QANTAS - Australia IV
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Qantas Entertainent System Fails Thousands Affected
David Richards - Wednesday, 24 January 2007
EXCLUSIVE: Qantas in flight staff claim that the Australian airline is about to dump it's "acclaimed" on demand entertainment system after thousands of customers are being denied access to movies and other programs because of constant technical problems with the award winning entertainment system.
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Qantas onboard staff claim that thousands of customers have been affected by the entertainment system failure and that a new system could cost the airline millions. currently Qantas is subject to a buyout by Airline Partners Australia, a consortium led by Macquarie Bank, which has bid $11 billion for the carrier.
The entertainment system problem problem is so bad that in some cases customers on 20 hour flights between New York and Sydney are having to go without any form of entertainment and in some cases even a light to read because the switch for the light is built into the entertainment controller.
For Australians flying out of Australia to the USA return, the problem is compounded by the fact that they are being forced to pay up to $1,000 more than passengers who book their tickets between the USA and Australia.
Currently Qantas is offering US customers a return trip to Australia for $1,099 (A$1,391). This also includes up to 3 domestic stopovers worth at least another $1,000 in value. The discounted price to Australians on the Qantas web site for a Sydney LA return flight without 3 domestic stopovers is $2,388 going up to more than $3,000 per round trip.
On a recent flight between Los Angeles and Sydney hundreds of Qantas passengers were unable to access the Rockwell Collins developed entertainment system despite repeated attempts by onboard staff to reboot both the hardware and the software. A senior Qantas cabin crew member on the flight told SHN "The problem is that we are at the front line when the entertainment system fails and it is failing a lot so we have to cop the abuse. We have been told that Qantas is about to replace the system because of the high level of failure. This is not a one off. Thousands have been affected on the Pacific route alone." They said.
They added" One of the problems is that Qantas is running full flights across the Pacific and when 300 to 400 passengers suddenly go to switch on the entertainment system the computer system running it fails despite constant rebooting. It failed between New York and LA and it has failed again inbound to Sydney. Qantas know of the problem but have done nothing to make customers aware of the fact that they are boarding an aircraft without a proper functioning entertainment system. ".
Kannyn MacRae Marketing Director at Belkin said "On my flight to the CES show between Sydney and LA I had no entertainment. Luckily I had recorded several movies and shows to my notebook so I watched them in place of the onboard entertainment system".
My Sister who had visited from the USA for Xmas also had problems on another Qantas flight when the Qantas airlines entertainment system failed. I wrote to Qantas about the issue and all they did was write a letter of apology and said I hope we don't lose you as customer".
During my flight between LA and Sydney this week the entertainment system failed 3 times while my wife had no entertainment system at all in her seat. She also had no light to read because of the failure of the entertainment hand piece that included the light switch. When one could access the system ,movie images bitmapped and the Channel Nine News was not available at all. Qantas on board staff offered one days free parking at Sydney Airport as compensation.
Qantas selected the Rockwell Collins' Total Entertainment System 5 years ago to provide passengers with access to in-flight programming selections on their fleet of international long haul Boeing 747-400's. Rockwell Collins said at the time "The Total Entertainment System selected by Qantas offers a diverse range of entertainment options including access to intranet web sites and games, " said Neal Keating, vice president and general manager of Rockwell Collins Passenger Systems.
"These features will be on-demand for all classes and accessed through seatback video screens in economy class, and with larger individual screens for first and business class passengers."
Qantas has ordered the system with provisions for future installation of Audio/Video On Demand, which streams the audio and video directly to individual seats, allowing passengers complete control of video programming, and for installation of passenger email capabilities.
For the last 2 years Qantas has won an award for its dud in-flight entertainment system from the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA).
A Qantas spokesperson said "We are not aware of any problems with our entertainment system but we will investigate and get back to you". To-date we have not heard back from them.
In another statement Qantas said of its Entertainment system "The high priority Qantas places on this area of customer satisfaction is reflected in the fact the airline has received the award for Best Overall In-flight Entertainment in four of the last five years," said John Borghetti, executive general manager of the airline.
SHN has also learnt that Qantas is set to test "AeroMobile" a mobile phone connectivity solution that lets passengers send and receive e-mails, SMS (short message service) messages and phone calls in-flight using their GSM mobile phones or personal electronic devices such as Blackberry phones.
