I flew Sunday from SEA-IAH and then IAH-DTW. The DTV worked the whole way from Seattle and it had worked from DTW-IAH-SEA a few days before. But when we boarded in IAH last night, the DTV wasn't working, just the CO channels. This has happened before and the FA has always fixed it. Usually you get on and the DTV is already on, but I have seen it off and then the FA starts it somehow.

Sunday when a few of us pointed out that it wasn't working, the FA said she could do nothing b/c people in economy had already swiped their cards and if she re-set the system, they'd have to swipe them again. Is this true? And wouldn't you be upset if you paid for DTV and only got the CO channels? I certainly wouldn't mind re-swiping my card to get the full channel line up if I'd been in economy. And the FA also announced that those who HAD swiped a card could call CO for a refund. She also said that we were just in a bad zone (we hadn't left IAH yet) and it would come on later. She couldn't get her story straight.

The DTV didn't come on at all. I watched My Sister's Keeper and Nurse Jackie again for the gazillionth time. If we WERE in a bad zone like when I fly to ANC, I'd get it. But I'd just come from SEA and the DTV worked right up to the gate (and then on.)

I'm confused. I heard one FA say it needed to be reset but the one FA wouldn't do it b/c of those who'd paid already. I'd been through this twice before and both times a FA fixed the problem. Now just in case I go through this again in a few weeks, what IS the solution? There must be a way for them to fix it and then have the few people who paid for it get a refund for the 1st "empty" channel line up.

I was a bit ticked off b/c knowing it was a DTV flight I had put everything but my headphones in the overhead bin, and had a very large man sitting next to me who had a difficult time getting out of his seat. I couldn't even put my drink on the arm rest between us in 1st b/c his arms took up the space.

Was the FA wrong? Was there something she could've done? She seemed convinced we were in a dead zone, even before we left the gate. And she mentioned the reset but refused to do so. It was a FULL flight and there were quite a few people not happy about this turn of events. If it was really a malfunction, I get it. But if it was a FA who didn't want to fix it (for her own reasons) or wasn't shown how to fix it, it makes me a bit miffed. And I wasn't the only one.

We pretty much know that it wasn't a dead zone, so the question is, could it have been fixed and if so, would it have caused trouble for the people who had swiped their ccs?

My experience has been that DTV works about 70% of the time.

Not to be relied upon whatsoever. FAs might as well do a little dance and pray to God for all the "control" I've seen them exercise over that equipment.

There have been times where the FA had to tape paper over my screen on a red-eye because the monitor was absolutely unresponsive to my controls.

We have absolutely NO control over that system. The only thing we have is an ON/OFF switch. She could have 'reset' the system by turning it OFF and ON, but my experience doing this is that it doesn't help about 75% of the time. As far as swiping cards again, my general experience has been that those who have swiped already do not have to do so again. However, I have seen the system 'reset' and pax have had to re-swipe their cards. I've had transcon flights where the system worked perfectly one way, and then only stored content on the next. As frustrating as it is for the pax, I consider it to be doubly so for the crew because we really can't do anything other that turn the system OFF/ON. Sorry to hear about the trouble.

More than likely, the plane came from an international destination and never regained the signal inflight (though, even though it's not supposed to, I've seen this happen), or back on the ground. The controls are as limited as CALflyboi stated... this is also an issue that's been discussed in several threads. It sounds like it's possible that the FA didn't quite understand the system, but a lot of that is due to the lack of information provided by the company, and a lack of their responses to our many complaints and questions about the product.

Not cool for you to suggest it's possible that she might have just wanted the system to not work for her own reasons... and I can guarantee you, there is no "fix" for this.

As was alluded to, the official procedure for this system is to:

1- "Wake" it up when we step onto the plane for its first flight of the day.
2- There is no 2

That's it. Honest! There you have the sum total of our interaction with troubleshooting or resetting. We are not even really supposed to do that 'reset' in flight because it may not do a dang thing, and it's not really a reset anyway---we don't know because there is no procedure for that.

