Coffee, Tea or 'Hunger Games?' Delta Upgrades Free Entertainment Options

Image courtesy of Delta Air lines.

Rejoice, for free entertainment is finally hitting flights aboard Delta Air Lines.

CNN Money’s Aaron Smith reports flyers enjoying a 90-minute or longer flight aboard Delta no longer have to decide whether various shows or movies are worth paying for, because they will be provided for free.

The new program, called Delta Studio, will offer free entertainment options delivered directly to seatback screens or to passengers' Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

This trend toward streaming content to personal devices could even lead a change in the way airplanes are built.

Smith spoke with Bob McAdoo who serves as an airline analyst. McAdoo offered that most planes will no longer have the prototypical displays many have come to take for granted: “The new airplanes that they're ordering, they're ordering with no screens anywhere.”

As for Delta, the report states entertainment will be made available via screens already on seatbacks or through handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets, which are increasingly ubiquitous throughout cabins.

Finally, passengers have a brief and free respite to alleviate the chatty person in the seat next to them.

Senior vice president of Marketing, Tim Mapes, had the following to say, via a statement at Delta.com: 

“Delta continues to be driven by customer feedback which has consistently placed the desire to be entertained at the top of the list of ways to improve our customers' time in the air.”

Of course, the airline isn’t about to give everything away for free, because customers will still need to bust out the credit card for far more recent titles.

The press release continues, “Additional premium content will be available for purchase in economy including the latest movie titles such as 'Need for Speed' or 'Rio 2,' HBO and SHOWTIME programming as well as on-demand TV shows like  'About a Boy' or 'The Middle.'”

Although there is plenty of free content to be ecstatic about such as satellite TV and movies like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen, so you can enjoy Let It Go for the 15^th time.

It’s a fortunate trend to see airlines push more programming to ease the burden of what is a seemingly more cramped experience aboard various carriers. Even Southwest decided to recently incorporate the Cartoon Network on their flights.

While many travelers hope and pray for the rare open seat next to them, this is one story wherein more is most definitely merrier.

Sitting for longer than 90 minutes is a necessary burden for most flights, but it’s all the more tolerable when you can once again relive the adventures of Katniss Everdeen for free. 

Head to Twitter for more entertianment:

Follow @gabezal