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American Airlines Expands Streaming In-Flight Movies

Posted by samzenpus on from the stream-the-sky dept.

wolog writes "American began testing a wifi in-flight entertainment system last month on two wide-body jets and will expand the testing among customers this summer. If all goes well, American said, it will be the first domestic (US) airline to provide streaming service on all Wi-Fi-enabled planes, starting this fall. Of course, the airline industry offers in-flight entertainment not solely to keep passengers amused but also to generate revenue. I'm curious how such system works. Having 250+ wifi clients connected inside a long metallic cylinder and doing some video streaming seems a really big challenge."

2 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Don't Expect Much by Nikkos · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I flew AA to Japan and back earlier this year. The in-flight entertainment systems were spotty and from what I could tell, at least 10% of them didn't work well if at all - including 2 of the 5 nearest me. Touchscreens didn't work, sound plugs didn't work, random resets in the middle of movies (with no recourse but to watch the whole movie over again) or devices that would do nothing but show static. The systems were so unbelievably crappy that it made me wonder how well the rest of the aircraft was serviced.

  2. Re:Interesting! by artor3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you're through feeling indignant, let me tell you that they are not deceiving you. The concern really is that the electrical interference could mess with the avionics. The IEEE has done studies in the past showing that it's possible. It is extremely unlikely, but it falls into the realm of better safe than sorry.

    They are not "dehumanizing" you by asking you to turn off your iPod for 15 minutes. You're just looking for something to be outraged over. Stick to the TSA, where the distrust and anger is actually warranted.