If you have experienced problems on board a Qantas flight we would like to hear from you. Send an email to [email protected]
David Richards - Wednesday, 24 January 2007
EXCLUSIVE: Qantas in flight staff claim that the Australian airline is about to dump it's "acclaimed" on demand entertainment system after thousands of customers are being denied access to movies and other programs because of constant technical problems with the award winning entertainment system.
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qantas onboard staff claim that thousands of customers have been affected by the entertainment system failure and that a new system could cost the airline millions. currently Qantas is subject to a buyout by Airline Partners Australia, a consortium led by Macquarie Bank, which has bid $11 billion for the carrier.
The entertainment system problem problem is so bad that in some cases customers on 20 hour flights between New York and Sydney are having to go without any form of entertainment and in some cases even a light to read because the switch for the light is built into the entertainment controller.
For Australians flying out of Australia to the USA return, the problem is compounded by the fact that they are being forced to pay up to $1,000 more than passengers who book their tickets between the USA and Australia.
Currently Qantas is offering US customers a return trip to Australia for $1,099 (A$1,391). This also includes up to 3 domestic stopovers worth at least another $1,000 in value. The discounted price to Australians on the Qantas web site for a Sydney LA return flight without 3 domestic stopovers is $2,388 going up to more than $3,000 per round trip.
On a recent flight between Los Angeles and Sydney hundreds of Qantas passengers were unable to access the Rockwell Collins developed entertainment system despite repeated attempts by onboard staff to reboot both the hardware and the software. A senior Qantas cabin crew member on the flight told SHN "The problem is that we are at the front line when the entertainment system fails and it is failing a lot so we have to cop the abuse. We have been told that Qantas is about to replace the system because of the high level of failure. This is not a one off. Thousands have been affected on the Pacific route alone." They said.
They added" One of the problems is that Qantas is running full flights across the Pacific and when 300 to 400 passengers suddenly go to switch on the entertainment system the computer system running it fails despite constant rebooting. It failed between New York and LA and it has failed again inbound to Sydney. Qantas know of the problem but have done nothing to make customers aware of the fact that they are boarding an aircraft without a proper functioning entertainment system. ".
Kannyn MacRae Marketing Director at Belkin said "On my flight to the CES show between Sydney and LA I had no entertainment. Luckily I had recorded several movies and shows to my notebook so I watched them in place of the onboard entertainment system".
My Sister who had visited from the USA for Xmas also had problems on another Qantas flight when the Qantas airlines entertainment system failed. I wrote to Qantas about the issue and all they did was write a letter of apology and said I hope we don't lose you as customer".
During my flight between LA and Sydney this week the entertainment system failed 3 times while my wife had no entertainment system at all in her seat. She also had no light to read because of the failure of the entertainment hand piece that included the light switch. When one could access the system ,movie images bitmapped and the Channel Nine News was not available at all. Qantas on board staff offered one days free parking at Sydney Airport as compensation.
Qantas selected the Rockwell Collins' Total Entertainment System 5 years ago to provide passengers with access to in-flight programming selections on their fleet of international long haul Boeing 747-400's. Rockwell Collins said at the time "The Total Entertainment System selected by Qantas offers a diverse range of entertainment options including access to intranet web sites and games, " said Neal Keating, vice president and general manager of Rockwell Collins Passenger Systems.
"These features will be on-demand for all classes and accessed through seatback video screens in economy class, and with larger individual screens for first and business class passengers."
Qantas has ordered the system with provisions for future installation of Audio/Video On Demand, which streams the audio and video directly to individual seats, allowing passengers complete control of video programming, and for installation of passenger email capabilities.
For the last 2 years Qantas has won an award for its dud in-flight entertainment system from the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA).
A Qantas spokesperson said "We are not aware of any problems with our entertainment system but we will investigate and get back to you". To-date we have not heard back from them.
In another statement Qantas said of its Entertainment system "The high priority Qantas places on this area of customer satisfaction is reflected in the fact the airline has received the award for Best Overall In-flight Entertainment in four of the last five years," said John Borghetti, executive general manager of the airline.
SHN has also learnt that Qantas is set to test "AeroMobile" a mobile phone connectivity solution that lets passengers send and receive e-mails, SMS (short message service) messages and phone calls in-flight using their GSM mobile phones or personal electronic devices such as Blackberry phones.
