Flew American to South America and they of course don't have tvs on all seats. Didn't even play one damn movie the whole way down there! 10.5 hour flight. Most boringest, uncomfortable flight ever. They flew LAN from Buenos Aires to Iguazu and they of course have tvs on all seats. And this is a local flight. Only 2 hours. You could pick from 25 different movies, tv shows, video games, etc. Flew LAN from Buenos Aires to Santiago and same thing. Flew American back to Miami and it sucked again. I've also flown Delta and Continental internationally and its the same thing as American. Of course when I fly partner airlines (KLM, Emirates (best airlines ever!!!!)) they have pretty damn good entertainment and planes. The planes are newere and cleaner looking, the stewardess are 10 times more pleasant. I've heard the newer planes have wifi, better seats and space and power outlets for your mobile electronics. How can these foreign countries have such awesome planes and we suck?!?! I wont even bother comparing first class.
it depends on the equipment (airplane type) for US carriers. The 777 and some 767s have tvs back in coach on all the airlines. You were probably on a 757 or a crappy 767 from Miami to South America. In general, AA sucks big time All of jetblue's planes have tvs in coach, but they only fly domestic. The best airline is Singapore Airlines, but yes, Emirates is good also
Luckily, the only times I've flown internationally have been on Singapore Airlines. Good airline food, good TV's/movies, hot stewardesses.
Those little TVs drive me nuts... especially when they don't let me turn it all the way off. I'd rather just try to sleep or listen to music. God bless noise-canceling headphones.
United's new 767s that they use for the DC-Amsterdam flights all have tvs on the seats. I was really pleased with that flight in March. Lufthansa's A340 setup is terrible. They use those planes for long haul flights (Frankfurt to IAH) and they are way too crammed. I'd rather have the extra legroom, and no tv's. AA business class is below par as well. On flights from DFW or SJC to Narita, they've been offering the same ass menu where you choose between the Japanese meal or the dry filet mignon. AA does have a pretty cool beer machine in their Admiral's Club lounge in Narita that automatically pours your beer with the push of a button and tilts it when it gets near the top to prevent head. Cathay Pacific has excellent service, and their executive club in Hong Kong was one of the nicest that I've been to. They really take care of you there with the free booze, free noodle bar, and free snacks and Haagen Daz. The only airline I can't stand is Southwest, mainly because of the neanderthals on the plane. People who have never flown before trying to carry on big ass duffel bags that don't fit in the overhead and bump into you when they try to pass. Screaming kids. And the asshat who insists on asking everyone their exact place in line before boarding. Just a terrible experience altogether.
Air travel is for the most part an expensive luxury in most countries. In the US, with our high living standards, it's a commodity. When you have that dynamic, services tend to be of lower quality. Everyone expects to travel overseas for vacation each year now -- before, it was more "let's get the family in the station wagon for a road trip". In the 70s and before, when air travel was more of the leisure class pursuit, you found more pleasant/attractive stewardesses, more amenities on airlines, etc. Plus, our airline industry services more locations but with high costs particular to the industry (fuel, aircraft, unions, regulations, etc.), it's not a profitable business. Also, we have way too many airlines and so there's downwards pressure on prices due to competition. Most other nations have one or two airlines, often subsidized in some ways by the govt. Lots of problems -- not too many solutions, I'm afraid.
Continental has tvs for almost every flight, like 2 hour ones. And I travel a lot. Maybe you just have bad luck
Don't Airbus and Boeing make the vast majority of planes that are capable of flying long distances? So if Singapore Air, Emirates Air, and other listed international airlines have nicer planes, isn't that just a function of them upgrading their fleets more recently? The Dreamliner coming out from Boeing is supposed to leave most current jumbo's in the dust. I'm first class now and don't fly coach unless the plane doesn't have a first class cabin. Let me say that it is very nice to not have to deal with the riff raff back there in coach. For pleasure, I take my warm towel, clean my hands, and then toss it back into the coach cabin and let them fight over it like brides-to-be at a wedding scrapping over the bouquet.
If American airlines got to pay their employees 5-10K a year, then they would be able to afford better planes also.
Airlines suck because they are transporting millions of people everyday at 500 miles in an hour in an aluminum tube, 5 miles above the Earth, with a near perfect safety record, burning fossil fuels, in a market with margins as thin as semi-conductors. Just doing that at all is sorta non-scucky. Most foreign signature carriers are subsidized by their governments as an advertisment for doing business in that country.
This has been my experience as well. Granted, their movie choice isn't stellar all the time, and once I think that my salad was still partially frozen. But other than that, I've never had any complaints about their service.
I'm flying one of those today to IAD to connect to an international flight to the Middle East. It's been years since CO flew regular jets to that airport.
Saw a graph a couple of years ago that showed the P/L for the US airline industry (just the carriers, not manufacturers) as a whole, from the Wright brothers to now. It was well into the red.
