# Question about the entertainment on a particular flight (AA), need answer fast
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 1, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486 "2008-04-01T05:08:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/1 "2008-04-01T05:08:20Z")
I don’t know whether this is knowable or not – a probability is good enough for me. I’m flying on an American Airlines flight tomorrow departing LAX. The aircraft is a Boeing 777. Apparently some of AA’s 777s have been retrofitted with a digital entertainment system with lots of movie choices. The ones that haven’t been upgraded give a few channels of in-seat choice with exactly two (crappy) movies.
I want to know which 777 version I’m likely to get so that I can decide whether to put in effort to figure out some alternative form of entertainment for the long international flight. No one that I could get on the phone at AA has been useful, but perhaps someone here has experience or inside information that can help narrow down my odds. (I imagine that it isn’t known which specific member of the fleet I’d get, in which case the question becomes: “What fraction of AA’s 777s that depart LAX have the upgraded entertainment system?”)
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/2 "2008-04-01T07:13:38Z")
Simple rule:
Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Expect there to be no digital selection. If there is W00t!
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/3 "2008-04-01T07:18:58Z")
In my experience it is a crap shoot, individual planes often get shuffled around often.
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### Author:  [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/4 "2008-04-01T07:38:19Z")
It might be possible to figure out which specific 777 model you’ll be flying on, but we’d need to know where you are headed.
I second **Rick’s** advice: assume the worst, and be pleasantly surprised if it works out better.
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### Author:  [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/5 "2008-04-01T08:33:42Z")
The [American Airlines Entertainment](http://americanairlinesentertainment.com/movies_inseat_video.php) web sites don’t say which 777 flights have the features you’re looking for, that I can find.
…
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### Author:  [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/6 "2008-04-01T15:16:37Z")
Can’t you just call American Airlines and ask them?
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### Author:  [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/7 "2008-04-01T16:56:17Z")
[QUOTE=muttrox]
Can’t you just call American Airlines and ask them?
[/QUOTE]
In the OP:
> [@OP](#):
>
> No one that I could get on the phone at AA has been useful…
> [@Rick](#):
>
> Simple rule:
> Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
> Expect there to be no digital selection. If there is W00t!
Simple, but not universal. Preparing and carrying my own entertainment causes a large loss in utility in this particular case, which is why my risk/reward calculation does not trivially lead to: bring stuff.
Thanks for the replies. I’ve still got a few hours, but then I’ll let this thread die, unless someone says they are curious about the outcome.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/8 "2008-04-01T17:04:27Z")
How so?
I have never found that carrying a paperback book or two, or an iPod caused much of a loss of utility.
A 52" plasma on the other hand might lead to some interesting logistical problems.
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### Author:  [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/9 "2008-04-01T17:07:43Z")
You might want to ask on a forum like [flyertalk.com](http://flyertalk.com). It’s pretty active and there’s probably someone there who’s been on that same flight recently.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/10 "2008-04-01T17:19:52Z")
With respect to recent events, one can expect no entertainment value from nipple rings, eh?
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/11 "2008-04-01T17:24:14Z")
Just because someone took the same flight recently, there is no guarantee that today’s flight will be on the same exact airplane.
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### Author:  [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/12 "2008-04-01T17:30:25Z")
Try [www.seatguru.com](http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/American_Airlines/American_Airlines_Boeing_777-200_A.php). They show two different configurations of the 777 for AA. Find the right one (you can usually tell by looking at the seat map), and click on the “Video” icon. If applicable, they sometimes even tell you what movies are playing this month.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/13 "2008-04-01T17:38:30Z")
FWIW, I’ve never been on a 777 on an international route that didn’t have an ample selection of movies. My guess is that the 777s with lousy entertainment systems are for domestic routes.
Not an authoritative answer, but a quick one.
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### Author:  [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-entertainment-on-a-particular-flight-aa-need-answer-fast/443486/14 "2008-04-01T17:53:32Z")
I took a JFK-\>Zurich AA flight two weeks ago, on a 777. There was no in-seat TV, just the overhead TV showing movies. On the way back I missed my connection ☹ and they put me on United.