American Airlines has made it official: seatback screens are coming back to its narrowbody mainline fleet, reversing a strategy that saw the carrier spend years removing them while Delta Air Lines kept investing in them and United Airlines eventually changed course.
American Airlines Makes It Official: Seatback Screens Are Coming Back
Back in March, I wrote that American Airlines was seriously considering bringing seatback screens back to its narrowbody fleet.
At the time, I called it a remarkable reversal for an airline that had spent years ripping screens out and insisting that streaming entertainment to your own device was the future. Now the reversal is official.
American announced today that it will install seatback entertainment at every seat across its narrowbody fleet, part of a much broader effort to improve a domestic product that has fallen behind Delta Air Lines and, increasingly, United Airlines. AA’s Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden explained:
“We’re making one of the most significant investments in the onboard experience in our history. From next-generation seatback entertainment at every seat to substantially more premium seating options, these enhancements will give our customers more ways to relax, stay connected and enjoy their journey.”
Good.
I thought this was the right move in March and I think it is the right move now.
American Airlines Will Install 4K Seatback Screens Across Its Narrowbody Fleet
American says its new inflight entertainment system will include:
- 4K displays, including larger screens in premium cabins
- Bluetooth connectivity at every seat
- USB-C fast charging
- Personalized movie and television recommendations
- Enhanced interactive flight maps with destination and real-time flight information
All new Airbus and Boeing aircraft delivered to American beginning in 2028 will come with the new screens installed. Existing mainline aircraft will receive them as part of a retrofit program.
Do not expect this to happen overnight: American says it will roll out the screens “as quickly as possible,” but does not expect the entire narrowbody fleet to be completed until “early next decade.”
So depending upon the aircraft you board, there will still be many years in which American’s onboard product remains inconsistent. But at least the direction is finally clear…
Why Is American Bringing Back Screens Now?
Because its competitors forced its hand.
For years, American defended the idea that passengers increasingly carried their own entertainment screens in the form of phones, tablets, and laptops. Why spend money installing, maintaining, and carrying the weight of seatback screens when passengers could simply stream content to their own devices?
There was a certain logic to that argument, but it ignored what the competition was doing.
Delta never abandoned seatback entertainment and made it an important part of its domestic product. United, after pursuing a strategy closer to American’s, reversed course years ago and is now installing large seatback screens across its narrowbody fleet as part of its United Next program.
That left American in an increasingly awkward position as it tried to position isteslef as a premium carrier in the same league as DL and UA. If Delta and United both offer fast Wi-Fi, seatback entertainment, larger premium cabins, power, and a more polished onboard experience, American cannot credibly argue that handing passengers a streaming library is an equivalent product.
As I wrote in March, I don’t necessarily spend an entire domestic flight watching movies (in fact, I often don’t watch one at all). But I almost always leave the moving map on, and when I travel with my children, seatback screens are extremely useful.
More importantly, they are part of the overall product.
You can argue that passengers can bring their own tablets just as easily as you can argue that they can bring their own food. That’s not really the point. A full-service airline charging full-service airline fares should offer a more complete experience than a low-cost carrier.
American spent years moving in the opposite direction. Now it is spending money to reverse that decision.
CONCLUSION
American Airlines has officially reversed course on seatback entertainment and will install 4K screens at every seat across its narrowbody fleet, with new aircraft arriving with screens beginning in 2028 and the full rollout expected to be completed early next decade.
It should never have taken this long. Delta stuck with seatback screens. United realized it needed them and reversed course. Now American has reached the same conclusion.
Better late than never, but great news for AA and for AA flyers. The screens are part of a much larger rethink of American’s domestic product, which I will address in a separate post.
As, or more importantly, they also announced they are adding more MCE seats.
Brings a tear to my eye… finally this once great airline has decided to compete. I look forward to flying AA again in a few years when they have made some progress on retrofits
Not that anyone really reads these press releases, but the picture that AA chose of someone trying to connect bluetooth headphones is hilarious. First of all that’s a frustration point for many – bluetooth is notoriously wonky (the Zoe Kravitz Subway Takes on Bluetooth is spot on). But then to show a screen that literally is using only the top left corner of the screen with instructions that look like they could not be more complicated (if you can even read them) – it’s the antithesis of the message that they are trying to project. Does anyone actually look at these press releases before they go out?
And that symbolizes the whole problem at AA. Look – I really hope that the Pieper / Garboden era is formally coming very soon. But when the XLR is your new shiny toy and they’ve already screwed it up with less lie-flat seating than the 321Ts, virtually no MCE seating (exit row seating is not MCE seating – Delta gets this right) and an upgrade policy designed to infuriate your most premium members, you’re asking quite a lot of folks to wait around until 2029-31 by the time any of this is actually seen on-board.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been shouting from the rooftops that AA needs more MCE, but we all know that this is playing catch-up to DL (and to some extent UA’s) table stakes. But I wish AA well in swiftly implementing these changes, and I hope this signals a broader cultural shift and turnaround that is not just lip-service.
@Peter: I agree! I thought it was a strange choice of picture as well.
They decided to compete….in a year and half! That does nothing to help their financials for the next 6 quarters. It does nothing to help service their massive debt load. It also assumes that DL and UA rest on their laurels and don’t innovate even further. It is a lot of “feel good/rah rah teAAm!” but no substance until you see an actual narrowbody jet with screens and an updated cabin.
Sure, you’re right in one sense, but at least AA has officially realized it erred in ripping out these screens in the first place and will respond by re-installing them (and adding more premium seats). AA is moving in the right direction in almost every way, even if it is too slow it is better than stalling or moving in the wrong direction, as it did for years.
Wrong move, but they continue to invent new ways to stay unprofitable compared to their competitors.
Total waste of money for the few who don’t have an iPad to stream entertainment on. And I find it funny the elites here give a F about the people flying without them. Typical liberal beliefs that they are better than these losers and they need others to take care of them.
As for adding more MCE, good decision because you can show a return of the investment. The screens can never be proven as worthwhile.
Screens are just going to become opportunities for targeted advertising – and targeted advertising makes money.
Suddenly that movie / TV show you’re watching is going to have an ad break in the middle. If all the streaming services can do it now, you think AA/UA/DL can’t?
Go ahead and BYOD and turn the screen off (if you can…) but there’s no reason why the screens of 2030+ cannot be a revenue source.