American Airlines: If You Want Inflight Entertainment, Bring Own Device

American Airlines:  If You Want Inflight Entertainment, Bring Own Device

Well, in another instance of American Airlines endeavor of “Going for great” they have once again fallen flat!  That’s right, according to Runway Girl Network, American Airlines is not going to be equipping their Boeing 737 MAX with back of the seat inflight entertainment.

American claims that since 90% of their passengers already bring a device with a screen, American airlines mine as well be cheap and just rely on you to use your own device.  Saying nothing about the fact that a good amount of that 90% is likely people with phones (I cannot stand watching a movie/TV on a phone!), American is making a really big leap with the data it has collected.  It’s assuming that 1. you have a device 2. it is a device you want to watch entertainment on and 3. you prefer using your device over that of an IFE system.

Runway Girls Network says American’s statement says,

Every customer with a phone, tablet or laptop will be able to watch free movies and TV shows from our extensive on-board library, as well as free live television channels, all without purchasing an in-flight Internet connection.

For those who want to pay to get online, the high-speed, satellite-based Internet access we are installing on the MAX and other aircraft is so fast that everyone on the plane can stream Netflix, Amazon, and other video-on-demand, as well as text and surf the web over a connection that’s just as fast as what they have in their homes.

Both our free streaming library as well as satellite Internet connections will work from gate-to-gate.

While streaming entertainment is an increasingly good option for domestic flights, seat-back screens will continue to be important to customers flying internationally. Our widebodies will continue to have seatback screens, and some of our narrowbodies used for specific flights will also keep their seatback screens. We’ll keep seatback monitors on Boeing 777s, 787s, Airbus A330s, and our A350s, which begin arriving next year. We’re also committed to seat-back screens on our three-class A321s.

American Airlines just continues to impress!  the new message: If you want entertainment, provide your own hardware for it!