American Inflight movies don’t work

Yes very frustrating. Are you running the 15.1 update that just came out because supposedly others have found that fixed this issue? I flew last Wednesday and still had same problem with Viasat but I did not have that update pushed to me yet until Thursday. I have it now but haven’t flown to try it out.

I can confirm I was able to see a movie using iOS 15.1. However, one thing I did note is I flew on an Airbus aircraft (versus a Boeing plane) and the movies instead of being supplied by viasat was being supplied by airbornemedia (gogo inflight). So I'm not sure if this is the reason why or if it's because of the OS update. I'd like to assume it's because of the update.

I'll be traveling back home on the 13th and will most definitely take at least one aircraft with Viasat (Bogo wifi), so I'd expect to finish testing then. Fingers crossed!!

The issue was thought to be fixed on IOS 15.1. Problems exist with the older IOS 15 versions, but not versions earlier than 15. The comment above is the first to mention a problem on IOS 15.1, while some others say it fixed the issue. I haven't flown yet to try the new IOS. I have no idea at this point so I plan to fix my problem by not flying AA anymore cross country until they figure it out.

I’m on an AA flight right now. Boeing 737. iPad Pro on iOS 15.0.2 doesn’t work. iPhone 12 on iOS 15.1 works.

Hello Dallasfish44,

We understand you had problems playing an in-flight movie American Airlines supplied. We are here to help go over this together.

American Airlines - Entertainment Online -- These are the steps that American Airlines provides to watch an in-flight movie.

Since you use the American Airlines app in order to view them, please use the steps in this article: If an app on your iPhone or iPad stops responding, closes unexpectedly, or won’t open

How to contact an app developer -- If you’re still unable to play an in-flight movie as expected, please contact the developer of that app.

We hope this helps.

Cheers.

Great info. Thanks. That sounds exactly right. Problems did start post iOS 15. I’ve contacted AA and Vaisat but both are worthless. AA provides inflight entertainment as a service, it’s not fee based. I guess you get what you pay for in this case. AA response to issue is that they will get back to me in 7-14 days maybe, and likely with a non answer. Thanks again. Was just venting. I feel better now. Ha.

I'm running iOS15.1 on my new release iPad 9th Gen. Had the same problems described on a domestic flight last week, even tried deleting the AA app and then re-installing it before my next flight. Flew yesterday on an AA aircraft using viasat again but issue still exists. Very frustrating, and since I'm currently running iOS 15.1, the issue is obviously beyond just the version of iOS.

Thanks for confirming. So back to square one. Don’t know if it’s Apple issue, AA app issue or Viasat trust issue. No one has returned any of my requests for help. I’m betting it’s AA and Viasat issue. Ridiculous.

Your initial response is unhelpful. The post never said, “why can’t apple hack American Airlines app to fix my problem?”. They’re asking apple for further help as there hasn’t been any from American Airlines and what apple suggests is, “contact the other guy”. Which I agree is frustrating. The point is, why can’t apple contact and fix the problem with American Airlines as they probably have much more rapport handling business/providing service for their products since 90% of smartphone users are on an iPhone. So again, why can’t apple reach out and fix the issue on their own accord? American Airlines will never reach out or fix it no matter the amount of complaints hence the reason apple should take care of it for its users.

This has been the case with my iPhone 11 since 2019 and I travel for work 2-4 times a month internationally and domestically. With many complaints to American Airlines customer service and the app developer not a single reply or suggested fix has ever been given. Frustrating to say the least.

[Edited by Moderator]

deggie wrote:

I'm sorry you think it was unhelpful. And yes the post did intimate that Apple should fix it themselves on the iOS side which would require Apple to hack AAs software. But as it turned out there were 3 parties involved, AA, Apple and the company running the software for the streaming media. And yes, I'm sure Apple was in contact with AA and AA was in contact with their vendor. But Apple can't "reach out and fix the issue on their own accord".M

I'm not sure why that's so hard for people to understand....

It’s not hard to understand but as a former employee of an employer that has had issues with their application or software apple did reach out to assist after many complaints were made. I have firsthand witness that they do and are able to do such things as communicate with other business to resolve technical issues that have trouble or errors while using their devices. Is that difficult for you to understand that it actually does/has happened? Which is why it’s frustrating that the problems still exists. One last thing, apple didn’t have to hack into our app to figure the problems out. Go figure.

I just bought a new iPad mini and tried it on the plane last week with the app installed.. It did not play a movie. My iPhone seems to be playing them. Any updates from anyone as to what works as a fix?

So, how’d it go?

Perfect sounds like the issue is solved as long as the newest 15.1 update is loaded. Thanks for your feedback!