Which planes have personal tvs

Some are trending towards eliminating them and transitioning to streaming while others are bringing them back.

The airlines that are most seatback friendly include: JetBlue and Delta. The least friendly would be: Alaska, Southwest, and budget airlines like Frontier and Spirit. Generally, you can expect to find seatback TV screens on widebody aircraft s, s, etc.

These are planes that typically fly on longer international routes but sometimes they also fly on shorter international and domestic routes. There are also smaller regional jets Bombardier, Embraer which almost never come with seatback screens. For the most part it is the narrow body jets s, A — the ones that fly around on most domestic routes — that are the top concern when people talk about seatback TV screens.

That is because it is these type of jets where you see the big differences between the competition. Older aircraft or those that have been skipped on retrofits may not have the best quality screens so just because you have a seatback screen, that does not always mean you are going to be interested in using it.

This article is focusing on seatback screens, which as the name implies, are screens found in the back of each seat.

Some of the old-school aircraft may have overhead screens. These are truly the worst type of screens since sometimes you may be seated pretty far away from them and struggle to make out what is on the screen. Luckily, it is pretty rare to come across these nowadays. Below, you can find a breakdown for each airline regarding their seatback screens found on the different aircraft. Further down in the article, I lay out the major reasons why airlines should include seatback screens and also why they choose not to.

You may have thought that Alaska would be a front runner with screens after the merger with tech savvy Virgin America but unfortunately Alaska went a different route.

They removed live TV and then ripped out the screens from the Virgin America planes. Now all that you have is a seatback with a holder for your tablet or phone along with the charger. Alaska Airlines had a policy where you could pay to use tablets for your in-flight entertainment but they permanently did away with that due to coronavirus concerns.

Pricing varies depending on the length of the flight and the device you use. American was one of the first to put Wi-Fi onboard, but it's been slow with its progress since. The plan is to have Wi-Fi on all domestic airplanes not including the American Eagle regional aircraft via Gogo, but we're not there yet. If you're looking for old-fashioned entertainment, American has overhead video screens on its s and s. If you're on an MD, you're out of luck. Instead, American is slowly rolling out streaming video via Gogo.

Pretty soon, United Airlines will offer seatback entertainment at every seat on its planes. Air Travel. Get Inspired for Your Next Vacation. Frommer's, and carefully selected third parties, use cookies on this site to improve performance, for analytics and for advertising. By browsing this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies.

For more information see our Cookie Policy. Even with fewer movies and TV shows to pick from, you still get free Wi-Fi and messaging. Delta and Southwest were the only other two U. Both airlines offer free movies, free in-flight messaging and Wi-Fi for an additional fee.

A primary difference between the two is that Delta has seatback screens on most flights, while Southwest does not. Some travelers prefer access to seatback screens, and understandably so. This simplifies the experience overall. Even the best seatback screens inevitably have issues sensing your finger tapping OK, punching it.

Without seatback screens, the process to actually watch TV and movies midflight can be mildly annoying. You have to bring your own device and connect to Southwest Wi-Fi. Delta has a giant entertainment selection, including roughly movies and — on some flights — 12 channels of live satellite TV. Delta has been working to improve its Wi-Fi speeds, and how you connect, through a partnership with high-speed Wi-Fi provider Viasat. With it, Delta launched a new Wi-Fi access portal that — upon connecting — displays options to purchase full in-flight Wi-Fi, connect to free in-flight messaging or access free day-of-travel features, like your flight schedule.

Spirit and Frontier both tied for the worst, receiving the lowest possible score of just 1. No movies, no TV, no Wi-Fi — not even available for purchase. Frontier Airlines says that not offering entertainment enables it to keep fares lower, which makes sense given that Frontier is a budget airline. At Spirit, Wi-Fi is coming. The similarly budget airline is currently testing Wi-Fi as a paid option for passengers on a few aircraft.