Mar 13, 2014, 12:52 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

All mainline UA aircfraft should have PDE available (April 2018)
Supported devices

Courtesy of JOSECONLSCREW28

If anybody can update this wiki with roll out dates, that will be helpful!

Entertainment options in the future:

Continental Airlines aircraft:
B777-200ER AVOD/Satellite WiFi
B767-400ER AVOD/Satellite WiFi
B787-8 AVOD/Satellite WiFi/Streaming Content
B787-9 AVOD/Satellite WiFi/Streaming Content
B757-300 851 - 859 DirecTV/SatelliteWiFi
B757-300 860 - 871 Streaming Content/Satellite WiFi
B757-200 AVOD/Satellite WiFi
B737-900/900ER 401 - 464 DirecTV/Satellite WiFi
B737-900ER 465 - 478 Streaming Content/Satellite Wifi
B737-800 202 - 226, 228 - 231, 233 - 234, 237 - 239, 241 - 245, 247 - 248, 250 - 299, 501 - 531 DirecTV/Satellite WiFi
B737-800 201, 227, 232, 235 - 236, 240, 246, 249 Overhead IFE/Satellite WiFi
B737-700 701 - 719, 721 - 724, 726 - 733, 750 DirecTV/Satellite WiFi
B737-700 720, 734, 735, 736 Overhead IFE/Satellite WiFi

United Airlines aircraft:
B747-400 AVOD + Streaming Content/Satellite WiFi
B777-200 International AVOD/Satellite WiFi
B777-200 Hawaiian Streaming Content/Satellite WiFi
B767-300 2-cabin AVOD/Satellite WiFi
B767-300 3-cabin AVOD/Looping IFE/Streaming Content/Satellite WiFi
B757-200 PS AVOD/Streaming Content/GoGo WiFi
B737-900ER Streaming Content/Satellite WiFi
A319/A320 Streaming Content/Satellite WiFi

This other thread is also invaluable for general fleet updates:

United Airlines Fleet Updates [2014 Thread]

Watch inflight movies/TV on your personal device (PDE) - Experiences, discussion,...

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Jun 7, 2018, 7:13 pm

#586

Aussienarelle

Join Date: Oct 2015

Location: SAN

Programs: 1K (since 2008), *G (since 1990), 1MM

Posts: 3,215

Quote:

Originally Posted by mc0810

The united app won't download on my kids ipad minis because it requires ios 10.0 (says its up to date at 9.3.5 with no option to update to 10.0).

Help! I fly out in the morning with them, 7 hours with nothing to watch would really suck for them (and me)

Books, travel games, activities.

Jun 7, 2018, 7:54 pm

#587

Michilander

Join Date: Nov 2010

Location: BWI, PHL, IAD

Programs: Marriott LT Titanium; Mileage Plus 1K, 1 MM; Global Entry

Posts: 1,516

Flew an ERJ-175 and a 737-800 yesterday. Was able to watch a movie on the RJ, but only by reconnecting to the network every 2-3 minutes. Was not able to stay connected long enough at one time on the 737 to even start a movie. Galaxy S5, Android 6.01.

Jun 15, 2018, 6:48 am

#588

Miles Ahead

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: ORD

Programs: United Plat 2MM, Hilton Gold

Posts: 2,727

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michilander

Was able to watch a movie on the RJ, but only by reconnecting to the network every 2-3 minutes.

You need to keep airplane mode on, but also Wifi on. Not all phones do this.

Jun 15, 2018, 6:51 am

#589

Miles Ahead

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: ORD

Programs: United Plat 2MM, Hilton Gold

Posts: 2,727

I am trying to make things work on a Windows 10 machine.

Firefox 60 is an unsupported browser. Version 51 seems to be what it wants. Chrome is supported, but then the complaint is that Flash is not installed. Flash (v. 30x) is installed, and I have tested it with Chrome. Any thoughts on getting a working version?

Jun 15, 2018, 7:24 am

#590

laxmillenial

Join Date: Jan 2016

Programs: UA 1K; *G, AA Plat

Posts: 1,700

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miles Ahead

My hunch is that Flash is asking you if it is ok to be run on this webpage and you don't click 'accept' or have UA allowed, so therefore UA thinks there's no flash installed. Usually there's a little puzzle box in the top right of chrome asking if certain plugins are ok to be run on certain sites. Is UA one the 'accepted list' or the "run flash without asking"? You can also add UA to the trusted site where it doesn't need to ask permission to run flash somewhere in the security settings.

Jun 15, 2018, 7:39 am

#591

Miles Ahead

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: ORD

Programs: United Plat 2MM, Hilton Gold

Posts: 2,727

Good hunch, but there was no request popping up anywhere. Any idea what domains I should add? united.com and unitedwifi.com surely - anything else?

