American Airlines Brings Back Seatback Screens

Passengers who've gotten used to squinting at their phones on American Airlines flights are getting a bigger screen back, Business Insider reports. The carrier says it will add seatback entertainment to roughly 800 single-aisle jets, with new Airbus and Boeing planes arriving with screens in 2028 and retrofits also beginning that year and stretching into the early 2030s.

The displays will offer movies, TV, music, games, and Bluetooth so travelers can use their own headphones. Also included: USB-C charging and 4K displays, CNBC reports. It's a reversal of American's yearslong push to have customers stream to personal devices, a shift the airline says reflects post-pandemic preferences for bigger screens, multiple devices, and faster connectivity. American is also leaning harder into higher-paying flyers: It plans to boost the share of premium seats on narrow-body flights from about 25% today to around 40% in coming years. The airline is looking to narrow what Reuters refers to as a "wide profit gap" with United and Delta.