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American’s new 737 MAX won't have seatback screens

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Last week American Airlines joined the pack of airlines offering no-frills basic economy fares with carry-on restrictions. The no-frills theme continues this week, with the announcement that when the Fort Worth-based carrier takes delivery of its new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft later this year, the plane will have no seatback monitors for viewing in-flight entertainment. (www.usatoday.com) More...

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djames225
djames225 6
Passes American Airlines a can opener..you will need it to remove the sardines after each trip.
paultrubits
paul trubits 6
The seat back screens add weight. Everyone has a device that connect to the internet. Let them use that if they want inflight entertainment. The screens are going to disappear just like the ones in a minivan. The world has moved on.
dc3orbust
dc3orbust 2
Not only the weight they add, but I suspect there is a big cost in maintenance. Replacing screens, cleaning etc.. Add to that dealing with pax when something goes wrong in flight and they don't work 100%
djames225
djames225 2
Except if they want to connect to the internet, they will have to pay for it..as Taylor pointed out, to use the "on-board library" to stream to a device is hit or miss..what gets me is the screens are staying on the A321's
MrWidgeon
Bill Bailey 5
No frills, shorter seat pitch, narrower seats, lower baggage allowance = less of a chance that I will ever get on one of their airplanes.
And at some point in the future when enough pax say enough is enough they'll have to go back and spend large amounts of $$$$ to refit the entire cabin.
What these bean counter forget (as company profits soar) is that they provide a service, when that service falls below a certain point in customer satisfaction they lose customers and the way they're going that point is fast approaching.
joelwiley
joel wiley 15
The service they provide is to their stockholders and Goldman Sachs. The customers, who come in a distant fourth, will go elsewhere iff there is a better elsewhere to which they can go.

As the legume enumerators say "it's a 737-Max, not 737-IMAX"

davidrbarnes
David Barnes 10
Giving you an upvote simply for "legume enumerators".
enafziger
enafziger 7
I agree that airlines are crowding passengers into more and more uncomfortable seats. However the last times I flew the no frills economy section was full and the expanded economy had empty seats. So passengers are voting with their dollars for the cheapest, most uncomfortable, seats. So the airlines are supplying what sells. I don't like it either but can you really blame the airline?
indy2001
indy2001 1
AA is the last of the US majors to make this move, so it's likely that you'll see this type of service sometime. Passengers may complain but more and more people fly each year, so I doubt whether we'll see any revolution from them.
OnTheHorizon
Tony Smith 5
Spirit and Frontier are successful exactly because people want the lowest fare possible regardless. They grumble and complain but in the end fly ULCCs anyways because they can fly LAX-FLL for example many times for $90 one way. You and I may not choose to pay the lowest fare and get this, but there are lots of people who want the flying Greyhound experience so long as it's cheap.
MrWidgeon
Bill Bailey 6
And they're welcome to it.
At my age I want a little more comfort than a cheaper price, but I can't afford an upgrade to Business or First.
indy2001
indy2001 1
That's why all of the majors have premium economy seats. They're not that much more; since I'm 6'5" it's definitely worth it to me (if I don't splurge for a business seat).
djames225
djames225 1
Im hoping, then, that the 737 MAX they ordered id the MAX 8 series and not the MAX 200..the later is 200 seats-all 1 class.
brocklee9000
Taylor Jones 2
I don't see it as a problem. As long as everything is working and there is ample content. For example, Delta using GoGo as a connection point to Delta Studio. It's hit or miss whether the connection will work. Sometimes I'll spend 10-15 minutes just trying to connect to GoGo, or my iPad will connect but my wife's Samsung tablet has issues. Or surprise, we have a NEW app you have to stream from, or there's an update you didn't know about. As far as the content goes, Delta Studio seems to only offer about a dozen or so movies, about the same episodes of TV shows, and that's about it. In contrast, their oldest seatback displays have two to three times the content, and the new Panasonic displays have even more. If there is seatback entertainment on a short flight I might watch it but I often use the flight tracker. On flights that are barely long enough to watch a movie, if I can't get the GoGo to work in the first five minutes or so, I give up because by the time we're on approach, it will cut out and I'll still have 20+ minutes of the movie left. So instead, I'll try to read a book or relax. I think more than anything, that's what I like about the in-seat entertainment: once the safety video is over, it boots up, and you can watch all the way up to touchdown. They also have a nice library of music, and some (sort of clunky) games that keep kids entertained.
picturetaker
I don't really care about seatback screens.
jbermo
jbermo 1
Strictly cost cutting. Few realize that an airliner's IFE system as a whole, is the most expensive of it's "components" with the exception of it's engines.
djames225
djames225 1
The most expensive portion of the IFE system will already be onboard..only thing missing will be the small displays
DanWardlaw
DanWardlaw 1
WestJet has internet onboard its 737's. You have your own device and you use your device as needed.

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