meh130

Didn't catch this post. Personally, what would $25 buy in domestic AVOD?

If you can't sleep on planes, I understand. I slept most of the flight. In part due to the fact DL again offers free wine throughout the flight in Y.

meh130

As I posted in another thread. Redbox charges $1 to rent a DVD, which averages 2-hours. I don't know what DL charges for a movie rental on domestic AVOD. But I figure about 5 movies worth of rentals is what was lost.

The last time I did SYD-LAX, I watched two movies and slept the rest.

Now if you have some medical condition which prevents you from sleeping, you should be prepared and not necessarily expect the airline to cater to your specific affliction.

At least DL was proactive.

PaulMSN

If they offer a service and then don't provide it, there should be sufficient compensation, and I don't think a $25 voucher does it for such a long trip. All your rationalizations don't obviate that they did not provide what they offered.

dollerman73

This is not the first time the AVOD has been broken on this route, do a little searching and you'll find DL has given 4 times as much for the same issue, which IMHO opinion is far more appropriate.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ax-22-may.html
...but if you're happy with :-:best in class:-: that's cool! BTW, where's the nearest RedBox to the SYD airport???

pbarnette

But how core is AVOD to the total product? Some measure of proportionality is in order when compensating for missing AVOD.

I think $25 is fair, based upon the reasoning meh130 outlined. Alternatively, they could come up with a market price for AVOD by comparing average ticket price for DL vs UA on this route, as UA does not offer AVOD. My guess is that this method would come up with a market price far below $25, probably approaching $0.

Culrain

For a 14-15 flight, AVOD is very important.

If UA were the only competition you'd have an unfortunate point (UA does offer a personal IFE on their 747s in Business and First). But VA offers a very competitive IFE experience at a usually a comparable fare. I've never flown QX, but I've heard good things about their current IFE. Even taking a 1-stop in AKL with NZ's excellent IFE would be worth considering for me over a non-stop with no personal IFE. With a route like this, it really is a deciding factor.

pbarnette

If AVOD is "very important", how does UA actually get anybody to fly coach on their planes? Why are VA and DL offering comparable fares? You would think that VA and DL (and QF) could command substantial premiums over UA. That UA isn't the only competition doesn't diminish the argument at all.

I'm just saying that people like to say that they value x, y, and z, but the only way to test it is to actually look at their purchasing patterns. Unless you force people to put a value on something, they will happily value everything. I'm guessing that the actual value people assign to AVOD (i.e. what they will pay), even on a long flight, would be less than $5.

Just how much do people think DL should pay for malfunctioning AVOD? I just searched for a LAX-SYD trip, leaving 6/13 and returning 6/20. The fare (excluding taxes), is $738. That means that $25 in compensation (remember that it is $25, each way) is being valued at close to 7% of DL's charge for the ticket. Even for a more expensive ticket leaving 10/13, returning 10/20 (DL charge $1,048), $25 each way would place the value at roughly 5%. Are folks saying that AVOD comprises more than 5 to 7% of the value of flying someone 7,491 miles from LAX to SYD?

And, FWIW, UA's charge for the June ticket (excluding taxes, but including the YQ)? $738. For the October ticket? $1,048. Funny how that works.

bmchris

$25 is fair compensation IF pax were given prior warning as to it not being available and were able to make alternative arrangements.

dollerman73

There was no prior warning given, and I am not sure how such warning could be given.

Interesting to note that the UA coach fare for my travel dates was $736 and I paid $910 on DL. Determining factors in paying close to $200 more was based 100% on, on board experience, AVOD being a huge factor. Anyone who has flown UA to SYD knows exactly what I mean. The "RedBox defense" makes no sense whatsoever, and shows a fundamental lack of insight into this trip, I doubt some of the posters here have ever flown LAX-SYD, or return (which is way worse, although being shorter in time).

$25 is a joke and an insult, although I am not surprised in the least! The end issue is that this is not the first time this has happened and DL needs to get its act together and fix this issue!

TTT

I wonder if VA or QF have ever had broken AVOD...

ciao114

I don`t think Delta will give prior warning even they found that AVOD is out of service in advance.
If I know I can not enjoy my movie for 13hrs flight in advance then I will definitely insist alternative arrangement such as moving to similar seat or even upgrade or rebooking to another flight with AVOD working or having me overnight in hotel room with meals at Delta`s expense!
Even though I am going to watch listen or sleep depending my mood in the air but I am not going to accept only $25 for not having my entitlement what I have paid for even Delta tells me what I have paid is for transportation not for AVOD that is just an excuse.

Culrain

I don't have the Y revenue numbers for UA, VA and QF so it's impossible to compare the impact of UA not offering a personal IFE on their bookings. But being a flyer of this route and doing a little research on places like FT, I wouldn't even consider UA on such a long flight unless it was silly-cheap. I certainly am not the only traveler who feels this way (there's actually a very long thread at the UA board about this exact issue; http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...onal-747s.html). If UA's Y seats are filled to the same levels as the others, I can only deduce there's a lot of consumer ignorance for these types of seats. I don't have the exact numbers, but installing AVODs is very expensive. If IFE was not an important marketing factor, DL and VA (and assuming QF) wouldn't have bothered spending a dime on AVODs.

pbarnette

If you are paying $200 extra for AVOD, then I would think you might want to look into investing in an iPad or some other form of portable entertainment system. It would be a much, much better use of your dollars than paying a $200 premium each time you fly. And I genuinely don't mean that to be snarky. Indeed, the wife bought an iPad for precisely this reason - controlling your own entertainment options when traveling gives you much more flexibility and leads to much less risk of disappointment.

Fundamental lack of insight? I have done plenty of 10+ hour flights. I simply think that you are overstating the portion of the fare that can be reasonably attributed to AVOD.

Again, what would you say is fair compensation? They credited 6.5% of your fare for that leg. That seems like the appropriate contribution of AVOD to the total price to me.

Or, it could just be that airlines aren't very good at estimating ROI...

UnitedEF

I flew UA in E+ LAX - SYD the audio Jack was broken and I received $250 each way because for some odd reason I chose the same seat when I booked So $500 total for something that I wasn't even going to use except for ch. 9 ^. $25 is a joke for that long of a flight. I imagine most people fly UA for the cheap fares and E+ seating. I fly UA enough that even in the new seats I have seen all of the movies and tv shows so I am watching DVD's on my laptop anyways.

jzumrick

When considering the value of AVOD the lower figures are probably right when considering the price of the ticket. But another factor in AVOD value lies in the disappointment passengers experience when it doesn't work and they haven't prepared. A lot of passengers fly rarely and were expecting things to be working.

In my experience the AVOD fail far to often, and often when they work I have had to watch Linux reboot repeatedly. The contrast ratio on the screen is extremely poor so that many films with dark scenes are hardly watchable. For my part I don't see why Delta doesn't send them all back to the manufacturer and demand their money back.