TechWizmo

Hey I usually travel from Phoenix to Cleveland and a couple of other places using only Continental, and I am stuck on their Frequent Flyer program on the plat membership, the last 2 flights I took they were supposed to have In Flight Entertainment as they were 737-800 I believe, then when I get on the flight there is no In Flight Entertainment? Kind of strange, because when I was choosing the booking on continental they had the option of having in flight entertainment, including tv's built into the headrests, and even tried to sell me on the prepay option? Does someone on here know if the UA/Continental merger affected the in flight entertainment on continental flights now? Everytime I took them before they always had it.

Ocn Vw 1K

TechWizmo, welcome to FlyerTalk. Your post is specific to Continental aircraft and I'll move it to the Continental forum for discussion. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz and United forums.

rggale

Hi TechWizmo,
Most of the 737-800 fleet does have DirectTV onboard, however a select few that need to be reconfigured to remove a row of first class and a mid-cabin lavatory do not have the live tv. Additionally, new deliveries from 2010, I believe ships 519 and higher do not have any in flight entertainment capabilities because they are equipped with temporary seating as there was an issue with the usual manufacturer. Do a search on here for Koito (the manufacturer) if you want to learn more about their problems.

I have never seen an option to prepay for DirecTV?

JOSECONLSCREW28

518 does have the livetv installed. In fact it's the most recent 738 to have livetv. 519-531 do not have live tv at all. Also 73E tail numbers 443-445 are ifeless as well.

TechWizmo

They offered the prepay via email for some odd reason? Which is strange but it definitely said something along the lines of save $2 off in flight entertainment when you prepay? Regardless, they kind of advertised that both would have in flight entertainment, and thats kind of the reason I booked that specific flight, wouldn't that be considered false advertising and CO definitely has an obligation to fix this on their website and in misleading their customers through other websites as well? (I checked alot of sites like kayak even though I booked through continental.com and it seems that they all said the same thing about in flight entertainment?) But back to the point, are all their 737 aircraft going to have in flight entertainment as it is supposedly due to a manufacturer error and it is temporary seating, or are they going to continue to manufacturer subpar 2011 planes without in flight entertainment?

TechWizmo

Oh and I know it sounds childish, but if the UA/CO merger means that this company is going to save more money by taking out IFE, then I think Delta is going to get alot more of my business. Apparently the "genius" execs (and I say that sarcastically in case it is hard to tell) think that they can save money but do not realize that many people that I know (including constant flyers) will choose an airline based upon their amenities (ie In Flight Entertainment) and since every CO non stop flight I have been on had IFE I sort of expect it to be this way consistently, not for their IFE planes to go to another UA hub while saving money on CO customers? Bad end of the stick or what?

PS: 4+ hour flights without In Flight Entertainment SUCK, if a UA/CO rep is reading this tell your higher executives to run a survey based upon your false advertising of IFE and taking away loyal CO customers to save a couple bucks that you eventually make up by purchased of the In Flight Entertainment for $6 or whatever it costs nowadays.

star_world

Sorry to interrupt your rant, but this simply isn't happening. In fact, it's very much the opposite - DirecTV is being installed at a fairly fast pace across the majority of the domestic fleet:

http://www.continental.com/CMS/en-US...eetStatus.aspx

aacharya

I wish newbies like yourself would actually read this forum before ranting. The lack of IFEs due to the seat debacle is unfortunate. The rest of the planes lacking IFE is dwindling, as star_world noted.

As for pre-pay - show me the e-mail you got indicating as such.

Please stop ranting before you know what you're talking about. This is not a remark I make to all newbies.

TechWizmo

So I'm guessing your a continental employee? Because it simply IS happening, these planes looked like they were retro fitted with new seats, the first class seats did not seem as large as they normally are, and the economy class seating was TINY, add that on top of the fact that THERE WAS NO IN FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT on a flight that was advertised as having in flight entertainment? Also, I take this flight about 14 times a year, from PHX to CLE airport, always on CO and aside from this time THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT? So I'm not quite sure how your comment makes sense, these are new planes without in flight entertainment??? All I came on here to do was simply to ask if this is temporary, meaning are all continental/ua flights that I used to take NON STOP usually 4 hours+ going to have televisions on them or not?

Any links for us newbies that explain the seat debacle??

star_world

The "flight" you've been on 14 times a year is not relevant - only the specific aircraft you are on, which is obviously different each time.

Have a read of some of these threads for extensive background information on how NEW AIRCRAFT CAN HAVE NO IN FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT :

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...rtainment.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ht-no-ife.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...-new-737s.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...rtainment.html

aacharya

Where was it "advertised" that there would be IFE? Where is the famous e-mail with the $2 pre-pay discount?

That's not all you came here to ask. You ranted, and now have resorted to all caps, as if that's going to prove your point.

As for UA birds, if that is the case, you asked in the wrong forum. This is a CO pre-merger forum.

Oh, you asked for links, as it's too difficult for you to type in "koito" in the search field (as rggale advised).

Well, here you go:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...rtainment.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...t-time-co.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...rtainment.html

cordelli

Where exactly does Continental advertise anywhere on their website that specific flights will or will not have in flight entertainment? I have always seen

The feature films & videos page within Hemispheres magazine lists the entertainment selections for all video equipped Boeing 737-300, 737-700, 737-800, 737-900, 737-900ER and 757-300 aircraft on routes within the United States and to/ from: Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Indonesia, Japan, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, the Philippines and South America.

* Only available on select aircraft.

with it always saying on select aircraft. I'm not really sure how your rant has any validity because I don't believe they have ever said it would be there.

I've also never seen Kayak list specific flights as having TV's or not either.

The upper case typing is a bit excessive.

TechWizmo

I'll find that email shortly. I apologize for caps I see that you are all a very sensitive bunch, but thus far thank you for the information, ill answer the questions how I can. The 14 flights a year I take to this same location, from the same airport, is always on the same plane, the flight numbers have been consistently the same until the UA/CO merger, meaning I took the same flights at the same exact time on the same exact aircraft so yes that does make a difference, they always fly out at the same time. Also, there should be a link to check if they offer wifi or in flight entertainment on kayak and on continental, plus I apologize for the first post I may have taken a 737-900 aircraft. Anyways I dont want to sound like a troll the only thing that I wanted to know was will UA/CO have IFE on their flights or not, and I guess thats just a crap shoot depending on the plane that they are using.

aacharya

There is a link on continental.com that tells you up to three days in advance what amenities the flight has.

gawhite411

The CO forum is particularly hostile to any criticism of CO. Of course you are rightfully angry that CO is flying around new planes that lack IFE, whatever the excuse. And frankly it's embarassing. But on this forum, CO is never criticized. Frankly, the next approach will be to tell you that if you had been nicer, CO would have given you a plane with TVs. Something about it being easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar.