United Airlines is offering significant and exciting enhancements to the in-flight entertainment experience.
The Chicago-based operator is adding more screens, introducing new entertainment features, innovating with faster internet connectivity and much more.
Although the airline has a long list of updates regarding its in-flight entertainment experience, United “just hasn’t made a lot of noise about it recently,” said Dominic Green, director of in-flight entertainment at United, to TPG during an exclusive interview. (Perhaps Green was referring to Delta Air Lines splashy speech at the Consumer Electronics Show at the Sphere in Las Vegas earlier this month, where the airline launched largely iterative improvements to the in-flight entertainment experience.)
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For Green’s team, the goal has been to test, iterate and improve, without making headlines.
That said, there is plenty to get excited about, especially for aviation enthusiasts. Here’s everything you need to know about United’s inflight entertainment improvements.
600 planes and counting
This starts with the availability of screens on board; More and more United planes are now equipped with personal televisions than ever before.
In 2021, the airline unveiled its United Next brand strategy which includes a new iconic interior across its entire core fleet. Part of this updated look is the addition of entertainment screens equipped with Bluetooth connectivity.
Green said the airline recently introduced its 600th aircraft equipped with seatback screens, and “we’re probably going to encounter a thousand planes over the next couple of years that will have seatback screens at every seat,” he said. he added.
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In addition to the screens themselves, more than 300 planes have Bluetooth connectivity at every seat, allowing wireless headphones to be paired, including AirPodswith entertainment systems. This makes United the undisputed leader in the United States when it comes to Bluetooth functionality, as Delta just announced at CES that it would bring this technology to more aircraft in the years to come. (Currently, only first class seats on Delta’s Airbus A321neo have Bluetooth.)
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Additionally, United’s new displays all have 4K resolution, Green said, making it one of the highest definitions in the U.S. airline industry. (Delta also announced this month that 4K displays would debut in the coming years, but did not share a rollout timeline.)
Overall, United’s seatback technology is already among the best in the industry, and it will only get better in the years to come.
Overview of the Control Tower view
I’m a frequent United flyer, so imagine my surprise last week when I came across a new in-flight map feature: the control tower view.
This view allows you to display a map of the airfield overlaid on all the aircraft around you. By clicking on each small plane, you bring up its call sign and its operating airline. In the future, the pilot will no longer need to tell you that you are #25 for departure – you will be able to see this clearly on your flight monitor.
The Control Tower view is a new feature that United is testing, Green said. It’s enabled in partnership with the FlightPath3D product that United licenses from a company called Betria Interactive.
“We thought it would be really cool for customers to be able to see where they are on the airfield. We already have some pretty good quality zoom level maps, like a sort of street level view, and we said, well, that would be “It’s great to have this airfield terminal level where you can actually see where you are. Cool for aviation enthusiasts, watching the little planes move around, but I also think it’s really useful for customers,” Green added.
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The control tower view is powered by cockpit navigation systems and a live feed of the aircraft from FlightAware.
Green expects the feature to be a hit with travelers, especially since the mobile map is the most-watched content on United planes, he told TPG. There’s no timetable for when the control tower view might expand to other planes, but if you’re flying United soon, take a look at the moving map and see if you have the option to activate it.
Channel 9 is here to stay
Back when music was the only type of entertainment United offered, the airline had an innovation for aviation enthusiasts. This would allow pilots to listen to air traffic control radio conversations between pilots and controllers.
This has always been available on Channel 9, and when United began adding on-demand entertainment, it kept the Channel 9 feed. (You’ll find it under the “Audio” tab on the screens.)
That said, in recent years United’s aviation-loving customers have complained that Channel 9 isn’t working. According to Green, the feature is still widely available, but more and more pilots are choosing not to enable the flow.
“Pilots can turn it off if they don’t want people to hear conversations,” Green explained. But all hope is not lost. “We know it’s a great feature,” Green added. “We activated it as much as possible.”
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Software updates keep things fresh
Just like your iPhone gets a new major software update every year, United plans a regular cycle of software updates to keep the folder entertainment screens bug-free and up-to-date.
“We launched a new UX (user experience) a little over a year ago…and we’ve already done three software updates since we launched a year ago,” Green said.
United rarely announces these small software updates, but be on the lookout for new features and updates in the coming months. You never know what you might find, Green teased.
Starlink impacts in-flight entertainment
United announced last year that it would bring Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to its entire fleet. It’s a years-long journey that’s only just beginning — the first Starlink-equipped plane will fly in the spring — but Green’s team is already exploring what the new, faster Wi-Fi can do for the experience of the seatback screen.
Green wasn’t ready to share details yet, but he hinted that travelers will see more timely updates and live content on entertainment screens.
Of course, travelers will still be able to use their own devices to consume content, but United wants to leverage faster, more reliable internet to deliver a living room-like experience in seat entertainment systems.
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Expanded Views will not be available soon
As more and more travelers bring their own tablets and laptops on board, I’ve always wondered why airlines don’t offer a screenshot feature on entertainment screens. After all, it is much easier to work with an additional screen.
It turns out United can technically already enable screenshotting today, Green said, but a major glitch will likely mean flyers will never see the feature.
“We’ve had a lot of pushback from our corporate partners who say they don’t necessarily want their staff using publicly accessible screens,” Green said.
It’s not that United would have access to data; it’s because they don’t want curious passengers snooping on their neighbors.
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