Emirates Air is starting service between Chicago and Dubai. To help you pass the time they are offering 1800 channels of video service. From my experience with cable and satellite TV I assume that very nearly all of that will be unwatchable crap, with the rest starting well before I switch to that channel so I won’t want to watch it. We can safely keep that out of my calculations. However, I am addicted to channel surfing, so I got to wondering how many times I would go through the list without rushing. A nine-hour flight works out to 32,400 seconds, or eighteen seconds per channel. At my usual “no…looks like shit…nope…commercial…non…not a chance…nein…commercial…nyet…what the hell language is that?..commercial…” rate of one or two seconds per channel, it looks like I could go through it six times. I could even stop and watch parts of shows (do you really watch shows all the way through?) and do it four or five times, but I think my thumb would wear out first.
It’s video on demand. It starts when you choose it.
There will be programming in several languages, no duplicates, ie Chinese and Bollywood films as well as Arabic, US, British, French, and German movies and tv shows. The only commercials are shown at the beginning, usually advertising the airline itself or upscale hotels/businesses in Dubai. The guide in the seat pocket in front of you lists all the programs with descriptions and channel numbers.
On a long flight, the free ear phones can become uncomfortable. Many passengers bring their own, better quality ones.
I think you overestimate how quickly the VOD system works on an Emirates aircraft (or any long-haul aircraft). I’m guessing you will only get half the number of channel changes you estimate. That could still leave the possibility of scrolling through all the channels 9 times on a UK - AucKland trip.
I’m pissed with Air New Zealand on my last flight - not only did my movies keep breaking up, The Amazing Spiderman 2 movie died just after the
funeral of Gwen Stacey and I thought it was the end of the movie, so I missed the climactic battle scene. What is worse, I now have to scroll through nearly the whole movie to get to that point on my return flight. That will be painful, too.
Can you guess that I have done a fair amount of long-haul
I fly DC to Dubai about 6-7 times a year, but on United. Oddly, it’s also about a 14 flight, you’d think the Chicago-Dubai would be longer.
Anyway, United has really improved their selection and they have a number of channels including a classics channel. The last time I went, I was able to watch both the Godfather movies and Goodfellas in one trip.
