An Easy Way To Fix Your Broken Inflight Entertainment System

As more and more airlines add inflight entertainment systems to their aircraft, flying, in a sense becomes more pleasurable. However, if you have a broken inflight entertainment system, what could be a long flight now becomes one of the most boring in your life.

Want to fix your broken inflight entertainment system quickly? Here’s the best way. Okay, just kidding. 🙂

American Airlines has installed seat back systems on their 777, A321 and now new 737 aircrafts. Fortunately, these systems are now powered and controlled individually, which means when one breaks, it doesn’t effect the entire cabin.

If you’ve got a broken entertainment system on one of these American aircraft, you can now reset your own screen, without ever having to call a flight attendant for assistance.

Simply hold the power button down on the screen itself (NOT on the remote, if you have one) for 10 seconds until the screen suddenly shuts off. At this point, let go and watch the system go through a reset procedure. This reboot may take several minutes, and as was the case on a recent American flight I had, took 15 minutes. While it’s not instant, it’s a fix nonetheless.

Allowing you to fix your own screen without flight attendant intervention allows you to get to your movies and shows faster!

PS – Are you tired of the picture of the flight attendant staring you in the face on the screen? Hit the “home” button (the one that looks like a house) and the home screen will circulate through more flight attendant pictures until you find one pleasing enough to look at. 🙂

My Inflight Entertainment Combo

I don’t always relay on the built in inflight entertainment screens for entertainment, since, on many aircraft, they’re being phased out, or just aren’t working.

Here’s what I use:

• I use a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 Headphones, which are by far the best headphones I’ve owned. What makes them great is that they’re wireless – you don’t have to deal with a  pesky wire getting in your way while working or dining onboard. If you think this is only a minor distraction, I encourage you to try these headphones without the wire and you’ll see how much that pesky wire gets in your way. The headphones have superior noise canceling effect and create a cinematic sound experience. They also come with a cord that you can plug into any inflight entertainment system or normal headphone jack, in case the system doesn’t have bluetooth. Check out the Bose QuietComfort35 Headphones here.
• To watch movies and shows, I use an Apple iPad Air, which allows me to download all of my shows in advance to watch them inflight, or connect to the inflight internet. The iPad has a long battery life, and this, in combination with noise canceling headphones, creates a cinema experience from whatever seat I’m sitting in.

Hope you find this tip useful! If you know of any IFE fixes on other airlines, please comment below.

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