IFE failure, has it happened to you

[Scrooge]

This will probably move off in a different direction, but I am wondering how many people have had the IFE fail on them.

A reset counts as a failure, so pretty much, the only way the various systems get a passing mark is to work perfectly from the point at which they are switched on.

In 12 years of flying VS on average twice a year, only the once. But it was an 11 hr flight!

Paul

(edited to make some kind of sense)

[honey lamb]

Yep!

On one flight from JFK the whole system had to be re-booted and we were told it would take 45 minutes. Sleep seemed a greater priority at that stage.

On a flight to SFO, while the picture was fine the sound wasn't and a re-boot didn't fix it

On a flight from SFO (I think), the system froze overnight and couldn't be re-booted. I think it was the iMap

Its happened on other airlines as well so not exclusive to VS.

[Scrooge]

quote:Originally posted by Jacki
Its happened on other airlines as well so not exclusive to VS.




Out of interest which airlines and if you can remember which aircraft.

We fly 3 times a year to MCO and while we have never had a total failure I've lost count of the number of reboots, the number of times the movies don't match the magazine, and how many dodgy earphone sockets there are upstairs in PE. On one flight only the odd numbered channels were working.

I've only flown on the LGW/MAN fleet and have experienced crashes on the, supposedly more advanced, Odyssey system every time I have been on an aircraft with this fitted. The older Nova system has always worked fine for me (in UC, so maybe the screens don't get quite as much of a battering there).

I believe there are certain rows back in Y where it's almost certain that the IFE will fail on a regular basis.

James

[mitchja]

I've never suffered a failure with Odyssey or Nova. It's always been V:Port for various reasons, some of which have been:

The programs/menus not matching so impossible to choose what you want.

I've also have several entire system re-boots a couple of times which takes 90mins for each re-boot.

I've had faulty screens in bulk head rows several times due to the very poor design of the seat where the LCD screen faces outwards and is therefore liable to get damaged by feet/bags etc.

I've had a broken handset once too.

Regards

Ive had IFE failure, however it was on the old Gallery system.
Hoping it works for me on my upcoming flight.

Kev.

It happens with BA's 'new' On Demand system very frequently IME, and it has happended with me on all of Virgin's systems too.

Regards,

Hackneyguy

[Neil]

I've had problems on both V-Port and Odyseey, the worst was when my screen decided to have lines running across the top making the top half of the screen impossible to watch, and despite 3 re-boots it didn't sort it (this was flying PE on a A346).

Neil

At last! A useful poll! (Sorry GJ...)

A few times on V:Port (especially if you're counting a reset as a 'failure'); never with Nova or Odyssey.

quote:Originally posted by mdvipond
At last! A useful poll! (Sorry GJ...)


Hateful.

GJ

Neil, a reset won't fix that as it requires a screen replacement.

A couple of little IFE snippets. Firstly a seat reset doesn't actually fully reboot the seat box, a higher level of reset is required to fully reboot the seat (area distribution box zone downpower, then power up has a higher 'fix' rate, but can't be carried out by cabin crew). If a full IFE system reset is carried out you MUST leave the system off for a minimum of 5 minutes to allow the hard drives etc to down power, also the more demand the passengers put on the system during power up, the less chance of the system working. Some crew turn it back on as soon as the control screen is blank.

As for the poll, over 20 flights with VS, 6 with CX & 16 with EK & no IFE problems!!! Is that a record???

Happy viewing.

Every airline I have travelled with, I have had some failure- Virgin, BA, Qantas, Continental, AA, First Choice, Thomsonfly, Jetblue
Virgin was the worst, got the same seats(same a/c) on both legs of a fortnights holiday a few years back, unfortunately for me those same seats had totally F****d up IFE, the outbound was fine, got the old mini movie players however on the way home the hostie blatently lied and said they didn't do them anymore hadn't for 6months-1year...??? got 10,000 miles out of it for my troubles, shame they went to waste

Random complete failures across the whole aircraft all way from Tokyo to LHR. Some seats were fine others nothing even after 2 reboots. Were offered 5000 miles - we were in PE. Do you know how soul destroying it is to hear folks in the row in front laughing at their screens when ours were not balck? Funny thing was I had a fortune thingy at Mt Fuji which said something bad would happen on the journey home - I'm not superstitious but...

That said the crew were fab and kept the drinks flowing - even had big boy glasses from UC!

Had a system reboot on the way from SYD to HKG but no other issues.

To date have had no failures on any other airlines.

Only once have I needed a reset on 15 years of flying with Virgin.

However, had a dodgy earphone connector on the last flight, and was offered a DVD player with the most miserable selection of films. A shame that the DVD's have their own region (I think it;s region 8), so couldn't even watch them on the laptop!

Outbound to St Lucia in April 2009. Full reset for entire system on Nova. Warned that all channels would restart from beginning - though fortunately the skymap didn't!

IFE has failed on two occasions - once in seat only, the second the whole system went down. They knew before take off at Heathrow.
Not very impressed on the second occasion. They managed to get two channels working. I was sitting next to a 'rock star' who was asked to choose the movies. Needless to say she had no interest in mainstream movies and made us all watch some arty nonsense!!! Why they thought she should have a choice just cos she was well known....
I asked for a DVD player but they said they didn't have enough. I would have thought passengers in Upper might get first chance at them but no.
Didn't receive anything for it - previous year I got 10000 miles when I complained.

Have had a few failures mainly on LGW departures never from LHR. Been offered DVD player to compensate and crew appeared to try and resolve IFE problems quickly although not always successfully.

Had Vport fail completely on SFO to LHR a few years back for the whole flight. Usually the VS IFE is quite reliable although I find the main problem is with headphone sockets no matter what cabin I fly in.

Flew SIN to LHR in 2008 on a 2 week old A380 and we both had sound and pic problems on the Kris system.[n]

I now always take my Archos player with 50 films loaded. Sorted[y]

Las month on VS 301 Odyssey - nothing all the way. Repaired to the bar and found the escalators at LHR strangely difficult.

Hoping for better tomorrow