Watching a movie together on the couch is often the go-to image of quiet domestic bliss but, when on a plane, the only option to watch something together with another person is often to crowd over a small iPad screen on the pull-out tray table.
Tapping into a need that travelers did not know they needed (but competitors largely do not offer), JetBlue Airways (JBLU) announced that it now has a way to “watch the same film or TV show at the exact same time with up to five other customers on the flight.”
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Dubbed its new “Watch Party” feature, it allows travelers to enter a friend’s seat number and sync a movie or program to start at the same time.
Passengers look at seatback screens.
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‘Play and pause can be controlled on all linked screens’
“JetBlue is the first airline to allow up to six customers to watch entertainment content at the same time to enjoy family-style viewing,” the airline unveiled. “Play and pause can be controlled on all linked screens, regardless of where each viewer is seated.”
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The feature is part of a wider entertainment rollout JetBlue calls Blueprint in which travelers will be able to restart what they started watching on another JetBlue flight after a layover, save movies they want to watch and get recommendations based on viewing and browsing history.
It is also partnering with streaming service Peacock for a wider selection of shows and movies it can offer aboard the plane — all features that will be most useful on longer flights the airline has recently been investing inp
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‘In-flight experience tailored to needs and preferences’
“By launching Blueprint by JetBlue, we are doubling down on our commitment to help customers create an inflight experience tailored to their needs and preferences, making their flight as comfortable as their own living rooms,” JetBlue’s Head of Marketing and Customer Support Jayne O’Brien said in a press comment.
All this is meant to give JetBlue’s seat-back entertainment systems a more modern look to compete with other airlines that are constantly trying to add small extra touches in an area where it is not particularly easy to stand out. Along with looking at sponsorship deals to offer more and better kinds of movies, airlines like being able to say that they have faster Wi-Fi or more convenient tech access through the seatback screens.
Last year, Southwest Airlines (LUV) announced that it would retrofit more planes to have power outlets for charging underneath one’s seat (this is often not available on short low-cost flights) while American Airlines (AAL) recently acknowledged that its Wi-Fi hasn’t always been the best and promised to make it faster and easier to connect to.
“Over the next two years, the airline intends to help even more customers have a consistent and connected inflight experience through the forthcoming introduction of high-speed Wi-Fi on the dual-class regional aircraft operated on its behalf,” the airline said in a December 2023 statement. “American is working to extend its relationship with Intelsat with the plan to install new high-speed Wi-Fi capability on nearly 500 regional aircraft beginning next year.”
