Comment by sprokolopolis | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sprokolopolis | Hacker News Reader

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I used to do this on airplanes and in hotels. I had more success in hotels, because there was less chance the other person was using it at the time and less chance of getting kicked off.

There was another little hack that I used as a little kid. Remember when airlines would sell or rent special headphones to watch inflight movies? The port was just two holes beside each other and the plug was two tubes. Before a flight, I would stop by one of the fast food places in the terminal and grab a handful of straws (preferably ones with a bendy joint). When I was on the plane I would connect the straws by fitting them into each other to create a long straw. Put one end into the port on and the other into your ear and you got free movies with audio!

How long ago was this?

20 years ago, all I saw were dual mono bayonet jacks you'd need an adapter for to plug in normal headphones, but straws would get you nowhere.

I was curious so I searched: https://simpleflying.com/inflight-entertainment-headphones-e... - pneumatic headphones from the 1960s were used on Delta as late as 2003, but electronic headsets debuted on 767 in 1982.

Apparently the dual mono jacks are to discourage people taking the headphones, rather than restricting access to audio.

It was when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s. Yeah they were on old planes that were just still in use.

Then why isn't at least one of those jacks a TRS so you can use normal headphones?

On newer planes both of them often are

My last four flights used only stereo 3.5mm plugs.

Fairly sure I still saw pneumatic ones sometime in the 2000s in Australia.

Interesting that I have only flown once since 9/11. Almost all of my flying took place in the three decades prior, so the pneumatic headsets are the only ones I remember.

As a kid in the 80s we used to fly YVR-HNL every winter … always pneumatic earphones.

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