Remember when the flight attendant would put on a movie and the plane would fall silent? At any moment the cabin would fill with laughter or tears as we all fixated on the same romantic comedy or superhero flick. And when the movie was over, you’d know if it was a hit by measuring the line-up at the bathroom.
That was only a few years ago. But in this age of audio/video on-demand, seat-to-seat chat and inflight WiFi, it seems like the communal airplane experience is ancient history.
So here’s the question: Have AVOD and other new technologies killed the collective entertainment experience?
Tell us about your favourite airplane movies, which airlines you saw them on, and how the medium affected your viewing experience. Anyone else nostalgic for the main screen days?
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When I’m flying with friends, we always make a point of watching the same program and syncing our systems so we can watch/laugh/groan together. Air travel can be an alienating experience, so these little shared moments are more important than we might think.
While your view of todays iflight entertainment is centered on the lack of communiy. In todays society most prefer the idividual choices thay are currently availabe. It compares with yesterdays TV with the rabit ear attenas to todays satelite or cable choices.
In thepast the single choice movie was all you had, in most cases you had probably already seen it. Today the airlines offer a buffet of choices, with the unlikely event that all had been previously viewed. In addition to the 12 or more moview avilable, you have TV shows, comedy, adventure, or news, You have games to keep childre busy, and cartoons to ensure they are containrd to the areaof their own seats, or do you prefer them running up and down the aisle.
Todays inflight entertainment is a vast improvememt over the recent past, and tomorrows will be even better.
I remember a Sunday night flight from LAX > YYZ – “Pleasantville” was playing. On a full flight, all but 5 pax were watching the film from beginning to end. It’s a film I would have never thought of watching at home or at the cinema – but the effect on that flight was absolutely magical. And oddly enough, even though we went from 28oC LA to -10oC Montreal, everyone left the flight smiling.
I have mixed feelings about this. I used to enjoy the shared experience of watching the same movie but I also hated being on flights where the movie was either not my cup of tea or that I’d already seen. And for frequent flyers, this situation became more and more frustrating. I prefer the new system. I like having the choice. And I like, frankly, watching films that aren’t censored to the point of absurdity.
A few years back I was being interviewed by a leading airline in asia for the post of Manager – IFE … when I went for the interview I didn’t even know what does AVOD stand for and my experience IFE was very limited. Coincidently I did travel by the very same airline from Chennai to Singapore a few months before that.
The interviewer who was later my Boss and now a good friend asked have u ever experienced our IFE … I told yeah while going to Singapore and it sucks … because you showed a Tamil movie where more than 40% where non tamils as there was a legacy overhead system.
There I was told I was being interviewed to manage a system called AVOD which would replace the system I experienced … and he said that is the solution to my complaint.
What I mean to say is collective entertainment experience is not always a good idea especially in today’s world when u have travellers from all around the world … nowsdays passengers are demanding and they need value for the money spent and for AVOD is the answer … which allows u to meet maximum passenger reqyirement. I can’t think of taking a 16 hrs flight from Dubai to LA if there is no AVOD … am sure a lot will agree with me.
Well I select movies for airline viewing so can’tpoint out any one but there are many ….
I would say fly Oman Air A330 – and u will love them all
Admittedly my only knowledge of IFE is as a passenger. But I’d have to say no, it’s not better that yesterday.
Just last week I flew business class round trip London Denver. I don’t really care about having dozens of channels or free gamining; but it would have been nice if the films weren’t chewed up VHS tapes that had been played so many times that the AV was no longer in sync, or parts of the A simply missing. The tapes stopped and started, were clearly damaged, and none of the channels ran in sync with one another.
The best IFE experience I had was a new A340 about 15 years ago, again transatlantic. New enough that they were still working out the ‘bugs’ in the IFE, and everything was available to all passengers.
As both of these examples were between English countries, on English language flag carriers, I can’t comment on the provision for foreign language passengers. I have heard very good things from folks who have flown with airlines from the Middle East, although I haven’t had the chance. So I wonder, could this be a geographic trend? Are the European/American Airlines struggling enough that passenger comfort doesn’t come first? The resources for investment just aren’t there?
http://www.linkedin.com/in/laurashapland
Funny. I also like to sync a choice with my friend, family member, nor colleage next to me so we can share the experience. I miss the communal experience with strangers – just as I miss not being able to discuss mad men at work the next day, because half the office hasn’t watched it yet. Watercoolers are silent affair these days, thanks to an abundance of choice of when/where/ how we consume entertainment.
That said, I do remember being forced to sit through many a children’s movie back in the olden days of 2005. I swear, I watched 5 sequels of a boy and a bear with a heart of gold. There are some communal trappings from the not-to-distant past that I don’t miss as much.
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