Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
In-flight movie screens are going extinct
Book a domestic flight on any of the Big Three U.S. airlines, and it’s a crapshoot whether the seat in front of you will have a screen. Some do; most don’t.
The proliferation of iPhones, iPads and Android devices, in tandem with increasingly reliable in-flight Wi-Fi, has led to a profound shift by many airlines, who now view entertainment on shorter flights as best delivered wirelessly, without the expense or hassles posed by screens.
As with most things on an airplane, the determining factor is weight. Planting a screen in each seat adds pounds, which burns additional fuel, which costs more money. On top of that, the screens tend to break as they are poked and punched — often to the annoyance of passengers.
Today, the new kid on the block for in-flight entertainment, or IFE, is personal-device entertainment — the ability to stream TV and movies to passenger gadgets from a server on the plane. This video is typically free, although United still charges as much as $7.99 to watch live television channels on planes equipped with DirecTV.
“For domestic flights, I really do see the industry trending toward streaming IFE,” said Jason Rabinowitz, director of airline research at Routehappy Inc., a New York company that tracks airline amenities. “It’s cheap for airlines to install, there’s no wiring, no weight penalty. These systems can be installed virtually overnight, and the costs to maintain these things are virtually nothing.”
Only two of the national U.S. airlines, JetBlue and Virgin America, still have seat-back screens on all of their aircraft. The rest have a mix of both options, given the collections of new and older aircraft in their domestic fleets. Southwest Airlines deployed streaming content in 2009 and has never purchased a seat with a video screen.
The largest carrier, American Airlines, surprised many in the industry when it recently decided to forgo video screens on 100 new Boeing 737 Max airplanes. American reported that more than 90 percent of its customers carry a device when they fly, so it just made sense.
And on a related note, yes: Airlines are also rushing to add power outlets at each seat. American reported that half of its domestic planes will be so equipped by the end of next year, rising to more than 85 percent by 2021.