No need. Common knowledge.

Ken hAAmer & lcohen999's comments aren't dreams. They were describing SQ weren't they?

 

And DirectTV has no ads? BTW it is actually BCE's satellite TV because DirectTV has no license to operate in Canada, on the ground or in the air. WS doesn't pay for the content on these channels, while AC pays for the content on all channels. And as noted, WS charges for features which AC still has not started doing, nor was it intending to do for any features but the most current Hollywood fare.

Perhaps you would like to give us an answer to your own question? How would you propose AC pay for this material is it has to make up a few million by dropping commercials?

 

Well, the J cabin (or seat at least) is superior to AC (for me), I don't really care what the FA's look like, and all of my flights this week (several of them) took off and landed on time or early.

'Course AC was still able to poke me with a stick. Even though we landed on time, the small AC plane in the next gate was blocking access to our gate. Bad enough, but then the AC plane developed a mechanical problem, which eventually became a security problem. (Not sure if it was the same or two different issues based on the pilot's announcements.) So instead of arriving at our gate 10 minutes early, we were delayed about a hour while they got the AC plane sorted out.

But not only were there no commercials there was a selection of several hundred movies and even more TV shows, where I discovered my "best... opening... ever..." for a Simpson's show -- with homer "evolving", particularly the music.

 

I'd like world peace in 2009, but that's not going to happen either.....

 

I'm kinda thinking this is rhetorical, but just in case not, neither I nor anybody else implied that DirectTV is ad-free. My point was that WS doesn't receive any revenue from the ads they do show.
They have not started charging only because the AVOD system is still so unreliable (how many years after its debut?) that they'd be paying non-stop compensation to disgruntled passengers whose pay-per-view movies had to reset 2 or 3 times. Do you know that it'd only be "the most current Hollywood fare" that would be at cost or is it speculation?

Well if I worked at AC and airborne entertainment were in my job description, I'd be talking to the airlines out there that offer dozens more channels, hundreds more hours of content and in-theatre movie releases for no cost. And some of them have no commercials and/or have the Fast Fwd feature enabled. Perhaps those other airlines have included their AVOD costs in the (gasp) base fares. But that's clearly not an option for our favourite carrier.

 

Maybe not world peace, but free commercial free IFE already exists, on many if not most airlines.

 

Mmmm, it does exist, though I think "most" is pushing it. Don't forget, no IFE at all exists too. I recently had to take Delta for a series of flights throughout the US. Not a single flight, including the YYZ-ATL, had any IFE at all (I mean not even audio or a shared screen in the aisle.) Nor any power for my laptop.

It annoys me the ads can't be skipped. It literally pains me that the audio starts so high (though perhaps I have finally learned to deal with that now.) But AC is not at the bottom IFE-wise. Perhaps it could be made even better by dropping the ads, but if I had to make a top ten request list, I doubt ads in the IFE would be included in mine.

 

The big majority of my flights have no IFE.I would be happy with magazines or newspapers.Alternatively IFE with commercials sounds absolutely smashing

 

I don't care too much about IFE. Except for the maps. Which still don't work roughly 50% of the time. But at least the maps are not spoiled by commercials.

 

For the vast numbers of customers who criss-cross the continent on our North American competitors "in the dark" (no video, no audio, no in-seat power), I'm sure they would be happy to put up with some annoying commercials to be entertained on a complementary basis.

If and when pay per view is implemented, then perhaps, the tone and concerns of this thread will have some validity.

 

One of the great features of the AC IFE is that you can watch a movie in stages, but the biggest annoyance of the ads is that it takes a good portion of the available time on a shorter haul - by the time the ads are over and you have fast forwarded to the end, time is up.

 

Perhaps this was just a one-off, but only one short commercial was played before each show or movie on AC125 yesterday. And you could FF through it.

 

Interesting. Either this was a plane in which they still have an older version of their software, or hopefully there is now a new version in which they have really fixed the problem so that they can now let people FF through the BS.

 

The airline pays royalties for every movie and every show you watch, even if it's just one minute.

Here's a payback for the Advertising nuisance...

Sometime during your flight, watch and listen to a small clip of every posible audio and video available. They will have to pay for every one you choose.


You can call it fighting fire with gasoline.

 

Beat them up when they are down, eh?

Now that's kind of mean, do you really hate them so much?

To me it's just a game of cat and mouse, not hatred. I wish they would spend the minimal amount on catering and wine that would bring things up to an acceptable level. But if the price is being marginally exposed to a but of advertisement, i'll take that. Just like, when asking for improved catering in J, I would not argue with fare increases matching corresponding additional cost.

But they are increasing fares *and* cutting on all these things.