If you have experienced problems on board a Qantas flight we would like to hear from you. Send an email to [email protected]
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Interesting discussion on one of the FF bulletin boards re the rather abysmal performance of our award winning "AVOD" entertainment system.
An award obviously handed out for the content, not the hardware.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=651873
In FF circles it is known as the "avoid" system, but its getting hard to do so now that just about all 744's have it.
I was informed by a Rockwell Collins engineer that Lufthansa are suing them over it's problematic operation and that QF actually profit from it's unreliability due to penalty payments written into the contract.
CSM's ought to be able to sue as well or at least share in those penalty payments for the stress suffered from dealing with hundreds of angry and abusive passengers..........
But hell. I bet the system was cheap.
An award obviously handed out for the content, not the hardware.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=651873
In FF circles it is known as the "avoid" system, but its getting hard to do so now that just about all 744's have it.
I was informed by a Rockwell Collins engineer that Lufthansa are suing them over it's problematic operation and that QF actually profit from it's unreliability due to penalty payments written into the contract.
CSM's ought to be able to sue as well or at least share in those penalty payments for the stress suffered from dealing with hundreds of angry and abusive passengers..........
But hell. I bet the system was cheap.
Last edited by speedbirdhouse; 25th Jan 2007 at 09:13.
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GalleyChick - I'm not about to reveal my sources, lest they would dry up. I would like to also point out that PPRUNE stands for Professional Pilots Rumour Network - therefore it would be reasonable to assume that sometimes rumours are posted here (things you hear in the corridors as opposed to being told directly).
Anyway, here's an interesting tidbit:
APA MEETS WITH UNIONS Airline Partners Australia (APA) met with representatives of the Transport Workers Union and the Australian & International Pilots Association on Monday. APA reassured the representatives of its support for the existing Qantas management’s strategies and said it would be business as usual for Qantas employees. In particular, APA said its supported: Qantas’ commitment to continue to provide a fair work environment for its employees, offering competitive conditions, jobs growth and career opportunities; Qantas’ substantial training program and its position as one of Australia’s largest employers of apprentices; Qantas’ plans to continue maintenance operations in Australia, consistent with previous public statements by Qantas’ growth plans, including keeping the Qantas and Jetstar brands, and keeping their international, domestic and regional services fully operational; and $10 billion capital investment program over the next five years, which will create new employment opportunities and deliver improved customer service.
APA stated that the acquisition will have no impact on employee
entitlements, employee travel benefits or benefits being received by former employees. APA’s intentions will be formally set out in Airline Partners Australia’s Bidder’s Statement, which will be lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Stock Exchange in early February.
Again, you'll note that the APA is silent on whether Cabin Crew will continue to be based mostly in Australia. Start thinking about what's not being said!!!
Anyway, here's an interesting tidbit:
APA MEETS WITH UNIONS Airline Partners Australia (APA) met with representatives of the Transport Workers Union and the Australian & International Pilots Association on Monday. APA reassured the representatives of its support for the existing Qantas management’s strategies and said it would be business as usual for Qantas employees. In particular, APA said its supported: Qantas’ commitment to continue to provide a fair work environment for its employees, offering competitive conditions, jobs growth and career opportunities; Qantas’ substantial training program and its position as one of Australia’s largest employers of apprentices; Qantas’ plans to continue maintenance operations in Australia, consistent with previous public statements by Qantas’ growth plans, including keeping the Qantas and Jetstar brands, and keeping their international, domestic and regional services fully operational; and $10 billion capital investment program over the next five years, which will create new employment opportunities and deliver improved customer service.
APA stated that the acquisition will have no impact on employee
entitlements, employee travel benefits or benefits being received by former employees. APA’s intentions will be formally set out in Airline Partners Australia’s Bidder’s Statement, which will be lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Stock Exchange in early February.
Again, you'll note that the APA is silent on whether Cabin Crew will continue to be based mostly in Australia. Start thinking about what's not being said!!!
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from todays Sydney Morning Herald.
Gremlins give passengers a dose of cabin fever
Asher Moses
January 26, 2007
A serious glitch found in the Qantas in-flight entertainment system is leaving long-haul passengers without access to movies and music for large portions of their flights.
The issue, which affects 27 aircraft in Qantas's 747 400 fleet, is so common that the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia (FAAA) has complained of cabin crew exhibiting "stress related problems" resulting from aggressive passengers.
