Hello everyone!
My last post on in-flight entertainment was back in August, so I figured it was time to update you all as we prepare to kick off the summer travel season… because one of the most frequently asked questions is, “Will I have Delta on Demand on my flight?”
How’d it start?
Beginning in August, 2006, we began converting our 767-300ER fleet to Panasonic’s digital eFX IFE platform. And beginning in December, 2006, we began installing cabin-wide Audio/Video On Demand (AVOD) across our 777 and 767-400 fleets. Fast forward to May, 2008 and we’re now in the final stages of an 18 month-long initiative to add full-cabin AVOD to more than 100 planes.
As of June 1, 2008, Delta will have 131 aircraft with cabin-wide AVOD and 59 aircraft with AVOD in the BusinessElite cabin. Through Dec. 2008, we’ll add cabin-wide AVOD to an additional 15 aircraft.
So is it on my flight?
Domestic
We offer the AVOD product to customers on most flights 4+hours to and from New York City, Boston, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Atlanta.
Flights between Los Angeles and Honolulu or Maui also feature Delta on Demand.
International
We offer Delta on Demand to all customers traveling in the BusinessElite cabin, regardless of destination.
It’s also available to customers in the Economy cabin traveling between Atlanta* and Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Moscow, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bogotá, Quito, Guayaquil, Paris/CDG, Copenhagen, Dakar, Dublin, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, London/LGW, Madrid, Munich and Milan.
And if you’re traveling in Economy between New York/JFK* and Antigua, Shannon, Guatemala City, Edinburgh, Manchester, Malaga, Mexico City, Lyon, London/LGW, Paris/CDG, Punta Cana, Puerto Vallarta, Santo Domingo, Santiago (STI), Frankfurt, Georgetown, Brussels and Mumbai…you’ll also be on aircraft with Delta on Demand.
It’s available to all customers traveling between Cincinnati* and Amsterdam…to all customers traveling between Los Angeles* and Cancun and to all customers traveling between Hartford* and Cancun.
*And here’s the fine print…Routes and Aircraft subject to change
Fast Facts
The system features 18 channels of live satellite television on 97 Boeing 737, 757 and 767 aircraft flying domestic routes (usually on flights of 4 hours or more), while customers flying on transoceanic routes on Delta’s Boeing 757, 767 and 777 fleet enjoy up to 25 hours of on-demand television across a broad range of genres.
More, More, More!
It all comes down to choice… I know I like to be entertained and having a bunch of stuff to watch or play is important — especially on a long flight. That’s why we’re making the investment in an industry-leading entertainment product.
By the end of 2008, Delta will have 205 aircraft equipped with Delta on Demand – one of the largest AVOD-equipped fleets in the world.
And we’re still not done… soon you’ll see the product on even more aircraft and routes. Delta will take delivery of (5) 777-200LR and (3) 737-700 aircraft with factory-equipped AVOD in 2009. Plus we’ll add Delta on Demand to the remaining (7) 767-400ER aircraft in our fleet.
Let us – and the world – know what you think about Delta’s in-flight entertainment! Click here to take part in a quick survey.
The 2008 World Airline Entertainment Survey is a partnership project between SKYTRAX RESEARCH and the WAEA (World Airline Entertainment Association).
I look forward to reading your comments and responding to your questions.
Chris-
May 7th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Nice to see progress being made. It’s still frustrating when I help my dad with his travel arrangements (he’s a PM living in New York) that my answer to his question about whether the flight will have AVOD is “maybe”.
A lot of his flights to the west coast out of JFK are now on 737-800s, whereas they used to be ex-Song 757s (is the JFK Transcontinental branding gone now?). What’s the progress on the 738 fleet?
Also, are the emPower plugs being removed from coach on the 737-800 and 767-400s? If so, could you please update the “Connectivity” page on Delta.com? There’s no mention of the 110-volt power ports now appearing on more and more aircraft. I bought an emPower cord for my new MacBook on a flight to Tokyo, only to find I didn’t need it!
