Passenger Spots a Mystery Device in Airplane Overhead Compartment — Commenters Identified It and Made Endless Jokes About the Acronym

A passenger took to Reddit's r/whatisit community to post a photo of a device located in the overhead compartment of an airplane. The user, who goes by the username u/Acrobatic-Doctor-324, said they saw a flight attendant turn it on just before takeoff and asked what function it had.

The post was shared around 13 hours before publication and soon received 8,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments.

The device turned out to be far less mysterious than commenters initially suspected. Several Reddit users identified the device as a Bluebox Wow portable wireless in-flight entertainment (W-IFE) system.

Bluebox, which is an aviation technology company, calls its Wow system a portable wireless entertainment system that passengers access entertainment via their own devices. So, instead of relying on a conventional seat-back entertainment screen, systems of this kind set up a local wireless network which the passengers connect to while on a flight.

In the situation the Reddit user described, the device was seen lodged in an overhead compartment and turned on by a flight attendant. Although this arrangement raised some questions among the commenters, others explained that a portable system is generally easier to install and maintain than a permanent one that is built into the aircraft's structure. It is especially useful for airlines to introduce modern entertainment facilities to flights originally without such facilities.

A commenter who was an aircraft mechanic said that the location could also make it easier to service or remove the equipment. Another commenter suggested that the construction of the overhead compartment could provide a practical position for wireless signals to reach the passengers in the cabin, as it is in an open space.

However, the system is not the same as the aircraft's so-called "black box", as flight recorders are fitted into aircraft and continuously record either flight data or cockpit audio while the aircraft is in operation. They do not have to be turned on by a flight attendant before takeoff. Flight recorders are also painted bright orange to make them easier to locate after an accident.

The thread soon took on a humorous turn when it was discovered that the mysterious device was also known as a W-IFE unit. Various commenters made fun of the acronym, joking about a "W-IFE" as if it meant wireless wife rather than wireless in-flight entertainment! 

Others compared the equipment to more traditional, permanently installed entertainment systems. Other commenters noted that portable systems like this give airlines a relatively straightforward way to add entertainment options to flights that lack built-in screens.