ualdenver

+1. this happened on a few of my flights. at first i though the captain lied to me by saying yes then not honoring my request.

n9536j

Instead of making it personal why not take it up with UA who took your money and manages the pilots. They could make it mandatory and deal with the inevitable contract issues, perhaps have UA lawyers defend the nuisance suits.

aluminumdriver

You pay to fly from A to B safely, not for CH 9. Read your ticket, it isn't mentioned in the contract of carriage. Just like if IFE goes down, or you don't have your choice of meal, doesn't mean you get a refund.

I'll tell you that the attitude we get from some that they demand CH 9, is one of the turnoffs. That and the "know it alls" from the back that accost us after we land for something they heard and "knew all about". Get one of those, and CH 9 is not worth the hassle or risk. There's a reason no other airline in the world does it, their pilots don't want it. The majority of United pilots still do it, so enjoy it when it's on, and respect the Captain's decision when it's off. There is no "conformaty" within pilots when it comes to discretionary issues. Why does one pilot take a jet with something broken, and another one doesn't? Depends on the flight, where they are going, weather, airport, etc.... so same with CH 9. Some have been burned, some haven't. Some have had rude CH 9ers, some haven't. Some just don't like people listening in on them at the job. So, there are just different reasons based on the pilot. It's on most of the time, so I wouldn't worry about the small percentages it's off.

He might have wanted to avoid a fight with a CH 9 junkie, or he might have been fine with it, but the FO wasn't. CH 9 also may have been on in the cockpit, but inop or too low in volume for you to hear. So, he may not have "lied" to you when you asked. Impossible for me to know. I wouldn't lie to you, if I want CH 9 off, I'll tell you so.

No they couldn't, and they know it. Surest way to find CH 9 off all the time is mandate it be on. United again took your money to fly you safely from A to B, with luggage intact hopefully. If having CH 9 is your ultimate dollar making decision, you can always walk to a competitor, but since no other airline in the world has it, going to another airline over that doesn't make much sense to me, but it's your travel dollars.

As I've always said here, enjoy CH 9 when it's on (it's entertainment), do something else when it's off (it's Captain's discretion). As others have accurately pointed out before, asking nicely can sometimes get an apprehensive captain to turn it on for that flight. Going up and demanding it will pretty much guarantee it being off. I have it on right now if my crew is okay with it, so if you're on my flight, enjoy CH 9 when it's working. Haven't we had this thead discussion before, I feel like I'm repeating myself again.

AD

jhayes_1780

+1... just like everyones uncle said: "you get more flies with honey...."

A couple of times:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...0-edition.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...annel-9-a.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...o-popular.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...d-threads.html

And there would be more.... but several titles contain ch 9

Dinky SAN

I agree there's a bit of rehashing of previous posts. I love Ch9 but it's pilot's discretion, period. Fortunately, many international flights, even though the to and from US flights have no Ch9, many pilots have turned them on during intra-asia flights.

Only thing to add is that the audio problem is most often on 757, I've noticed. I asked FA a couple of times before and they said on 757, there is an extra switch they have to throw to put audio back on. So after safety video is finished, audio is not automatically back on, which means no music, no Ch9. Knowing this, I've asked the FAs many times to please put audio back on when flying 757s during taxi to get ch9.

goalie

i completely agree on all points ^. for me, i will always say thank you to the pilots if the cockpit door is open after arriving* (or ask the f/a to thank them for me if it is closed) and if ch9 was on, i will say thank you for that as well. if it was off and not going to be turned on when i asked one of the f/a's if they could ask the pilots if it would be on, then no biggie and i leave it at that.


*upon boarding if the captain or f/o is greeting pax, i will say thank you up front, extend my hand and ask at that point. if the answer is yes, i say thanks again but if not, i will tell the captain or f/o something like "no worries, that's what my i-pod with family guy and three stooges videos is for" (and more often than not, it gets a good chuckle form the pilot )

Exleftseat

First off, my apologies for starting yet another thread about Ch 9. Usually I rarely fly domestic, this season was quite unusual for me and I was really looking forward to Ch 9, but about 40 percent of flights were "quiet". That got me to jump in.
Your comments make a lot of sense and I want to leave it with that. With that and my assurances to you that I am not at all one of those "rude" Ch 9ers, au contraire. That will never change and I am looking forward to riding with you one of these days.
I thank you for your posts, your participation and your honesty.
Now, on with the regular programming.....