Is there a way to give free access in cases where the system does not work properly? Like having the pre programmed stuff given for free when live TV is not working.

Yes, but that's not one of the circumstances in which we're allowed to give it away. Think more like long delays or diversions. Since CO doesn't own the system, it costs a considerable amount out of their pocket to press the free button. (Number of seats X fee per seat).

In the Flight Entertainment system under Payment options there is a way to comp it for select rows or all rows. On Frontier the Flight Attendant comes by with her special card that bypasses the payment. If they can comp it for first class they can comp it for Economy class. I know people who work at LiveTV and they showed me how its done.

Its like at a restaurant they can comp for a drink the same thing here. All they do is under menu"System Reset". When the main menu comes on they go to "Payment Options" And select the rows they want to comp in this case they say "Select all rows' then it asks" Are you sure you want to activate free Live TV".

In fact there is a way to comp Live TV for top level frequent fliers . Apparently the Flight Attendant will go into the system and comp the rows of frequent fliers flying in Y or Unaccompanied Minors or Military Members.

When the plane is at 10,000 feet the attendant has to activate the Pay feature under the settings there is an option to turn Free Preview on and off. I believe the Flight Attendant would have selected Free Preview as another option so passengers would not have to re swipe the cards.

My point is its a very simple process to do it so shame on the lazy Flight attendant. If I was your FA I would have done it this way.

This is very good information.

Though if you haven't used the CO install of the system, it may or may not have the same functionality as the F9 system. I'm sure it has the same capabilities, but it's possible the folks at CO "worked together" with DTV to further restrict the controls for the FA.

You, my friend, are clueless.

I don't care what Frontier's system is like - the FAs have no control over the system other than this. (ignore the red circle around the safety demo button - this image is from an internal bulletin)

First of all, it's free by default in first class. Period.

In coach - it's either free for the whole plane (hence, "Free" button, for which the company provides extremely strict guidelines - 1) diversions; 2) ground delays >:90. If we stray from these guidelines - we are held personally accountable and subject to discipline), or not free for anyone. You need to understand that a product can be airline-specific, and just because your airline has a certain system, CO's isn't necessarily the same. Furthermore, try biting your tongue next time before berating an FA, especially when you arrogantly attempt to show off your knowledge about the product, only to show your ignorance.

you have major Daddy issues, don't you?

The functional operation of Direct TV does not seem to be a priority for the crew which may be somewhat understandable considering all the issues the crew has to worry about. I have been on flight where the system was not working and no one said a word.
I was flying CLE-EWR last week and I paid for the service. The flight had a ATC delay so it was an hour before we took off and this help me pass the time. I put my credit card in not long after I boarded before I was asked to pay as I knew how the system worked and I had my own headphones. After take-off the announcments were made by the FA and on the system that the free trial would be ending soon and explained the cost, but I already paid and the system was asking me to pay again. I asked the FA but she could not help me and said to pay again and request a refund which I did.

The Intl to US issue has been fixed (on the flights I've been on) without FA/pilot intervention. However, a reset by the pilot worked before as well. The reset did NOT result in people having to re-swipe.

How did the refund request play out? I've instructed many pax on how to request a refund, but, of course, have never been able to follow up.

Doesn't appear to be. The poster went into detail about how the system can be adjusted and customized to comp per seat or row.



Um, yes. The CO folks have a different system because they wanted one. Seems that F9 went for the system that allows them to empower their FAs to comp the service by seat or row. It also gives F9 the flexibility to make policies that may have free DTV (e.g., a coupon, free for Elites, whatever).

If the ability to comp by seat or row were in the CO spec, CO would have it too. CO does not, so it's clear that CO did not want that. So it sounds like CO could not envision a situation to ever comp by seat (e.g., customer with broken seat, Elite customer, etc.).

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the F9 setup described is the standard setup, and CO "worked together" with DTV to come up with a more restrictive setup.