Does anyone here remember the Old drop down Screen on B738 first class
 

Flew LAX-EWR in 2004 in Domestic First Class and when I flew it My IFE option was the drop down screen in the aisle. For those that flew AA in 2004 onwards when those were replaced by what we have now Streaming only. Does anyone here remember that option on B737-800s domestic first class? For me I enjoyed it

No doubt, most here remember the dropdown screens since AA had them on some planes until just a few years ago. They were in Y as well as F. When you say "in the aisle", I think you mean on both sides of the aisle under the overhead bins, centered over the 2 seats (F) or 3 seats (Y).

For many years, USAirways got the Airbuses delivered with the LCD screens above the left and right sides of the cabin, every several rows. I remember when they were ripped out not long after the HP-US merger, with management claiming the reduced costs in weight, maintenance and content licensing would save them millions.

I did find some pics of AA planes with the screens in both the aisle and over the seats/under the overhead bins on 737's.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...263d790aca.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1426b0f5ad.jpg

The 321Ts still have drop-downs (nearly permanently in the half-down position) for the safety videos.

I think OP is talking about the onboard screen a generation before that. Before drop down small flat screen on under the overhead bins, 738 and 752 had cathode tube TV like (do you remember those?) screen mounted on the celling in the aisle. The celling at the front area was low so that screen in the front of the first row of first class was drop down mounted in the celling. FAs had to manually pull down the TV for safety demonstration and in flight Entertainement. I remember that those screens had to be stowed during takeoff and landing, when going to the lav during the flight, I had to clear my head a little to avoid my head slamming into the screen.

In their final years on short hops, I always wondered who elected to show the annoying NBC universal content over a simple flight tracker map, or how much AA was being paid by NBC for that

Lol my memory of those on the 752, not too long ago, is one getting stuck half way down and the FA punching it quite hard to unjam it.

I don't on AA because 20 years ago I wasn't flying AA I was living in Scottsdale flying HP. However on HP they had the same dropdowns on their 'buses and always enjoyed watching "Just for Laughs".

100%. The CRT TVs on Narrow-bodies. How about the Projectors on the bulkhead walls for movies on Wide-bodies.

My 2nd trip on a commercial airplane included a connection on AA DC-10 ORD-LAX. You had to decipher from the pages near the back of the In Flight Magazine what movie you might get depending on if it was the First half of the month, or the back half, and whether you were travelling Eastbound or Westbound. And even then sometimes it was a different movie...

I also remember hollow plastic tube "earbuds" for the sound. There is something said about the pull-down screen on the front of the cabin on wide bodies, the screen size. I wonder if people are satisfied with watching content on a cell phone's small screen. When I want to see a movie or live stream TV (usually a sports game) during the flight, I take out my laptop computer because of the size of the screen.

Pretty sure Fiji Airways still fly their 737 with VHS movies. If you want nostalgia, just fly their HNL to NAN and enjoy the VHS movies with a Fiji bitter.

I remember flying a UA 744 (think it was called global first for about 70K RT miles) from SFO-LHR in 2009 and you were given your own personal VHS C library. lol

I remember these on the 767-300s

I recall the time before the screens, with the plastic tubes and a “menu” of programs (stole a pic from a BA entertainment brochure on eBay)

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6ef584e5d.jpeg

Important caveat: That picture with dropdown screens over the aisle is not a real AA plane! What shocked and confused me is that the safety card indicates the MAX 8, which was first delivered to AA in 2017 and has never had IFE screens. Also, the American Way cover is from January 2018. Sure enough, the photo is actually of a training mockup that does not match the actual configuration.

Good eye. It didn't sit right for me as well - AA had the CRTs in the aisle with the initial delivery of the 738s, which were then replaced with the small LCD dropdowns in the overhead. The 752s went from CRT to LCD overheads in the aisle. I do not recall any LCD screens in the aisle on 737s.

It appears to be a training mock up from this company: https://www.newton-design.com/lm-cabin-service

That is the same link I put in my post. :idea:

Lol, my bad. Missed that part of it. :eek:

Good eye on the find!

That is old for 2009. I flew AA 767-300 South America to New York in 2002 in J and was given a DVD player with a binder full of DVDs to choose from.

Back in the woolly-mammoth days, you got the Sony Mini Tape player and an assortment of tapes was in the J galley. That DVD player was a huge upgrade!

Tiny nitpick: Global First, as a product name, didn't exist in 2009. I believe it was simply called United International First. The name, Global First, came about after the merger with Continental in 2012.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming. :)

Up until about 5+ years ago, Alaska gave out digi-players in F (rental charge in E) with about 2 dozen or more movies loaded onto it. The digiplayers had a screen smaller than an iPad, but were a lot heavier.

The FA's would be frantic at the end of the flight trying to retrieve all the digi-players so that the inventory would match the original inventory.

Thanks for the answer. Since you mentioned the CRT screens on the B737-823s was that the one they used in 2004? If yes it's the one that the crew unstows from the ceiling and goes in the aisle for first and main cabin. If you need to go to the lavatories you can go to the sides

That's the one I was referring to in this post. For your entertainment guide on it is on the American Way magazine they give you headphone for it. Mine was AA162 LAX-EWR 2004.

The first generation 738s had the drop down screens throughout the a/c and on longer flights (I think over 3 hours) a movie was shown. Back in 2009 I remember leaving F and going back to an almost empty Y on a LGA/DFW flight to stretch out and watch a movie.

Oh my yes, early 2000's when the planes were new. I thought that was amazing verses the old CRT, bump your head in the aisle screens on the 757's . I watched Hairspray from MIA to MSP. I always thought they should have kept them even for just the safety video but AA took a different turn when it came to entertainment (which I don't hate BTW, those DL screens and huge under seat boxes are the worst and usually don't work to begin with). Anywho, good memories of the pre-merger AA.

So, the majority of the time that you have flown Delta, the monitors haven't worked? Not my experience at all.

Leaving aside the Oasis mess up and subsequent rework, AA has rolled out USB A right when everyone is switching to USB C. Always behind the 8-ball.

Same

Spot on there and speaking of the B737-823s had had the CRT Fold down screens in domestic first class you go through the small gap to reach the restrooms. I did that on LAX-EWR while my seatmate had a laptop with him using the seat AC supply.