David Cox, executive general manager of engineering at Qantas, acknowledged there was an issue, following a report on the website Smarthouse.com.au.
"As with any complex system there have been some technical issues," he said.
"The problems usually involve a small number of seats and the passenger can be moved to a different seat in these cases.
"We are dedicating considerable resources to address these reliability issues, including through the supplier Rockwell Collins."
Steve Martin was travelling from Singapore to Sydney in November last year and said the in-flight entertainment system failed three times.
He said the issue appeared to affect the entire plane, and added that other passengers on his flight reported experiencing similar issues previously.
"A female passenger in my row of three seats, who had travelled on the same plane from Europe stated that the entire plane was without in-flight entertainment during the leg from Europe to Singapore," he said.
Marcelo Goncalves travelled from Sydney to Los Angeles on January 13, when the in-flight entertainment system had to be rebooted twice.
"Many passengers could not use their system properly and some could not use it at all," he said.
A Qantas spokesman would not say whether or not the company had identified the issue, but said it was looking to apply a "software patch" as a fix.
However, it is not clear if this patch would be effective. A source said it was highly possible that the system's hardware was not powerful enough to handle the load, causing it to shut down.
Replacing the hardware components would come at a considerable cost to Qantas.
"A Qantas cabin crew [member] told me it takes about one hour to slowly close down and slowly boot up the system one section at a time of the plane, in order not to overload the system," Mr Goncalves said.
Steven Reed of the FAAA said his team had scheduled an "urgent" meeting with Qantas to determine what the airline could do to reduce the amount of stress placed on the cabin crew.
"If you imagine a flight from Sydney to LA that's 14 hours, and 300 people in economy class haven't got any in-flight entertainment, the level of stress that that causes the crew is exponential," he said.
He added that the crew often felt reluctant to report passengers who had become aggressive after repeatedly experiencing the issue.
"When they report something like that, you're talking about someone being arrested on arrival ... the crew feel sorry for the passengers," Mr Reed said.
"We're very frustrated for our members that are still having to deal with this problem after many years."
The Qantas spokesman would not say when he expected the issue would be fixed.
----------------------
The bull**** from QF's corporate spin department is breathtaking.
We are up to software patch 5 or 6 with no apparent improvement in reliability and now it seems we are beginning to see an increasing number of hardware issues.
I can handle the abuse from passengers furious at not recieving what they paid for but many of my collegues don't cope so well.
A friend was screamed at the other day and called a "c@nt". She was devastated.
What upsets me is the family traveling with two kids who has paid $10 000 to fly with us to LA and has had no entertainment on BOTH sectors.
This has been going on for YEARS and still all we get from the company is "we are working on it" and letters sent to our home address with more meaningless platitudes.
Asher Moses
January 26, 2007
A serious glitch found in the Qantas in-flight entertainment system is leaving long-haul passengers without access to movies and music for large portions of their flights.
The issue, which affects 27 aircraft in Qantas's 747 400 fleet, is so common that the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia (FAAA) has complained of cabin crew exhibiting "stress related problems" resulting from aggressive passengers.
David Cox, executive general manager of engineering at Qantas, acknowledged there was an issue, following a report on the website Smarthouse.com.au.
"As with any complex system there have been some technical issues," he said.
"The problems usually involve a small number of seats and the passenger can be moved to a different seat in these cases.
"We are dedicating considerable resources to address these reliability issues, including through the supplier Rockwell Collins."
Steve Martin was travelling from Singapore to Sydney in November last year and said the in-flight entertainment system failed three times.
He said the issue appeared to affect the entire plane, and added that other passengers on his flight reported experiencing similar issues previously.
"A female passenger in my row of three seats, who had travelled on the same plane from Europe stated that the entire plane was without in-flight entertainment during the leg from Europe to Singapore," he said.
Marcelo Goncalves travelled from Sydney to Los Angeles on January 13, when the in-flight entertainment system had to be rebooted twice.
"Many passengers could not use their system properly and some could not use it at all," he said.
A Qantas spokesman would not say whether or not the company had identified the issue, but said it was looking to apply a "software patch" as a fix.
However, it is not clear if this patch would be effective. A source said it was highly possible that the system's hardware was not powerful enough to handle the load, causing it to shut down.
