Just curious

That seems to be a lot of weight everybody is carrying.

Ipod, extra battery, laptop, noise canceling earphones etc. With all the necessary chargers.

For me, IFE is handy to kill time not necessarily to entertain me.
So if the IFE is not working, as long as they can give me free gin and tonics then I really don't think it is that important at all.

Could care less about IFE. Crossword puzzle and a G&T work for me.

Not really.

The iPod is a shirt-pocket device. When I'm weight conscious, I carry my Etymotic earbuds, which couldn't weigh more than an ounce or so and come in a neat little pouch which is also a shirt-pocket item. I always travel with a laptop, so charging the iPod isn't an issue, but I'll also carry my Acer Aspire One netbook when it's a short trip or I don't want to be weight down. The netbook was a couple of pound. Instead of the provided charger for the Asipire, I use Kensington universal power supply that weighs very little and is flat and small (I also use one with my full-feature notebook, a Sony Vaio). All of the devices I carry have USB ports, so I bring a long a tiny 7-port USB hub. This requires a tiny power wart, but it's small and light. My Blackberry, which can play music and movies, would travel with me regardless, so there's no additional weight from using it in-flight.

The whole trick to comfortable frequent travel for me is to find ways to maximize utility while minimizing weight.

I prefer vodka drinks, but I also find them to be adequate amusement. The only time I'll really load up with carry-on personal IFE is when I have a transpac. 16+ hours in the air usually entails watching a movie or two on my laptop, listening to music as a way to sleep (aided by said vodka drinks), possibly doing some writing (I've decided to write a film script -- hey, why not?) and, if I'm lucky enough to have Mrs. PTravel along, playing with her (though she prefers to sleep).

My question is why do Americans always have to be entertained. We want life to be entertaining instead of work and discipline and perseverance.

Anyway, I take my very small IBM Thinkpad X23 with me. Battery is good for about 2.5 hours. And I can use it while waiting to board, or when waiting for connecting flights. And what would you do if your flight is delayed.

And for those who must watch video, you can rip the DVD to your hard drive, and don't need a separate drive.

I always have my notebook with me, 2 #, 100GB HD

Work, discipline and perseverance? Um, no thanks -- not if I had a choice. I work because I have to. Discipline is needed for my work. Perseverance is the continual application of discipline necessary for work.

If I won the lottery? No work, discipline or perseverance. Not in a heartbeat.


That's why I have a netbook, and external batteries.

Find an outlet and recharge.

Quite so. Watching from the hard drive also uses less power than the DVD drive.

You might be pleasantly surprised as I was by the new IFE on AF these days. NW's is okay, but AF's was markedly better on my last TATL flights.

I would have said IFE didn't matter to me until last year when I took the 14 hour Atlanta to Dubai flight on Delta (in coach). I think being able to watch a few movies is the only thing that kept me sane. No room to pull out my laptop and I don't think Delta had power back there.

I love love love me some IFE. I recently had the luck of swapping to a United 747 in C, with the new IFE. I watched 3 movies between ORD - SFO. I was a very happy camper.

It's always disappointing to fly one of the birds that doesn't have it. I do take books and my ipod, but find myself wanting to watch something I've not watched before. Watching video on the ipod is just too small, and I read books too quickly to carry enough. I've gone through 3 books already this week on a 1 week long trip.

Looking forward to my Kindle. I hope that changes things.

I fly CX a lot, and I really enjoy the IFE. Tons of movies, TV shows, etc. None of them edited for content. I've seen some great movies in flight just because they're available - "The Visitor," and "Battle in Seattle." I've caught up on TV shows I like but missed episodes of, watched whole seasons of other shows, etc. I've slept with TONS of music choices - way more than I have on my ipod! Honestly, good IFE like that on CX is a benefit that I really enjoy. I wouldn't miss overhead IFE or even some of the AVOD systems I've used with very limited selections but it's great to have a system with the breadth of choices that CX's does.