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Airlines are dreaming of the day when they can ditch the complicated, heavy, and expensive seat-back entertainment systems for profit-generating bring-your-own-device systems.
Earlier this year Southwest announced its intention to add movies-on-demand to all Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft and now it has. The service is now available for $5 per movie, per device.
The airline also announced an upgrade to its live-TV-on-digital-device package, which it launched last year. Now in addition to eight channels of live news and sports, customers can also select on-demand episodes of popular TV shows. The upgraded TV package is $5 a day, per device.
Earlier last month Southwest admitted that its first attempt at Wi-Fi on its planes was sub-par, and now says that along with its tech provider Row44, it has solved the issues. As of February 6, all Southwest Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft are now equipped with Row 44 satellite tech, which is about 75 percent of all Southwest aircraft.
Wi-Fi service itself can be purchased for $8 a day, per device including stops and connections. Customers do not need to purchase Wi-Fi separately in order to access movies or TV.
American Airlines has offered in-flight streaming since early 2012, but only recently made streaming to iPads and other tablets possible. American also allows you to watch the remainder of any film after your flight has landed.
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Tags: movies, passenger experience, southwest airlines
Photo credit: The landing page of Southwest's new movies-on-demand service for personal mobile devices.