Replacing the hardware components would come at a considerable cost to Qantas.
"A Qantas cabin crew [member] told me it takes about one hour to slowly close down and slowly boot up the system one section at a time of the plane, in order not to overload the system," Mr Goncalves said.
Steven Reed of the FAAA said his team had scheduled an "urgent" meeting with Qantas to determine what the airline could do to reduce the amount of stress placed on the cabin crew.
"If you imagine a flight from Sydney to LA that's 14 hours, and 300 people in economy class haven't got any in-flight entertainment, the level of stress that that causes the crew is exponential," he said.
He added that the crew often felt reluctant to report passengers who had become aggressive after repeatedly experiencing the issue.
"When they report something like that, you're talking about someone being arrested on arrival ... the crew feel sorry for the passengers," Mr Reed said.
"We're very frustrated for our members that are still having to deal with this problem after many years."
The Qantas spokesman would not say when he expected the issue would be fixed.
----------------------
The bull**** from QF's corporate spin department is breathtaking.
We are up to software patch 5 or 6 with no apparent improvement in reliability and now it seems we are beginning to see an increasing number of hardware issues.
I can handle the abuse from passengers furious at not recieving what they paid for but many of my collegues don't cope so well.
A friend was screamed at the other day and called a "c@nt". She was devastated.
What upsets me is the family traveling with two kids who has paid $10 000 to fly with us to LA and has had no entertainment on BOTH sectors.
This has been going on for YEARS and still all we get from the company is "we are working on it" and letters sent to our home address with more meaningless platitudes.
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I have only ever been on one flight that the IFE operated correctly.
and from memory the aircraft load was 50%.
QF management are very aware of the problems!
happens on all flights, you usually spend the first 2 hours resetting seats then the situation calms down as PAX give up and fall asleep therefore relieving the pressure off the AVOD hard drives.
Its usually zone "e" that has the problems, however on some aircraft zone c usually goes INOP.
Solution= Apologise and apologise and ask the CSS for vouchers! then they cant use those as the ALPHA sales machine goes US.
Then PAX start yelling and abusing you, and you count down the minutes till TOD.
and from memory the aircraft load was 50%.
QF management are very aware of the problems!
happens on all flights, you usually spend the first 2 hours resetting seats then the situation calms down as PAX give up and fall asleep therefore relieving the pressure off the AVOD hard drives.
Its usually zone "e" that has the problems, however on some aircraft zone c usually goes INOP.
Solution= Apologise and apologise and ask the CSS for vouchers! then they cant use those as the ALPHA sales machine goes US.
Then PAX start yelling and abusing you, and you count down the minutes till TOD.
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Is the same system used on the A 330 (does it cope better due to fewer pax?)
Yesterday 16:09
Yesterday 16:09
The A330 system often completes flights with NO resets or less than 10.
the bugs seem to worked out on most flights
Same system on the Air NZ 777 works perfectly.
No one knows when they will fix the 744 problems
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Bolty incorrect.....the system still goes belly up on the A330 and it seems only when the aircraft has a full load.................seems like the system cant handle too much demand at the same time.................I personally have had collins and rockwell meet the aircraft to acess the probs on the flight and they are at a loss......................it is just not able to cope with a full load of pax.........................this has been the case from day one and they still dont know what to do.......i believe that QF is getting huge compensation for it not working that is why they are onto the CSMs logging each defect
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Qantas staff abused as entertainment falls flat
Qantas staff abused as entertainment falls flat
QANTAS passengers are becoming openly abusive and threatening over failures in the airline's multimillion-dollar entertainment system on long-haul flights.
The problem - which affects 27 aircraft in Qantas's 747-400 fleet and 10 Airbus A330-300 craft - is so common that the Flight Attendants Association of Australia has formally complained of cabin crew exhibiting "stress related problems" caused by aggressive passengers.
Qantas has formed a team to fix problems in the audio and video on demand system, which has left passengers without movies, music and other entertainment for extended periods of their flights.
Overhead reading lights connected to the system have also been rendered useless for hours, staff say.
On January 19 the association wrote to Qantas management about the entertainment system. The association said the airline had a duty of care to better protect cabin crew against angry passengers.
Association president Steven Reed told The Sun-Herald yesterday some cabin crew were becoming so upset by the abuse that they became physically ill.
