United Airlines has made economy class travel much more bearable by introducing streaming IFE to many of its aircraft. I had a chance to try it last week on a flight from Chicago to Frankfurt and was very pleasantly surprised.
First off, I find wi-fi on UA longhaul flights (mostly 747-400s) a bargain at $16.99, but United has lowered the price to only $12.99 – a total steal, even considering that there are no power outlets on most flights that have wi-fi (though that problem should be resolved by the end of 2015).
But you do not have to even pay for wi-fi to enjoy the inflight entertainment options. The movies and television shows are stored on a local server, so there is no delay in loading or annoying buffering. Selections are good too – they approximate what is available on seat-back IFE in business and first classes.
In order to view streaming programming on your mobile phones, you must have an Apple iPhone and you must have the United app installed. Android support is under development. Laptops do not require the app, but do require a plugin that you can download.
This is a game-changer for flying in economy class on the 747-400, which up until now had been a horrible experience with only overhead monitors and no personal IFE.
The service is free for now, though the asterisk below (complimentary* movies and shows *=on select aircraft for a limited time only) suggests that UA will eventually charge for the service.
Here’s a look at what was available on my recent Chicago to Frankfurt 747-400 flight:
Here is a look at television programming:
And while wi-fi speed was not great, it was perfectly adequate:
I really enjoyed the streaming IFE on my last transcontinental flight. Apparently the regular WiFi service went out briefly over the Front Range of Colorado, but streaming was never interrupted.
Just to clarify: streaming is available on almost any device, but only iOS and browsers with the plug-in can play the DRM content (anything with a key in your screenshot).
I’ve finally had the chance to experience this on a few domestic flights, one on a 757-300 on a mid-con, and then 2 short hops on A319s. The selection is pretty broad, but there aren’t any new release movies that are available on the AVOD on longhaul flights.
There are some good shows, and I am a fan of the 30 for 30 documentary series from ESPN Films. This is a nice feature, but I fear when United starts charging for this service. The content isn’t new enough to warrant much of a premium. This is similar to what Southwest offers, also for free, so hopefully it will stay that way for a while.
I also hope that somehow, someway Channel 9 becomes available on this system. I lucked out that my Airbus flights still had IFE, and I was able to listen to Channel 9 on those flights. The good thing is this streaming is available gate to gate, so the most interesting ATC communications would still be available if it is made accessible.
A few questions about your experience with the United system:
Is the system capable of displaying closed captions/subtitles?
Did the steaming IFE system provide any content with captions/subtitles?
If so, did the previews include captions/subtitles?
Thanks,
Mike
@Brad, I noticed the exact same thing, and I’m starting to think this is just another perk getting “Jeff’ed”…
I flew Continental almost exclusively prior to 2010. Back when CO had the 9 channel looping tape system, I remember frequently seeing at least one or two movies on offer that were barely out of theaters (i.e. not on DVD yet), apart from an occasional classic or indie film, the other options were usually fairly recent titles (less than 5 years old). That all seemed to change when they moved over to the new IFE system. I took my first flight with AVOD in early 2009, and I remember of the 100 or so films on offer, I’d say maybe four of them were even remotely recent (and by recent, I mean 2-3 years old). The remaining selection was comprised of favorites from the 80’s and 90’s (I seem to recall Ferris Bueler, Philadelphia and Get Shorty). TV content was primarily a showcase of 90’s sitcoms: Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond although there might have been an early episode of HIMYM and/and Two and a Half Men . I’m not sure if BusinessFirst had an expanded selection, but I’m guessing it costs less to license older content.
I think the Smisek’s IFE strategy is starting to take hold at the new United – another “change we’ll like”
Can you view it via an I-pad, or just and I-phone. Thanks!
I was just thinking that instead of spending 13 bucks for WIFI, you could always considering cracking open that Koran and reading that for a few hours.
I have my Kindle loaded with about 240 legacy Philip K Dick short stories. They’re ideal for the wait time at the lounge and the thought provoking material gives me something to ponder while I’m eating or enjoying a drink.
That being said, I love internet access on the road and have frittered away a lot of time on my iphone. But if I have to pay for something rather than read a book, I’ll read the book.
Terrible on android. Wifi drops every 1-2 minutes. Instructions say use app or need plug-in for browser. I’ve searched with no success to find any plug-in.
What good when 5+ hour flight and no ac outlet???? When lucky enough to have one, I found 2 in a 3 row seat and only 1 plug each. Why not 2 gang plugs or at least one per seat?
Mathew, I really hope you have been paid a significant sum of money by UA to write such a fictitious article which I can only hope leads to your exposure as a fraudster. I can see no other logic behind for someone to write such a glowing review of the UA streaming service without testing it out on at least a few different flights. I recently took a UA flight from SFO to Frankfurt and could not believe how abysmal this service to be. First the comically sequence of installing the Panasonic DRM only to then have to download Adobe Flash Player 15, only to then get a Flash is out of date prompt which redirected me to apple.com. Without an internet nothing happens, with and internet connection (@$19.95) Adobe Flash Player 19 downloads at which point one can finally watch something. When I say watch I mean watch a laggy choppy stream that cuts out every 30 seconds. A completely frustrating and useless service. Oh and forget about using this service on an iOS or Android device without the UA App, which one would only learn they need after they leave the gate and typically have no LTE or wireless connection.
@Jonahtan — I’m flattered you think UA would pay me to write this article, but that is (sadly) not the case. I can only speak from personal experience, but I suspect I travel on UA much more than you and I love the streaming IFE — good selection and it always works without any sort of lag time.
In my experience in the last few months with over 60,000 miles on United, I’ve been very impressed with the United streaming personal device entertainment. There are signs all over gate areas and information in the seat pocket about using this. Plus the constant barrage of emails from United before the flight. There is no requirement to pay for internet in order to use PDE. Only to connect to wifi, then streaming data is free.