Honestly, I prefer that anyway. I've got no shortage of devices with plenty of my own media, and now I don't have to be stuck 12" from a screen I can't reliably turn off, that will be shining advertisements and redundant safety lessons in my face when I'm trying to sleep.

Yeah the screens suck, but BYOD with no in-Seat USB charger sucks.

Just buy a 10-20Ah portable battery and you're set for mobile devices. I can weather a 10-12h flight with one of those and my iPad/iPhone. If you have a recent laptop, you should be able to weather 5-8hr for work; I seriously doubt you could get better on even an international flight.

Extra bonus is having the battery available the rest of the time. My phone's battery life isn't quite what I'd desire, so I just keep a spare ~10Ah battery in my purse. It gets used maybe once a week at most, but it's worth it for those occasions.

United are cheapskates; they rank slightly above Spirit Airlines in my book.

And at least I can get good games on my Android tablet. The ones on Virgin America flights are shitty SDL ports of old arcade and puzzle games with glitchy graphics.

Those "shitty SDL ports" are open source games written 10 to 20 years ago by one guy, for fun. Trash talking them is somewhat uncalled for.

But do they provide charging ports or outlets?

On some planes, mostly in the Economy Plus areas. Eventually all will have power outlets but, knowing UAL, it will be a very slow process. Your best bet is an international flight.

In seat electronics adds a couple pounds and inch or two of seat width. Either saves the airlines a lot.

This is the new IFE box on the Boeing 737-800. It's massive.

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-HO911_0325mi_M_...

Hilarious.

That's why the key is not having any expectations.