Last week Mr Reed requested a meeting with Qantas general manager of aviation health services Dr Ion Morrison and Qantas occupational health and safety committee chairman Michael Von Reth to devise a strategy to help staff cope.
Qantas executive general manager of engineering David Cox acknowledged the problems.
"As with any complex system there have been some technical issues," he said.
"The problems usually involve a small number of seats and the passenger can be moved to a different seat in these cases. We are dedicating considerable resources to address these reliability issues, including through the supplier Rockwell Collins."
Smarthouse.com.au, a technology website, has received complaints from its readers, with some seeking to alert others about the problem.
Avron Newstadt, 36, of North Bondi, flew from South Africa with Qantas before Christmas.
"When I got on I realised pretty early into the flight that my TV wouldn't load," Mr Newstadt said yesterday.
"I was fortunate that my neighbour's was working and we swapped for part of the flight while he slept.
"The staff were confused and were doing their best to fix it, albeit unsuccessfully.
"We weren't warned about it happening. We weren't offered any compensation either, although I didn't want to make a fuss. There were blocks of seats that had the same problem."
Source: The Sun-Herald
QANTAS passengers are becoming openly abusive and threatening over failures in the airline's multimillion-dollar entertainment system on long-haul flights.
The problem - which affects 27 aircraft in Qantas's 747-400 fleet and 10 Airbus A330-300 craft - is so common that the Flight Attendants Association of Australia has formally complained of cabin crew exhibiting "stress related problems" caused by aggressive passengers.
Qantas has formed a team to fix problems in the audio and video on demand system, which has left passengers without movies, music and other entertainment for extended periods of their flights.
Overhead reading lights connected to the system have also been rendered useless for hours, staff say.
On January 19 the association wrote to Qantas management about the entertainment system. The association said the airline had a duty of care to better protect cabin crew against angry passengers.
Association president Steven Reed told The Sun-Herald yesterday some cabin crew were becoming so upset by the abuse that they became physically ill.
Last week Mr Reed requested a meeting with Qantas general manager of aviation health services Dr Ion Morrison and Qantas occupational health and safety committee chairman Michael Von Reth to devise a strategy to help staff cope.
Qantas executive general manager of engineering David Cox acknowledged the problems.
"As with any complex system there have been some technical issues," he said.
"The problems usually involve a small number of seats and the passenger can be moved to a different seat in these cases. We are dedicating considerable resources to address these reliability issues, including through the supplier Rockwell Collins."
Smarthouse.com.au, a technology website, has received complaints from its readers, with some seeking to alert others about the problem.
Avron Newstadt, 36, of North Bondi, flew from South Africa with Qantas before Christmas.
"When I got on I realised pretty early into the flight that my TV wouldn't load," Mr Newstadt said yesterday.
"I was fortunate that my neighbour's was working and we swapped for part of the flight while he slept.
"The staff were confused and were doing their best to fix it, albeit unsuccessfully.
"We weren't warned about it happening. We weren't offered any compensation either, although I didn't want to make a fuss. There were blocks of seats that had the same problem."
Source: The Sun-Herald
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2007 Pigs Might Fly Award
last week the Executive General Manager of Qantas Engineering, David Cox said " We have had some issues with our new on demand IFE system. As with any complex system, there have been some technical issues. Although we have had some intermittent problems, the system is generally working well. The problems usually involves a small number of seats and the passenger can moved a different seat in these cases"
.
.
This is a total load of horse****e and EVERYONE who flies (pax included) would know that this has been going on for at least 18 months.
I personally have written numerous ICAN's on it, result =ZIP.
I for one and sick and tied of EVERY trip on a 744 having to put up with constant jibes, smart arse cynisism, angst etc fro pax who are OVER IT.I cannot tell you how many pax have walked as a result of this .....because it would be in the 100's!!!
CSS's and CSM's are the ones who should be paid a IFE "breakdown allowance" 'cause they are the poor bunnies who predominately have to put up with the abuse.
Solution.........Scrap the whole system on the 744 and start again.
Rockwell Collins should then be hung out to dry.
But someone needs to tell David COCKs something his daddy would of told him when he was a nipper.
"YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR"
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Bolty,
I have to go along with seatedandsecured...The flying croissant is no better than the 400.Those screens that are supposed to deploy and I mean SUPPOSED to are a pain and the sytem as a whole I think is worse than the 400.
