Panasonic or Thales

[flypinay]

Hey guys, I just have a question regarding the two big IFE manufacturers. Which is better? Panasonic or Thales? It seems like the bigger airlines go with Panasonic. What's the pros and cons of each system??

[jjpb3]

Kabayan, I think the decision should have more to do with the carrier, and the range of programming it pays for, than the IFE provider per se. And of course, how the carrier handles the times when the IFE doesn't perform as expected.

Which airlines are you concerned about?

[up and away]

Well as I learned a few days ago a good IFE selection doesn't help you much at all if the system keeps breaking down

[jjpb3]

Well as I learned a few days ago a good IFE selection doesn't help you much at all if the system keeps braking down

So which system is less likely to break down, in your experience? And how do different carriers respond to the breakdown, in your experience? I think that would be helpful for flypinay's question.

[up and away]

Well I saw LAN's system they have in Y on their A340s breaking down at least 10 times on short hop from FRA to MAD, especially when you tried to view the inflight map. Unfortunately I was not able to find out what brand LAN uses but their operating system certainly seems to have some bugs...

While google wasn't helpful on the question what IFE LAN uses I at least found out that I wasn't the only one having this problem. However the carrier didn't have to respond to the breakdown in my case since a simple restart of the personal IFE-screen would normally bring it back online...

[flypinay]

LAN's IFE is from Thales I believe. Just by doing a lot of research, I can now tell what airline is using what IFE system. It's the monitors and passenger control units (remotes) that are different. I've read flight reviews on skytrax for LAN and the passengers there didn't seem to have problems with their AVOD. I guess it depends on the airlines?

I'm taking Korean Air to the Philippines this July from JFK via ICN with their new 777-300ER. And their new aircraft is suppose to have Thales' newest IFE. So I'm a little worried that it might break down on the 14 hour flight from JFK to ICN. For me IFE/AVOD is important especially on long flights like JFK-ICN.

[sqdazz]

Hard to believe you could be so worried, the chances of it being down for the whole flight are EXTREMELY slim, no matter what system. They don't just install these things to have them break down on a daily basis