Anyone Else Had a Touch-Screen On Your Headrest?

[ChevyCruiser]

On the way home from our last cruise, we had the misfortune to fly on a Boeing 757 with Delta Airlines. The coach class seats were equipped with touch-screens in the headrests, so that the screen in your headrest is used by the passenger sitting behind you. No big deal, right? That's what I thought, until the twenty-something behind me played video games on his touch screen the whole flight and thought his was a PUNCH-screen. I asked him three times to stop punching my headrest. He would slow down for a while, and then start up again.:mad: Luckily it was only a three hour flight and I didn't really need that nap I wanted. I asked the steward on the way out about the screens, and he said that they get a lot of compalints about the "punch screens" in the headrests.:(

 

I emailed Delta and asked which of their planes were equipped with the headrest-mounted touch-screens so that I could avoid those flights in the future, and after three back and forths I finally got a straight answer.

 

"These following planes are equipped with a touch-screen entertainment

system DL 767 in Business Class, DL 777 in Business Class plus Coach

Class and DL757-200 in First plus Coach Class."

 

I printed out their response and keep it in my travel tips file.

 

I checked seatguru.com but didn't see any references to the headrest punch-screens.

 

Anyone else experienced them?

[Rob & Beckys mom]

That sounds horrible. We have been on long flights on Delta and thankfully have always had a remote control in both coach & business. Hope this isn't one of their "improvements" for future planes.

Thanks for the tip:)

 

Jan

[JJPNYC]

Never happened to me. Must've been an over-excited kid.

 

My bigger complaints with the in-seat TVs is when the person in front of you reclines. it puts the TV at such weird angle, even after adjusting, and so close to your face that it's often uncomfortable to watch TV.

[kenish]

The obvious solution- politely tell the passenger behind that if they keep punching your headrest you will fully recline your seat. I'm not sure if I'm kidding here or not. :confused:

[Globaliser]

Anyone else experienced them?

Every long-haul flight I've taken for many years. Individual seat-back touch screen TVs are pretty much standard on long-haul flights now - the real battle between airlines is what size they are.

 

But I've never had this problem either. Having said that, it sounds like the system may be different on Delta. On most of the airlines I fly, there's only a very limited amount you can do with the touchscreen - mostly channel selection and similar. Most of the controls are in the handset, including everything you'd need for actually playing the games.

[SeatGuru]

I'm sorry to hear about your uncomfortable flight! SeatGuru.com does have a warning about the touchscreens in the seatbacks, but the information is a little buried, so you may have missed it. If you go to the aircraft page and click on "Video" under In-flight Amenities, you will see an explanation of the video system. On the Delta 757 page, it says "As with all touchscreens on the seatbacks, it can be bothersome when the person behind you is using it."

 

We will make sure to display this information more prominently in the future! Please feel free to let us know if there are any additional improvements you'd like to see on the site.

[FlyerTalker]

Hey, SeatGuru....From a NW PE -- thanks!! You provide great info, and have responded to updates that I've submitted. I know most of the NW fleet, but you're great for when I'm flying another carrier.

 

Nice to see you here at CC.....welcome.

[98Charlie]

:o

 

OK, so I am one who is guilty of being too touchy with the person seated in front of me by using one of these touch screens. Happened a couple of years ago on a coast to coast Delta flight.

 

DH & I had been playing a game on the screen for about 15 - 20 minutes when the gentleman in the seat in front of me turned around and asked us to play the game more quietly as he was getting a headache.

 

To be truthful, we were touching the screen as gently as we possibly could, not using more strenth in our fingers than it took to register the game.

 

DH & I are not twenty-something. We're 61 and with the arthritis in my fingers, I can tell you there was not much force behind my digit fingers touching that screen.

 

We stopped playing the game immediately and apologized to the gentleman explaining we didn't know that it was bothering him.

 

But in the back of my mind I remember smiling to him with my best ``have a good day,'' smile as we disembarked the plane.

 

Dianne

[ChevyCruiser]

I'm sorry to hear about your uncomfortable flight! SeatGuru.com does have a warning about the touchscreens in the seatbacks, but the information is a little buried, so you may have missed it. If you go to the aircraft page and click on "Video" under In-flight Amenities, you will see an explanation of the video system. On the Delta 757 page, it says "As with all touchscreens on the seatbacks, it can be bothersome when the person behind you is using it."

 

We will make sure to display this information more prominently in the future! Please feel free to let us know if there are any additional improvements you'd like to see on the site.

 

 

Seatguru - thanks for the info. I use your site everytime I book a flight, so I really appreciate everthing you do. I'll nose around and find the reference to the video screens and seats so that I'll be more familiar with what to look for next time.

 

Kenish - wish I'd thought of that. If it ever happens again, I'll be sure to recline my seat as far as possible.

[ptcruzers]

we flew on a Delta 767-300 on April 12 and the screens were on headrests throughout the aircraft.:D

[JanineM]

We were on a 767 on American from LHR last week and they had the touchscreens.

 

BUT there are controls in the armrest. You can pull them out and hold them in your hand. It was far more complicated to press the screen than to use the hand control.