The company however is at the forefront with it's IFE system.That is Inflight Failure of Entertainment and not a system that actually works.
Stubby is right with the Icans as they just achieve nothing.
The bottom line is the new owners should or will have to bite the bullet and buy a system that works or at the very least has fewer problems and that generally means paying good money and not being the test mule for some other company.
I have to go along with seatedandsecured...The flying croissant is no better than the 400.Those screens that are supposed to deploy and I mean SUPPOSED to are a pain and the sytem as a whole I think is worse than the 400.
The company however is at the forefront with it's IFE system.That is Inflight Failure of Entertainment and not a system that actually works.
Stubby is right with the Icans as they just achieve nothing.
The bottom line is the new owners should or will have to bite the bullet and buy a system that works or at the very least has fewer problems and that generally means paying good money and not being the test mule for some other company.
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Lowerlobe,
I think you'll find that the screens that deploy are on the -200's. They seem to work pretty good.
The -300's are the issue and they have the seatback video screen, none drop out of the roof on those aircraft.
I think you'll find that the screens that deploy are on the -200's. They seem to work pretty good.
The -300's are the issue and they have the seatback video screen, none drop out of the roof on those aircraft.
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Sydney S/H,
Admittedly it has been a while since I operated on a 200 but on a few occasions that I have a number of the drop down screens did not deploy.
Maybe they have fixed that problem but the entertainment system was a joke then.
Admittedly it has been a while since I operated on a 200 but on a few occasions that I have a number of the drop down screens did not deploy.
Maybe they have fixed that problem but the entertainment system was a joke then.
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Lower lobe and co
You guys speak from your experience with the aircraft IFE systems which is fairly minimal compared. I often liase with CSMs on several A330 and 2 or 3 747-400 per shift and I regularly see severaL A330s (over a quarter of the fleet) in one shift with less than 10 soft resets per flight and quite often with non, zero naught resets with 297 pax on board.
The A330 sys tends to be a bit tempremental after new movies are loaded but settles down after a day or so.
Please do not think I don't symathise with you when the system fails but I see it first hand plus the stats and its getting better. Here was me thinking this would be heartening news for you characters at the front end but instead you prefer to bitch at the messenger..
The 744 is a joke. The one aircraft with the latest vers 4 software has been a disaster and the system components are starting to get old enough now that hardware failures are very much creeping into the equation poor IFE performance.
To quote a choice line from this thread :- "you guys should have a nice lie down and have a bex or becks" which ever you prefer.
You guys speak from your experience with the aircraft IFE systems which is fairly minimal compared. I often liase with CSMs on several A330 and 2 or 3 747-400 per shift and I regularly see severaL A330s (over a quarter of the fleet) in one shift with less than 10 soft resets per flight and quite often with non, zero naught resets with 297 pax on board.
The A330 sys tends to be a bit tempremental after new movies are loaded but settles down after a day or so.
Please do not think I don't symathise with you when the system fails but I see it first hand plus the stats and its getting better. Here was me thinking this would be heartening news for you characters at the front end but instead you prefer to bitch at the messenger..
The 744 is a joke. The one aircraft with the latest vers 4 software has been a disaster and the system components are starting to get old enough now that hardware failures are very much creeping into the equation poor IFE performance.
To quote a choice line from this thread :- "you guys should have a nice lie down and have a bex or becks" which ever you prefer.
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He speaks the truth.......
My experience of the A330 300 is that the system works quite well with minimal resets required during the flight.
You confirm my observations about the 744 Bolty in that now we are seeing ever increasing HARDWARE failures on top of the well known software problems.
If it was a dog, you would tie it to a tree and shoot it.
You confirm my observations about the 744 Bolty in that now we are seeing ever increasing HARDWARE failures on top of the well known software problems.
If it was a dog, you would tie it to a tree and shoot it.
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Bolty,
Sorry if it appeared as though I was bitching with anyone about our esteemed IFE.
My point was that every time I have operated the flying croissant I was ready to fly to France and personally say G'day to the person who designed it.I would be very happy if I never flew on Le Bus ever again.
I realise that rockwell Collins are US but I prefer Boeing to anything coming out of France anyday.
Sorry if it appeared as though I was bitching with anyone about our esteemed IFE.
