Late last week, Delta Air Lines announced it would be offering all of its onboard entertainment for FREE, to every passenger in every cabin on every flight. And while airlines usually copy each other on plane ticket price changes, American and United say they won't be mimicking Delta in this case.
Is this a mistake? You bet it is! Anytime an airline lets a primary competitor outmatch their passenger experience with a free offering, it's a mistake. Sure, there will always be those who but the cheapest ticket no matter what, but everything else being equal, Delta is the better buy if you're looking at tickets on the same route now. Things like this win awards for airlines.
In the 2016 J.D. Power North American Airline Satisfaction Study, Delta placed a close second behind Alaska Airlines for traditional airlines while United placed dead last with only two stars out of five for most categories. If United started a free entertainment program, these numbers would surely improve.
Other domestic competitors offer some free entertainment as well - even "no frills" Southwest Airlines offers 18 live TV channels and 75 on-demand shows for free, plus $5 for movies. JetBlue offers up to over 100 channels of DirecTV programming for free, and $5 for movies. Virgin America's Dish TV programming is free, but there is a $5-$8 charge for full-length movies.
To United's credit, things aren't as bad as they used to be. After merging with Continental, devout Continental customers thought United was pretty much the worst thing ever to happen to flying. Customer satisfaction ratings reflected that fact, when previously it was Continental winning those J.D. Power awards year after year.
American and United both told Chicago Business Journal that they have no plans to move away from paid entertainment in economy class. Meanwhile, Delta's completely free entertainment library includes 300 movies, 750 TV shows, 2,400 songs and 18 channels of live satellite TV.
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