May 7th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Thanks for the update, Chris! My past 4 recent flights (2 were transcons) had the AVOD. It’s great to see Delta striving to make improvements to in this area!
A major concern for frequent DL flyers is the deteriorating state of the satellite TV service. These days, you are lucky if 3 or 4 of the DISH satellite channels even work! Often, the signal is unavailable, and if it does work, sometimes the channels are switched around. While the domestic AVOD improvements are great, it is very disappointing to find that the DISH satellite reception is out of service more often than not.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I’m liking what I hear! Hopefully, should NW/DL merge, the 747 will get equipped with Delta OnDemand and the 777 sleeper suites
Also, I like the fact that Delta is one of the few carriers which offers in-flight entertainment on such a wide variety of aircraft (ranging from the smallest to the largest).
May 7th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I love the AVOD if and when it works but that is a BIG if….
I just completed 4 segments this week on the 767-300 and there were multiple problems with the AVOD system on all 4 flights. The first flight required 2 reboots of the entire AVOD system and 2 reboots of my seat’s AVOD system. None of the reboots solved the problem (if I tried to watch tv, watch a movie/hbo, or play a game it would crash.) I had to switch seats 3 times to find a working unit. On the second flight the movies were “unavailable” and attempting to play a game caused it to crash. On the 3rd and 4th flights it worked after the entire system was rebooted twice.
I’m sorry to complain on here but I don’t understand why you continue to install a system that is plagued with problems.
Again, I love it when it works and it is nice to be able to have a nice choice of movies especially for those of us who make multiple trancon flights each month.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:30 am
The Delta On Demand AVOD is terrific and a big improvement to the flight experience. But what ever happened to being able to see whether your flight will have AVOD during the booking process? I can’t find the small TV icon anywhere now, and this would be helpful for purposes of making flight decisions.
Also, I was on a flight from New York to Las Vegas a few weeks ago - it was a five hour flight that didn’t have AVOD. Aren’t flights of this length supposed to have AVOD?
May 9th, 2008 at 10:05 am
tcyw: That’s what we would like. However, Chris mentioned in his posting that AVOD is offered on “most of” the 4+ hour domestic flights.
You are right, it would be helpful to see which flights offer AVOD during the booking process.
Chris: Thanks for the update! Last month I flew from FRA->JFK->LAS and LAS->ATL->FRA and really enjoyed the IFE. Keep up the good work!
May 9th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
James K…here’s the low down on power…effective June 1, the only aircraft that will feature empower are our remaining domestic 767-400ER aircraft.
Every seat in BusinessElite and First Class will offer 110V power.
The first 10 rows of Economy will offer 110V power on the 757-200 ETOPS, 767-400ER International and 777s.
Every seat on on aircraft with Delta on Demand also offer USB ports…the power from the USB is usually enough to charge an iPod or mobile phone.
I’ll work with Delta.com to update the power page.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
DiscoPapa…you are not alone in noticing the poor performance or the satellite television product. As we’ve ramped up mod lines and introduced more than 50 new aircraft with Sat TV, we’ve seen a huge increase of outages.
We’re replacing all the receivers and all the antennas with updated versions, but given the size of the fleet, this will take time.
Panasonic teams are working closely with TechOps Engineering and Cabin Maintenance to identify and correct the issues.
Please know that these problems are being addressed at the highest levels.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
tcwy…I know, I know…this has been an issue for quite some time. We’re working closely with Delta.com but given the scope of the changes required to implement behind the scenes, we haven’t had much traction. This is one of my priorities, but hopefully some of the information I’ve provided in my post above will help.
Our corporate goal is that all flights within North America and the Caribbean of 4+ hours will feature Delta on Demand at every seat.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Geoffrey…I know it’s frustrating when the system doesn’t perform as it should. As a product manager, I take it very personally when we don’t deliver on the products we’ve spent so much time and money developing.
There is a huge focus on improving reliability and am optimistic that we are close.