Live flight maps are an ingenious way of telling passengers where they are in real time. But when an airline tells you that you're flying over a major accident site, then that would be cause for concern.
Now passengers on some flights have spotted details, including the names, dates, and sites of notable shipwrecks, The Sun reported. Apparently, this didn't go down well with some, especially those with a fear of flying.
One Twitter user wrote: "Dear @AmericanAir, are you including shipwreck locations on your in-flight maps on transatlantic flights to make your customers feel more at ease about the safety of international travel?"
"On the large airplane route map displayed to passengers during flight, very curious that it includes incidents of past centuries' shipwrecks," noted another.
Some of the major accident sites included the RMS Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean while on its maiden voyage in 1912 after striking an iceberg. More than 1 0000 on board died.
Not all in-flight entertainment systems use this type of technology. Those that do include American Airlines, British Airways and China Eastern Airways.
During a 2017 interview with Conde Nast Traveler, Airshow programme manager Clint Pine said there was a reasonable explanation for the detailed info appearing on flight maps.
“When travelling over the ocean, there are often large portions of the flight where only water is visible,” he said.
“Airshow includes shipwrecks and other undersea items so that passengers can be informed about items that they are flying over but cannot visually see.”