Since I wrote about United Airlines new inflight entertainment system and its accessibility features, I have been wanting to try it out for myself on one of the carrier's equipped aircraft. The US major airlines began operating some frequencies between Phoenix and Houston using the Boeing737 MAX 8 which was delivered factory-fit with the IFE system. I jumped at the chance to fly on the MAX 8 when I was going to visit my family in Houston.
It is easy to see the cost of an upgrade to first class. The accessibility issue that prevented me, a blind passenger, from executing on an upgrade when I flew on United last year has been fixed.
On the morning of my MAX 8 flight to Houston, I decided to use AIRA, which connects blind people with trained agents who provide visual interpretation services free of charge to the user, because I didn't want to pay for it. Phoenix International is the latest airport to offer AIRA.
I was directed to the premier Access check-in counter by anAIRA agent after I got my bearings on the curb. I used the traditional meet and assist service at PHX to get to my gate where the MAX 8 was waiting.
After preboarding, I was shown to my window seat by the flight attendant in the first class cabin. He helped me put my backpack and laptop bag away, but he didn't give me the individualized safety briefings that blind passengers are supposed to get.
The first class seats on United's MAX 8 are the same as the MAX 9 I flew last year, with an IFE remote in the console between the two seats. The text-to-speech function was enabled by plugging in my earbuds, and I began to explore the system. I found the system easy to navigate after a brief familiarity with how the menus are set up, as the gestures used to interact with the system are similar to those used for smartphones and tablets.
The text-to-speech feature on United's Crystal Cabin Award-winning IFE system is just one of the many impressive new features explained by industry consultant Corrine Streichert. Streichert used to manage the IFE program at United.
Audio description is usually offered upon release of newer movies and some studios are starting to add it to older titles. This is how it happens.
The moving map is a neat feature of the IFE system. I was able to access information such as altitude, airspeed, outside temperature, and time remaining via United's IFE system, without interruption, even though the visual map is not useful to me.
At the gate, there was a sign that said'meet and assist'. They brought me to where my family was going to meet me. The Air Tag on my luggage made it easy for me to locate my bag on the carousel.
After waiting for several minutes, I was never connected to an agent, so I decided to use AIRA again. It makes me hesitant to sign up for a paid subscription. A United crew member saw me, asked if I needed help, and took me to customer service to make arrangements.
On my flight home, I was on a MAX 8. I boarded the same seat I had on my previous flight. I did not receive a personal safety briefing from the cabin crew.
I use the IFE system to play games. Audio described versions of older movies can be hard to find, so it was not a big deal that United did not have an audio description for the movie.
It took me a while to get to the gate in Phoenix. They took me to baggage claim where my wife met me.
It lived up to all my expectations after waiting three and a half years to try out United's IFE system. I didn't find a list of audio described titles in the menu but it's possible that I missed it.
It was nice to not have to think about my own entertainment before I left.
There are related articles.
There is a picture of the first class cabin of the Boeing MAX. The first embedded video was credited to the company. There are two embedded videos credited to RNIB.
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