Jun 15, 2018, 7:46 am

#592

laxmillenial

Join Date: Jan 2016

Programs: UA 1K; *G, AA Plat

Posts: 1,700

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miles Ahead

Good hunch, but there was no request popping up anywhere. Any idea what domains I should add? united.com and unitedwifi.com surely - anything else?

Sometimes it doesn't pop up if you've rejected it once before in the past.
Nope, those two should do it.
Have you tried an incognito browser on chrome as well?

Jun 15, 2018, 10:37 am

#593

Michilander

Join Date: Nov 2010

Location: BWI, PHL, IAD

Programs: Marriott LT Titanium; Mileage Plus 1K, 1 MM; Global Entry

Posts: 1,516

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miles Ahead

You need to keep airplane mode on, but also Wifi on. Not all phones do this.

Yes. Right after I turn on airplane mode I turn wifi and Bluetooth back on. Couldn't connect to the network at all if wifi wasn't on.

Jul 31, 2018, 6:25 am

#594

YadiMolina

Join Date: Aug 2015

Location: IAH

Programs: UA

Posts: 603

I was very pleased when I was finally able to use PDE for the first time on my Google Nexus tablet. United App version 2.1.56 on Android 7.1.1. Flight was a 737-800. Worked flawlessly, no interruptions or buffering.

I did notice that it only worked if I directly tapped the Entertainment logo on the main page of the app. If I tapped on "go to unitedwifi", which brings up a Chrome browser then offers Private Screening, it still gave all those "need special software" icons. I think I had to go that route the first time as andoid kept telling me to log in to the wifi. I had to turn on airplane mode on my tablet, even though it doesn't have a cell phone connection.

Aug 8, 2018, 12:26 pm

#595

sltlyamusd

Join Date: May 2003

Location: SFO, mostly

Posts: 2,203

Quote:

Originally Posted by YadiMolina

Watched movies on my iOS device with the latest version installed of both operating system and the United app on a 737-900 and ERJ-175. U.I. was very straightforward and movie selection was good, but had lots of interruptions and buffering on these 4 hour flights. Pretty much gave up trying to watch on outbound, but did manage to make it through a movie with few interruptions on the return. Only seemed to work well if you never pause or try to replay a scene. Especially with no tablet holders, still think this is a poor substitute for seatback IFE.

Oct 6, 2018, 9:36 pm

#596

JustBreathe

Join Date: Nov 2014

Location: Denver

Programs: UA Silver

Posts: 94

I tried searching the thread to see if this has been answered, apologies if i missed it.

PDE works fine on my Android, but I can't get it work on my MacBook in Chrome (which I think unsupported), Safari, or Firefox (even older version for older Flash).

I repeatedly download the DRM plugin, install it, then it still doesn't work.

I'm on OS X 10.11.6

Any suggestions? Have some domestic transcon flights coming up and would be good if I could get it to work on a screen larger than my phone.

Thanks

Oct 13, 2018, 8:05 am

#597

50Kthehardway

Join Date: Mar 2015

Location: CLE

Programs: UA:1K 0.81M

Posts: 135

Connections needed for successful connection

UA may have eliminated the direct CLE-LAS, but I was able to use that to my advantage. I needed all four segments to string together enough functional PDE/WiFi to finish Ready Player One which I started on my outbound from CLE.

(also, this gave me an opportunity to learn that italics has replaced underlining when citing full works such as movies)

Nov 3, 2018, 6:12 pm

#598

Miles Ahead

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: ORD

Programs: United Plat 2MM, Hilton Gold

Posts: 2,727

I'm still stuck. I had some time to play on a TATL. It's definitely a DRM issue: I can play previews, just not movies or TV. Panasonic DRM is installed. What next?

Jan 7, 2019, 9:46 am

#599

zitsky

Join Date: Apr 2008

Location: RDU

Posts: 5,228

United wifi

I kept going to unitedwifi.com and was frustrated when I didn't see options for entertainment. It wasn't until I went to unitedwi-fi.com that I got it to work. (Add a dash between wi and fi)

Feb 19, 2019, 4:28 pm

#600

nobodyherebutme

Join Date: Sep 2014

Location: DEN

Programs: UA 1K

Posts: 175

Unable to play IFE videos - Expired site certificate?

For the past several months, I have had difficulty getting IFE videos to play on my Windows 10 laptop with any consistency. On some flights, everything works great. On most flights, all I get is a blank screen once the commercial finishes playing. I tried Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Opera. I uninstalled add-ons and extensions. I installed a fresh copy of Windows in a VM. Nothing.

On a flight this past weekend, I looked at the browser console and noticed that something hadn't loaded because of an expired security certificate. Once I browsed to the site and accepted the invalid certificate, the movie played.

Could this have been the problem? If so, why would the IFE work occasionally?