My point was that every time I have operated the flying croissant I was ready to fly to France and personally say G'day to the person who designed it.I would be very happy if I never flew on Le Bus ever again.
I realise that rockwell Collins are US but I prefer Boeing to anything coming out of France anyday.
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Please help us Help you
For those of you whom read this site not just the few that post..
Please take note
There has been an introduction of a new Cabin log on the international fleet which is called the combined "Cabin/IFE" log. There are now 2 green folders kept at the CSM station. One book holds a spare Log book and the previous Log book. The other folder has the Cabin/IFE log "In Use" book.
Please write in the "IN USE" book as identified on the front cover.
When writing in the Cabin/IFE log book use capital letters (its not considered shouting) and press as firmly as possible.
A laminated card has been fitted to the green IN USE folder with tips on how to fill out each coupon.
Please do NOT put IFE and Cabin defects on the same coupon. They are actioned by different trades or contractors. Which means when different types of defects are entered on one coupon it is impossible to certify correctly.
You will have no complaints from engineering if you log same defect across several seats on one coupon. E.G. Reaging lights inop at the following seats..... or Soft/hard resets at following seats..... or side wall lights fail to turn off/on at following area, oxygen bottles used at L2 R2 and L3 etc etc
Do not write #4 oven rear galley nil heat and IFE inop at 3A same coupon.
Please make your entries short, to the point and accurate. No need to fill all the lines, its not about creative writing, that is for engineering types in the lower part of the coupon.
The Cabin/IFE log In Use has a list of carried defects in the front. This should consulted before writing up a fault as it may already be a known defect and will save you time.
I realise that QF has probably conduted no training or issued any literature on the subject to cabin crew but some of the entries in this new log defy common sence. Before anyone points the finger at any one group of CC. It is noted the same lack of common has been noted across L/H, LHR base and S/H
What it all boils down to is, If you wish engineering to fix as much as possible during a 70 min transit to make your job easier, the defects need to be recorded in a proper way. And right now they aren't...
MBolt
Please take note
There has been an introduction of a new Cabin log on the international fleet which is called the combined "Cabin/IFE" log. There are now 2 green folders kept at the CSM station. One book holds a spare Log book and the previous Log book. The other folder has the Cabin/IFE log "In Use" book.
Please write in the "IN USE" book as identified on the front cover.
When writing in the Cabin/IFE log book use capital letters (its not considered shouting) and press as firmly as possible.
A laminated card has been fitted to the green IN USE folder with tips on how to fill out each coupon.
Please do NOT put IFE and Cabin defects on the same coupon. They are actioned by different trades or contractors. Which means when different types of defects are entered on one coupon it is impossible to certify correctly.
You will have no complaints from engineering if you log same defect across several seats on one coupon. E.G. Reaging lights inop at the following seats..... or Soft/hard resets at following seats..... or side wall lights fail to turn off/on at following area, oxygen bottles used at L2 R2 and L3 etc etc
Do not write #4 oven rear galley nil heat and IFE inop at 3A same coupon.
Please make your entries short, to the point and accurate. No need to fill all the lines, its not about creative writing, that is for engineering types in the lower part of the coupon.
The Cabin/IFE log In Use has a list of carried defects in the front. This should consulted before writing up a fault as it may already be a known defect and will save you time.
I realise that QF has probably conduted no training or issued any literature on the subject to cabin crew but some of the entries in this new log defy common sence. Before anyone points the finger at any one group of CC. It is noted the same lack of common has been noted across L/H, LHR base and S/H
What it all boils down to is, If you wish engineering to fix as much as possible during a 70 min transit to make your job easier, the defects need to be recorded in a proper way. And right now they aren't...
MBolt
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Bolty
I know you will find this hard to believe but QF made an a short entry into the CC news I believe.( I havent seen it)
Thanks for your entry Bolty as I have been filling out coupons for each seat and simply got sick of doing it.
QF visitors will spend countless amounts of money and communications resources to tell us where and how to place our name badge but hardly any news about the new combined CCL?IFE log.
If someone out there knows where the new info appeared can you please direct me.
Thanks for your entry Bolty as I have been filling out coupons for each seat and simply got sick of doing it.
QF visitors will spend countless amounts of money and communications resources to tell us where and how to place our name badge but hardly any news about the new combined CCL?IFE log.
If someone out there knows where the new info appeared can you please direct me.