travelnlite84

I gain nothing from UA removing or keeping their existing equipment - they already own it.

That's a very valid question - 7 minutes of total ad content per flight segment (about half as many ads as during a typical 60 minute TV show you watch at home).

Don't get me wrong - I don't like ads any more than you do, but if a few minutes of ads will pay for me to be able to still have things like Channel 9 access, I'm all for it...

I hear what you're saying, but it's not a question of whether you go with this or something better, it's a question of this or nothing at all. As I mentioned, even I don't care much about overhead video, but having Channel 9 access and the occasional interesting sitcom for free as opposed to having nothing, which is also free, why would you opt for nothing?

uastarflyer

1 > 0

And for audio, 12 > 0

And Channel 9

I discovered Big Bang Theory thanks to free overhead IFE. Also have seen a few interesting movies I may have not selected myself.

I too don't get why people don't like options or can't grasp the fact WiFi streaming could be an "in addition to" not simply an "instead of"

Person A watches the free screen. Person B pays for streaming. Person C reads a book. Person D stares into space.

Winner all around.

villox

Seems simple, except if you've already seen what's being shown, or don't want to watch it, or the screen is of poor quality and far away.

I like Channel 9 but it's not ubiquitous enough and really more a "nice to have".

Offering a reliable, affordable on-demand video service to my own device is a HUGE upgrade over a single screen I NEVER watch, again assuming those adjectives are valid.

Except for the limited space and weight and maintenance of all these electronics, sure, it'd be nice to have all of the above.

If one assumes however that they had to pick one or the other, I'd rather offer a wide variety and charge for it than no variety at all and for free.

halls120

You mean a year from now, if that happens, right?

travelnlite84

You're absolutely right - a reliable, affordable, AVOD system is a huge upgrade beyond Overhead Video. Unfortunately, that's not what you're going to be getting on these aircraft.

unavaca

Since power will be here next year, does that mean we're going to trade Ch9 for Wi-Fi? If so, I'll happily take that trade.

GoAmtrak

I love AA's solution of reclining into one's own space, with the seat cushion moving forward with the recline mechanism. It's equitable and ends the age-old debate of whether it's polite to recline. Everyone can do their own CBA as to whether the tradeoff is worth it.

bse118

It's not us that doesn't grasp this. It's UA and/or it's lowest-bid IFE/seat provider.

villox

Hey, believe me, I have enough trouble getting my stupid Tivo Stream to stream movies over my home wifi network from my Tivo to my iPad to work, so I'm very skeptical that it's going to work on a plane. But I'll at least wait to see how it works before getting too upset about it.

If it doesn't, I'll just go back to watching whatever I've downloaded in advance and taking advantage of the seat power.

unavaca

How am I stuck with that? It plays once during boarding/departure, and never again the entire flight

travelnlite84

I agree with you - Air France does it too. Takes some getting used to, but I think it's great.

I'm with you there - general use wi-fi and inseat power are the best (cheap) upgrades you can get!

tom911

Take a look at the AA website:
Enjoy Entertainment On Demand
Now Available on Tablets

mgcsinc

I hate to harp on this, but WiFi is already here. There's no need for a trade-off. Have the birds that have gotten WiFi already lost Channel 9?

villox

One point about the on-demand wifi video. On AA anyway, it's per-show or movie pricing, it's not like you buy $7 of wifi and get a big catalog to watch whatever you want.

That can be good and bad I guess, but we won't know until we see what the pricing is like on UA.

unavaca

No idea. We're all speculating why they chose to get rid of the IFE system. To add more baseless speculation: the Wi-Fi gear needed precious overhead space already occupied by the current A320 IFE gear. Using that space for more useful Wi-Fi and not having to wire up a few hundred new seats (plus the weight savings) makes ditching IFE and adding Wi-Fi a clear win.

Edit: Wrong. See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20729944-post181.html.

At least in the 747 case, it had an AVOD system (IPTE) worth saving. I could take it or leave it when it comes to the A320 IFE. A 9" LCD four rows is visually smaller than my 5" phone screen 18" away anyway.