The Popular US Airline That's Modernizing In-Flight Technology With TVs And Free Wi-Fi

At this point, airline passengers have come to expect a toss-up when it comes to their in-flight technology options. They know there may or may not be a seatback TV featuring that Oscar Best Picture nom they haven't gotten around to seeing yet (here's how airlines actually pick their in-flight movies, in case you were curious). The Wi-Fi may or may not be free or included at all on their flight. There's a good chance there will be a solitary charger on the bottom of the seat, but there's no guarantee it will actually work. Heck, the entire entertainment system might be on the fritz, leaving passengers to "raw dog" their flights. Well, United is looking to change all of that.

While some airlines are actually trying to scale back in-flight entertainment to reduce weight and cut costs, United has decided to take things to the next level. Starting in 2025, the airline plans to begin testing major overhauls in its in-flight entertainment and tech accessibility for the majority of its fleet. The updates will feature new seatback televisions and superior, free, next-gen Wi-Fi. These improvements are all a part of the United Next campaign that has been spearheaded by United CEO Scott Kirby since 2021. After testing the features on a few planes, these updates should be made company wide and available to the customer by the end of 2025.

The first thing customers immediately recognize in United's updated cabins might be the brand new seatback monitors. United has struck a deal with Panasonic, who will be implementing its Astrova system. The screens will be updated to include 4K OLED displays, and they will finally allow for the use of AirPods by including Bluetooth capabilities. Gone are the days of needing to bring those outdated wired headphones on the plane with you! Also, those cumbersome and dated charging ports will become a thing of the past, as monitors will include up to 100 watts of power for USB-C-compatible devices, so you won't even need the adapter. In an effort to keep even this state-of-the-art technology from dating too quickly, a peripheral bar will now also be removable so that updates from the airline can be easily made to the entertainment system, without extensively breaking apart the whole seat.

One of the most defining features of this new series of upgrades would have to be the inclusion of Starlink, as provided by the newly made partnership between United and SpaceX. Starlink is proposed to be vastly superior Wi-Fi to what is currently offered on major airlines, maintaining functionality in low-connection areas and over oceans. The idea is to provide customers with a previously unseen level of quality in on-board internet, enabling passengers to continue to work, stream from all of their own streaming services, and even game with high-speed connections — just as they'd be able to do on land. Though only a few United planes have begun testing the new entertainment systems, plans to outfit the rest of the fleet seem to be well underway.