American Airlines Doubles Down On “High-Speed WiFi” As Feasible Inflight Entertainment For Most Narrowbody Aircraft

Dallas-based American Airlines continues investing in wireless inflight entertainment and connectivity for most of its single-aisle fleet. However, it remains unclear if Ad-Free WiFi will follow. Even though Delta and United Airlines have embraced this entertainment onboard, Americans continue to avoid in-flight entertainment in the seatback for most of its narrowbody aircraft.

The carrier’s New Airbus A321 variants have the latest AVANT IFE system; however, these are premium heavy and set to operate transcontinental and transatlantic routes. American and Intelsat have already started installing high-speed WiFi on nearly 500 dual-class regional aircraft this summer so their customers can stay connected across all routes.

Photo: Tomas Del Coro | Flickr

As reported by Runway Girl Network, The airline company’s vice president for customer service, Kimberly Cisek, advised the media at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX):

‘What we have invested in is having the most high-speed Wi-Fi on all of our narrowbody aircraft as well as entertainment for our customers so we’ll continue to invest in that space as we move forward.”

Streaming to your device

With inflight WiFi, passengers are expected to stream on their own devices via the American Airlines app, with restricted access to the rest of the internet for free. As a comparison, Delta and JetBlue do not charge passengers for WiFi, and United offers free messaging on social media platforms.

More recently, passengers can also opt to pay for WiFi by redeeming their miles, and the carrier has stood firm on its WiFi ambitions. And when quizzed at AIX about free WiFi, Cisek said:

“American Airlines does offer and operate the most high-speed Wi-Fi aircraft in the world actually. And so, as we continue to invest in this space with our customers, we are providing our customers then not only Wi-Fi which we know connectivity is important but also with free entertainment options, both from podcasts to videos to movies — over 1,500 selections for our customers to choose from. So, as we move forward, we’ve also launched miles as a form of payment on our aircraft for customers to select Wi-Fi and we’ve seen a great reaction from our customers for this new option.”

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

Plenty of entertainment at your fingertips

American offers streaming capabilities on its entire mainline fleet, allowing travelers to access one of the 1,500 pieces of regularly updated free content on inflight entertainment. The airline updates approximately 200 titles monthly inspired by current entertainment trends, such as award-winning films each year and other specially curated content.

Since it was a novelty a few years ago, WiFi access has quickly become mainstream across all global carriers.

Source: Simple Flying