Mile-high shock: AI in-flight TV calls flyer ‘idiot’

Unlike flight attendants, in-flight entertainment systems onboard the planes are unfailingly courteous in their electronic speech — or so one would think.
But on a recent Air India London-Mumbai flight, a passenger discovered that even an equipment can be rude. When she tried to work the in-flight entertainment system to watch a movie it refused to relent and in an uncharacteristic display of emotion, called her an idiot and ordered her to lie low.

The strange case of the temperamental entertainment system is being investigated by the airline after the passenger filed a complaint.

The incident took place on July 25 onboard Air India's London-Mumbai flight AI-130. Inside the swanky Boeing 777 aircraft, where every passenger gets an access to an in-flight entertainment system, the woman passenger in question was seated on 19H in the economy class.

Sources said about five hours into the flight, the said passenger tried to switch on the system to watch a movie but it did not respond. She fiddled with the switches and buttons when the screen came to life. One the top of the screen was displayed the message: "This selection is not currently available. Please try again later," And at the bottom, was the line: "Lie low...Sit down you idiot!"

Predictably, the passenger was taken aback. She complained to the cabin crew, who in turn, informed the commander. Meanwhile, for proof, the passenger took a photo of the screen which kept blanking. "The commander came over to investigate and on seeing the message apologized to her," said a source.

So how does such a thing happen? Airline sources surmised that it would be the handiwork of a disgruntled employee. "The message settings on the in-flight entertainment system can be done only on ground by engineers or technicians," said a source.

But Air India had a different story. "Our investigation indicates that it was the English subtitle of a Hindi movie that the lady passenger was watching, which froze on the screen when the server went offline. The matter has been taken up with the concerned authorities for rectification," said an airline spokesperson.

The question though is if the passenger was indeed watching a movie wouldn't she have known that it was the film's subtitle which had frozen over the screen and not a temper tantrum by the in-flight entertainment system? Secondly, the font used for both the messages, the regular one on the top of the screen and the offensive one on the bottom of the screen were the same. One has heard of unruly passengers, uncouth flight attendants, but it seems, airlines will now have to keep an eye on their electronic equipment as well.