Continental touch screens?

[kristytru]

When we flew continental in november, our return flight had touch screens on all the seats to watch movies, play games, etc. My kids were so enthralled that they were disappointed when the flight was over! My question is "Are all the planes outfitted with these screens?". Our flight down in november didn't have them. I just wanted to know cuz if they are on all flights, there is less need to pack so much "stuff" to keep everyone occupied...

 

[Tara]

When we flew continental in november, our return flight had touch screens on all the seats to watch movies, play games, etc. My kids were so enthralled that they were disappointed when the flight was over! My question is "Are all the planes outfitted with these screens?". Our flight down in november didn't have them. I just wanted to know cuz if they are on all flights, there is less need to pack so much "stuff" to keep everyone occupied...

The quick answer is no, all planes aren't outfitted with this equipment.

Amenities like this vary from plane to plane. One way to try to figure it out is to find out what equipment your flight uses (Boeing 757, Airbus A320, etc), then check seatguru.com for information about the inflight options.

I'm avoiding doing laundry, so I started poking around. In doing some random searches of Newark (I assume that's where you're flying out of) to Orlando flights, it looks like Continental uses the following:

737-800
737-900
757-200
757-300

It is further complicated by the fact that there are different versions of some models. There are 4 versions of the 737-800, for instance. Here's what I gathered:

737-800 v1: no reference to inflight entertainment
737-800 v2: only 9 planes, no inflight entertainment but will soon have Live TV
737-800 v3: being converted to match v2 seating configuration (v3 is most common version)
737-800 v4: Only used in Micronesia

737-900: "Continental is in the process of retrofitting these aircraft with updated audio and video, so some aircraft have overhead TVs and some have in-seat TVs with DIRECTV."
737-900ER: shows video icon under amenities but doesn't reference it in description

757-200: "Continental Airlines recently completed installation of audio/video onDemand and in-seat power on all the Boeing 757-200s."
757-300: shows video icon, no reference in description

Clear as mud, right? My guess is you were in a 757-200 on the route with the touch screens. Do you recall if, when you boarded, the first class cabin was actually to the left of the boarding door, rather to the right where you had to walk through it to get to the coach section? If so, this was a 757.

 

[k5jm]

I have only seen on the 757-200's out of Houston. Since Houston is the come of COAir, I would expect to see them on different planes before most cities (I fly a bunch).

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Although it's not a guarantee that your specific plane will be equipped with the DirectTV system, you can check out the fleet status to determine where each class of plane is in its plans to roll out the video service:

http://www.continental.com/web/en-us/content/travel/inflight/entertainment/directv/fleetstatus.aspx

 

[kristytru]

Wow! thanks! It never ceases to amaze me how you guys find this stuff. Our flight down is on a 737-800 (36% complete) and the one back is a 737-900(8% complete), so I guess it's just luck of the draw. I'll pack the IPODs and DSis just to be safe!!!!

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Wow! thanks! It never ceases to amaze me how you guys find this stuff. Our flight down is on a 737-800 (36% complete) and the one back is a 737-900(8% complete), so I guess it's just luck of the draw. I'll pack the IPODs and DSis just to be safe!!!!

When you travel enough you learn the tricks of the trade