Hope you weren’t too attached to those seat-back screens on American Airlines. The airline announced plans last month to eliminate the amenity for its new single-aisle Boeing 737 Max airplanes scheduled to debut later this year.
The airline will instead partner with Gogo and Via Sat to improve its satellite-based, high-speed wireless internet on the new planes.
American Airlines says 90 percent of passengers bring their own devices aboard to watch movies and television shows, so the seat-back screens are not needed. By upgrading WiFi, American’s customers can better stream from services like Netflix and Amazon.
The airline does not plan to make the WiFi free, however. Still, all of the live television channels, stored TV episodes and movie libraries previously available via the seat-back screens will now be accessible through an onboard streaming server which passengers can tap into on their own devices.
The screen removal also means the wiring harnesses and power boxes usually found under the seats will no longer be present. Planes will then be lighter and more fuel efficient, while passengers will have more legroom.
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have also removed the screens from many new planes. American will keep the seat-back screens in its current-generation Boeing 737s and Airbus A321s, as well as its twin-aisle Boeing 777s, Boeing 787s, Airbus A330s and Airbus A350s.
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