Virgin Atlantic is to join the number of airlines who have gate to gate In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) onboard.
Currently, the IFE is switched on 25 minutes into flight, and switched off about 40 minutes before the end of a flight (as well as the safety demo).
On certain services, this will become a Gate-To-Gate service after the In-Flight Safety Video/Safety Briefing is concluding.
There are two big provisos though:
- You’ll need to use the airline’s own headphones if you want to use IFE on the ground (gate, taxing) and during take off and landing
- The system has only been cleared so far for use on three of Airbus A340-300 fleet – not it’s A340-600, A330 or Boeing 747-400 fleet.
Hopefully other aircraft will have their safety cases cleared soon, allowing a consistent policy for the whole Virgin Atlantic long haul fleet… and then you can be entertained at your seat until the seatbelt sign is switched off.
Why would this be an issue? Maybe I’m not seeing some underlying issue here, but … shouldnt all people turn it on? I know they don’t now.