving my device free for texting/browsing, etc.