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Saturday, June 13, 2009

Gate to gate IFE is great

Just a brief update on my post about inflight entertainment. I've recently had a few trans-Tasman flights on both Qantas and Air New Zealand. The flights are about 3 1/2 hours heading west and 3 hours heading east.

Thanks to IFE being switched on at boarding and not being turned off until touchdown, on Air NZ I was able to watch 2 movies + 1 TV program each flight (in both directions). Compare this with Qantas where it is only possible to watch 1 movie each flight (and warned against selecting a long movie for Australia to New Zealand). The wider selection on Air New Zealand also meant more movies worth watching.

2 comments:

GoldenToque said...

Air Canada as of a few months ago, introduced Gate to Gate IFE. Unfortunately there are a few restrictions (imposed by Transport Canada)... you can only use earbud style headphones once the plane pushes back, until the seatbelt sign has been turned off, and then the same applies to the landing procedures.

As well, Gate to Gate IFE is not available in Executive First on the 777, as the screens are of the fold-out variety and need to be stowed during take-off and landing.

I never used to watch movies on the 2-2.5 hour flights, but now I do!

The Global Traveller said...

Thanks @GoldenToque, for letting us know Air Canada also has gate to gate IFE.

Air NZ has the same rule - fold out PTVs not allowed to be used during takeoff and landing. This affects exit & bulkhead rows in economy and premium economy, as well as business class in A320 and 767.