Are seatback touch screens on planes a good idea?

If you travel in economy like i do , you have to expect to be poked in the back suddenly by someone who is not familiar with touch screen , slapped in the back by the tray , the seat screen forward to you to be adjusted at different angles of vision by seat wrecking over weight people, but that's the fun of travel when you are cringing for a smoke.

I now pop a sleeping pill after the second meal to get me through the nightmare .

As opposed to not having at seat entertainment?

I'd rather have that at seat entertainment and watch what I want vs the old fashion overhead films.

Hand held entertainment units are better than ones on the back of the seat, but ones on the back of the seat are better than overhead screens. Personally I find a good book best of all - not really a viable option travelling with kids however.

I think they are a great idea,you have your own space ,watch what ever you want ,"within reason"and it,s absolutely better than no personal inflight entertainment.

I think they are fine - better than the old fashioned "everyone watches the same movie on the same big screen at the front"...however, yes there is the problem of people "jabbing" the screen because they are not sure how to work it...but hey....

Are seatback touch screens on planes a good idea?

I'm not sure. Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Evertything is better when I am sitting between 250lbs guys.

globalwatcher,,,hilarious! yeah the poking and hitting and then frustration of older ones will frustrate passenger in front,,,,

Are seatback touch screens on planes a good idea?

Not if it's for the co-pilot.

mrskit, move your finger one key to the right for that elusive . you need. Thanks.

I used my iPad for my entertainment the last few times I flew. It was enough because I could read, and see exactly what I had chosen before I left Japan.

Of course its great! Better than the old overhead screens or the giant screen that everyone had to share and if you were confined to sitting in the rear of the plane, you were screwed. Nowadays, I have plenty of choices of movies and a USB port(at least on the newer planes)can listen to my ipod, now if they can do an upgrade on the food, I'm sold!

Do people really jab the screens so hard that the people in front feel it? I think they are more likely to gently push it for fear of breaking it?

Delta's 777s are the worst, I won't fly them ever again. I had such unpleasant experiences being seated in front of two persistent gamers that I now insist on being assigned a seat with no one behind me on all transpacific flights. I know that if it ever happens again, with the first annoying push I go straight to the chief purser and raise a huge stink. You self-centered game addicts out there -- please have mercy on your fellow passengers, it's bad enough putting up with the indignities before getting aboard those things without having one's life made even more miserable by 10 straight hours of pushing and prodding. (And when you get up to go to the lavatory and no one is looking, I will spill a can of coca-cola on your seat cushion.)

I think those entertainment systems are a godsend to catch up on all the movies you missed all year. If you watch 5 movies, that's a value of $75 you saved by not paying to see them in a theaters. Touchscreen is hard to use for FF and Rewind and volume though, hence the poking in the back of someone's head.

Touchscreen is hard to use for FF and Rewind and volume though, hence the poking in the back of someone's head.

Not for 10 hours straight is isn't. They were playing games on it.