In an attempt to cut costs even further, many airlines are opting out of installing seat-back entertainment screens on short-haul aircraft. Seat-back screens may seem small, but they’re actually quite large and quite heavy. Many forget that seat-back screens also come with huge hard drives that are typically located under the seats. All of those screens and hard drives add up to quite a bit a weight. That weight over the life of the aircraft adds up quickly. Removing screens reduces weight which in turn improves fuel efficiency and saves airlines literally millions of dollars each year.
I understand why airlines are opting to remove seat-back screens and I generally agree with the decision. See, on short haul-flights I actually get extremely frustrated with seat-back IFE. Let me explain.
Constant Interrupting Announcements
Seat-back IFE screens come with a ton of advantages. For starters they usually offer significantly more free content than streaming. Screens also give passengers the ability to order food/drink directly from their seats or even message other passengers (creepy?). Now all of this is great for long-haul (4+ hour) flights, but on short-haul flights I find IFE screens incredibly annoying.
I find the screens annoying because of the constant crew announcement interruptions. See, with seat-back screens you can generally start content the moment you sit down. Crew member instructions constantly interrupt and freeze the IFE screen as you try to start watching your content. The safety video also interrupts content as you taxi toward the runway, not to mention most safety videos are terrible. Then as you climb the captain or crew once again chimes in welcoming you to the flight and giving a warm welcome to elite members. On more recent flights these announcements also include shameless advertising for co-branded credit cards.
Now I’m sure most of you will say, yeah, but once you’re airborne the announcements generally end. You’re right, but on American, each time the captain turns on the fasten seatbelt sign there is a visual (auditory) interruption. Then, generally 30 minutes prior to landing the whole slew of instructions begin again. I find this whole process terribly annoying on flights that are 2 hours or less. It’s honestly difficult to watch an hour and a half movie on a two-hour flight.
Cords or Bring Your Own Headphones
A second reason I’m starting to dislike seat-back IFE screens are the cords. Currently there isn’t a way to connect a bluetooth device to a seat-back screen. I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon either. This didn’t use to bother me until I started using the Bose QC 35 headphones. Now I simply find cords annoying on flights. I hate plugging my wireless headphones into a seat-back screen. I especially hate having to unplug my headphones every time my neighbor wants to use the restroom. Obviously this is a minor issue, but it’s another reason I prefer streaming media to my own device.
Even worse than cords are airlines that require you to use their proprietary headphones. I loved my recent Singapore Airlines Suites class flight, but the IFE didn’t allow you to plug your own headphones in. This meant that you had to use their headphones with their unique plug. That also meant if you wanted to listen or watch something on your own device that you’d have to switch headphones. Don’t get me wrong I loved watching movies on the 23″ monitor in my suite, but is again another reason I prefer using my own device.
Broken Seat-Back Screens
Broken seat-back screens of years past were a godsend to frequent travelers. A broken seat-back screen generally meant that you’d be getting some money from the airline. Airlines would graciously hand out $100+ travel vouchers for broken IFE screens. Today however, seat-back screens are fairly easy to fix. Most issues simply require a hard reset of the device which takes just a few minutes. Although this is great news for travelers on long-haul flights, it isn’t so great for short-haul trips.
The whole process to restart the IFE usually takes 10 minutes or so. On a 2 hour flight that’s valuable time you’re missing out on catching the newest Hunger Games or Avengers movie! In all honesty I wish my IFE screen was broken when I decided to watch Collateral Beauty.
Personal Devices Sound Great… But
Obviously with all of my above issue with IFE you’d assume I prefer bringing my own device and in most cases you’d be correct. I prefer to bring my own device because I can listen using bluetooth headphones, but that’s where the benefits end.
One thing I hate about bringing my own device is trying to get it setup. To watch in-flight content you generally have to download either the Airline’s app or the internet providers app. Once you have the app you can watch free content, but there are still issues.
Battery Life
Streaming wireless content to your mobile device drains battery. If you plan on streaming to your device you better hope the aircraft has a power outlet and on some older American planes that’s not going to happen. Even if the plane does have traditional power outlets that doesn’t mean they are functional. Just like you have issues with broken IFE screens you can also have issues with broken power plugs. If your plug is broken it’s going to be a long, long flights.
Poor Wifi Service
Just like you need a power outlet to stream content, you’re also going to need a steady wifi connection. As aircraft wifi continues to improve I’ve noticed this is less and less of an issue, but there are still occasions where flights that should have wifi don’t. If your flight doesn’t have a solid wifi connection then you won’t be able to stream anything to your device. If this is the case then I’d much prefer to have a seat-back screen.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned earlier I’m happy to see airlines ditch the seat-back entertainment screen. That being said, airlines need to make sure to improve their wifi and power outlet infrastructure to make sure passengers continue to have access to free content on their devices. It would be a shame to see airlines ditch seat-back screens without making any improvements to other areas of the passenger experience.
It’s also important that these decisions to eliminate seat-back screens only affect most airlines’ short-haul fleets (for now). American for example continues to offer seat-back IFE screens on long-haul aircraft. Long-haul flights are exactly where I much prefer to have seat-back IFE. Long haul flights don’t have as many interruptions (per flight hour) as short-haul flights and a seat-back screens means you don’t have to waste any valuable cabin space on your wireless device.
All in all I’m happy with the decision to eliminate seat-back screens on short-haul aircraft, but airlines need to make sure to improve other in-flight features to make streaming work in the long run. Also, airlines need to stop saying things like “customers already bring their own devices” etc. The plain and simple truth is that the airlines are removing IFE because they are heavy and costly. Eliminating the IFE screen is just another way to cut costs and improve the bottom line.
