I have TIVO To Go for the laptop, and have had that set up since 2005. On the way to London this week I watched an episode of Lost, Saturday Night Live, Sunday's GPS (with Fareed Zakaria), and a TV movie. They passed out the entertainment units on both SFO-JFK and JFK-LHR and I turned them down.

Happy that AA has powerports. I know some FTers I've met don't have this option with their carrier, and my soon-to-be-disposed of 12 inch Dell is down to one hour battery life, so I need that powerport.

I also have a portable XM radio I bring along, mostly used at the start or end of flights.

Tom in Munich

For me, IFE is "nice to have," not "have to have." Which is good, because I just looked up the latest United offerings for movies, and they're not too impressive...

It's pretty important to me on TATL/TPAC longhauls. I'm thinking of a good AVOD system; I've seen some great foreign films.

I'm always heading somewhere for an active holiday or I'm doing a short hostel weekend. Either way, I'm not taking a laptop or DVD player with me, so those aren't options. Music has never been enough to get me through an eight+ hour flight. I've always got at least two books, but those can get used up during long delays or airport layovers.

Definitely have to have my own headphones though.

To a certain extent PTravel has answered his own question, by describing the limited usefulness of bad IFE it explains why some passengers are interested in good IFE.

On good IFE there is a genuine variety of movies and no, they're not edited. On good IFE the music isn't some naff radio stations but instead is hundreds of albums where you can build your own playlists which you can hear because tou have decent NC headphones. Most importantly good IFE is AVOD so you can watch what you want when you want and pause when required.

While that tends to be mostly available on international flights with a bit of thought good IFE can be deployed on short flights as well. As an example on the 1 hour domestic flights I'm on regularly having an up to date subtitled news bulletin works pretty well (and better when the show following it is top gear). After spending a day at a client and rushing back to the airport it's nce to be able to sit back with a glass of wine, put the ipod in and catch the news. It's not fancy but it's a well thought out IFE solution unlike giving passengers the choice of 6 kids movies on a 9 hour flight.

My main entertainment on flights is books and ipod but I certainly do also enjoy the IFE, just not when it's 6 crap movies on a crappy 7" screen which is why IFE is important to me. (that and I'm a crap sleeper on flights and are usually travelling with a work laptop I don't want to fill with personal stuff)

i prefer my own ipod and books.

Channel 9 and Courvoisier. All the IFE I need.

vsop or xsop? ;)

i concur re: ch9 et le cognac but if not available (ch9 that is ;)), then that is why god invented my ipod with threee stooges and family guy videos ;)

I spend a ton of time as a passenger in the car and fly every week, so I tend to watch my own videos while on the road and often do not have time to load new ones before flights. So for me IFE is a very welcome distraction while in the air.

This is an American issue...
 

...non US carriers do NOT edit content on IFE. Lots o' nudity and swearing on AC, CX, SQ, and BA.
To me it is important cuz i have a very small laptop so the dvd drive is separate, i do not want to lug a personal DVD player with me...so IFE has been one of the best perqs of flying in both Y and J for me.

I can understand why an airline's offering IFE is not that important to some, but I don't understand why some think it should be unimportant to all. Not everyone feels like dragging along, let alone owns, an mp3 player, pda, portable DVD player, Kindle, laptop/netbook, etc., along with the requisite connections and backup batteries. Add to the mix a book or two and you've filled half your carry on. It would be chaos if everyone brought along all that gear and tried to use it at the same time. In any case, many airlines have a limited number or no electrical outlets in economy, which are usually necessary for the average non-netbook laptop to run for more than a couple of hours.

IFE is a factor for me as I sleep very little even on longest transpacific flights. I only choose airlines that offer AVOD on the longest leg. The Asian carriers offer current Chinese, Japanese and Korean films that are months or even years from being released in the US, and they are often far more entertaining than the typical roster of popular US films based on comic characters. I do bring along some alternative entertainment for variety, though - a couple of books and an mp3 loaded with music and audiobooks.

I never suggested that IFE should be unimportant to all. I know that it's important to some, but I didn't understand why. That's why I asked the question. :)

When you only get 8Kg of hand lugagge then the laptop is already a problem..... That why IFE is important on long haul flights. I get to fly on an LH long haul without IFE so I ambad to reading the good ole "who dun it" this flight.

[whisper]The butler did it![/whisper]

PT this is one time I agree with you 100%. I could care less about in flight entertainment and have never made a decision based on availability or lack thereof. Admittedly I would be partial to JetBlue with directv, particularly during football season :) but I have never flown them so obviously not a determinative factor.

As noted, the movie selection is usually awful, even in business class. My last TATL flights on LH had a selection of 2-3 dozen movies plus TV shows - NONE of which were appealing (except 1 that I had already seen). Just mediocre. UA is no better.

Like you I prefer to don my ipod - my music, my headphones. And then open a good book or two. Airplane trips are one of the few times I have for relatively uninterrupted reading.

I just don't get people who rely on airlines for entertainment (and these days, for food :( )

P.S. The IFE is even more worthless for children. So we bring our own portable DVD when boraxo jr. is traveling. Keeps everyone happy.

P.S.

Or haven't been able to find a power adapter that will work with both the plane & laptop :(