Airlines with TVs
 

I read many trip reports stating the person watched tv/movies from a tv on the back of the airline seats. I fly coach and am wondering which airlines offer TVs on the back of the seats?

Thanks!

I just flew to Peru on Continental, and all coach seats had the entertainment units you describe. It was great......could select from tons of movies (classics, in-theaters now, TV episodes, music, could even play games).

Made the time go by very quickly!

I have also flown a couple of times on US Air with the same ammenities.

Each time has been a longer international flight, so that might be a factor as well.

Virgin has had them for many years on their transatlantic flights. They are great, particularly with kids. They have all kinds of entertainment, including video games!

JetBlue and Virgin America both have live TV feed on their planes. I've heard rumors of other airlines also looking into live TV, but for now most just have reruns and movies.

Most planes less than 10 years old have seatback video now. That leaves out some of the U.S. carriers.

As for in-seat entertainment/seat back video screens it may also depend not just on the airline but also on the route, airplane model & vintage of the airplane interior. What is your flight itinerary?

Every flight I've taken for many years now has had that, on any carrier -- at least flights from US to Europe.

You have to check the individual type of plane that will be used on your flight. For example, two different planes are used by Air France on the Boston to Paris route, and the Airbus A340s have seatback video while the Boeing 747s do not.

Our Lufthansa flight from Atlanta to Munich 3 weeks ago had in-flight video. We flew coach class.

Yes, it varies even among flights on the same airline. You have to check the specific plane you are on, because the newer planes may have it while the older ones don't.

I've heard that Delta has it on many transatlantic flights but I flew Atlanta-Athens last year and the plane did not have it in either direction. The year before, I flew Air New Zealand L.A. - Auckland and had it both directions. It makes the flight so much more pleasant imho and really missed it on the Athens trip.

Agreed - I just flew Delta to London. Our flight there had the overhead video screens, but my flight back had individual screens for each seat. (Some weren't working, though. I actually got two seats to myself; the man next to me switched seats because his screen never started working.)

Go to www.seatguru.com and you'll find out.

Most transatlantic and transpacific flights have TVs in coach on the back of the seat in front of you. Even cruddy Olympic Airways had this in 2001! Frontier Airlines offers this on all flights and has live TV (Frontier flies no international flights, US domestic only).

Some of the cruddier planes flying transatlantic routes (*cough*American 767s*cough*) do not have the seat-back TVs but even on the same route a different aircraft type will have them (e.g., American transatlantic 767s have overhead video for the proles, American transatlantic 777s have seat-back TVs for the cattle). We picked our flights in part due to this difference.

Lufthansa Airbus 340-300 DFW-FRA-DFW had individual video screens last month. Our next international flight is on AA 767, one of the "cruddier" planes that does not have at-seat video. (But the flight is free due to AAdvantage miles so I can't complain)

Even BA's old 747s on the LHR-PHX route had them. NW/Delta/KlM had them on the Ams-PDX route this year too. I prefered BA's choice of programming though - there were some great audio books/short stories available.

The planes can vary on the same airline and route. Air France uses a 747 on the Miami route, and going out it did not have individual video, but the plane on the way back did.

Seatguru is a good place to figure out precisely what's offered on specific equipment for specific airlines. Note that an airline may even have several different versions of the same model. In order to figure out which is which you can compare other aspects of the plane: how many rows in business? Which rows are emergency exit rows?

But it's important to understand that there's no guarantee that your individual unit will function, or even that you'll be on the expected equipment, as last minute mechanical issues can arise. So, always have a back up plan. If you travel with a laptop you can use it for DVDs, etc. I watch movies and listen to podcasts on my iPhone. My daughter has a portable DVD player. Remember to make sure you've got enough battery power.