While individual seatback screens remain an important feature for the purposes of passenger entertainment aboard long-haul fleets, when it comes to their domestic single-aisle aircraft, it appears that U.S. air carriers are debating the value of such displays in attracting and retaining customer loyalty.
With the advent of faster in-flight Wi-Fi and media available for streaming on passengers' own mobile devices, some airlines are seeing the additional hardware installed in every seat as an unnecessary expenditure.
In addition to the initial installation costs, maintaining the hardware can be expensive, and technology in seatback screens typically becomes obsolete much faster than personal gadgets-which means entire new installations can be called for fairly quickly.
Besides which, some argue, those screens add a significant amount of weight to every jet, contributing to lower fuel-efficiency.
Bloomberg reports that American Airlines Group, United Airlines Holdings and Alaska Air Group-three of the country's largest carriers-are actually removing screens from their domestic aircraft, a family of medium-range Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.
Major player Southwest Airlines has never equipped its Boeing 737s with seatback screens and says it has no plans to change tactics now.
However, competitors Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways are still counting on modern seatback screens, complete with on-demand audio and video services, to lure domestic travelers. In addition to retaining its seatback displays, JetBlue also provides passengers with free broadband Wi-Fi, and Delta is hoping to offer the same on all domestic flights by 2020.
They believe that offering both audio-video options simultaneously will answer passengers' desire to replicate the "two-screen" experience that many enjoy at home: the ability to watch TV or movies while also browsing the web, or engaging with online apps.
"Just because you are in a tube in the air, it doesn't mean you need to stop your life as it is on the ground," Mariya Stoyanova, JetBlue's director of product development, told Bloomberg. "We give back control to you similar to what you have in your living room."
Kurt Stache, American's senior vice president of marketing and loyalty, told Bloomberg that over half of the airline's passengers bring two mobile devices aboard their flights and that polls show customers' priorities leaning towards more power outlets and larger overhead bins, rather than seatback entertainment.
Delta Flight Products has created perhaps an ideal hybrid between hardwired installations and wireless streaming services with its introduction of pop-out, seat-mounted tablets, slated for inclusion on many of the airline's new deliveries. Unlike traditional seatback displays, these are lightweight and can be easily removed and replaced once they become outmoded.
It all really comes down to a belief in whether customer expectations still strongly call for having their own seatback display and their degree of disappointment if one isn't available.
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