Upgrades To Your In Flight Entertainment

Over the years, airlines have been slowly squeezing passengers into smaller seats and reducing former “perks” that came with the price of your flight. The seats have gotten smaller and leg room tighter.
Plus, we now have to pay to check a piece of luggage and you get a little packet of pretzels, where once you received a meal when you were flying. Now, for those who love watching TV while flying, airlines may soon be changing the way you get your entertainment.

Some airlines are reportedly getting rid of seat back screens for new seats that would help save money. Seat back screen installations are costly, running about $10,000 per seat. In addition to this, the devices are heavy and removing them would reduce a plane’s weight, in addition to lowering the cost of its maintenance. To replace the former TV screens, the airlines are planning on providing an–flight entertainment app, which will be accessible for streaming through a passenger’s personal device. Since most passengers are flying with at least one mobile device, the airlines are hoping that the new system will be convenient for passengers to use. However, some airlines are keeping it old-school, but with an update.

Delta is trying to offer free in-flight mobile messaging, to differentiate themselves from the pack. “As we look at the way they live their life on the ground with more and more media at their fingertips, we’re looking to replicate that up in the sky,” said Andrew Wingrove, Delta’s managing director for product strategy and customer experience. “We believe strongly in having that extra screen for customers in the seatback.”