Delta Air Lines has long invested in inflight entertainment, from having seat back entertainment throughout most of its fleet, to now rolling out free inflight Wi-Fi. The airline has just announced its newest investment in inflight entertainment, which has some pretty great improvements.
In this post:
Delta’s new Thales inflight entertainment system
In partnership with Thales, Delta will be introducing its next generation Delta Sync seat back entertainment experience. The catch is that this will be rolled out very slowly, and it’ll make its debut starting in 2026, on newly delivered aircraft. This is expected to include Airbus A350-1000s, Airbus A321neos, and Boeing 737 MAX 10s (if/when those become a thing).
Powered by cloud-based inflight entertainment infrastructure, the new Delta Sync experience will include:
- A 4K HDR QLED display, offering a high-contrast, vibrant theatre-like viewing experience
- Bluetooth capabilities in all cabins, so travelers can pair their personal wireless devices
- A 96-terabyte storage system, offering over fifty times the average Delta IFE system capacity, delivering more content and streaming experiences
- An advanced recommendation engine tailoring content to customer preferences
- Seat back features like “Do Not Disturb” mode, that give travelers more control over their journey
That’s only part of what’s changing, though. There are several more improved and customized features coming to Delta Sync, including:
- Delta is rolling out a partnership with YouTube, offering ad-free YouTube viewing onboard via seat back entertainment
- Delta is adding an onboard experience planner, whereby passengers can use the seat back entertainment to indicate preferences, like whether they want to be disturbed or not, and these choices will be communicated to flight attendants
- Delta will offer seat back announcement translation, no matter their first language, also making the travel experience more accessible to customers with hearing disabilities
- Delta will offer “arrival mode” in the seat back entertainment system, whereby day-of travel information from the Fly Delta app will be directly displayed on the seat back entertainment system
These all look like positive improvements, but…
Delta has obviously done a great job with investing in seat back entertainment and the passenger experience in general, and I think that’s awesome. If Delta made this announcement a few years ago, it would’ve been very impressive, because American and United weren’t really trying.
While nothing has changed with American, United certainly is trying. It’s interesting to note that this new inflight entertainment system will only start to be available as of 2026. Meanwhile by the end of 2025, United expects that more than 75% of its aircraft will have brand new interiors, including bluetooth connectivity at each seat.
So there’s a certain irony to Delta taking the main stage at CES and delivering a keynote address about all of its industry leading, game changing innovation, all while the airline is largely catching up with United in terms of the timeline for some inflight improvements.
Bottom line
Delta is investing in inflight entertainment, as the airline plans to introduce a new seat back entertainment system as of 2026, in partnership with Thales. The new system looks fantastic, and with this, we’ll finally see Delta introducing bluetooth audio. These changes are positive, though patience will be required, given that this is only starting to be rolled out as of 2026.
What do you make of Delta’s inflight entertainment upgrades?
It looks amazing to see
YouTube really worthless YouTube?
Everything is better with Bluetooth.
I am going to give credit to where credit is due. I am not the biggest fan of delta but the entertainment system they are going with appears impressive. Personally I believe that 1080p is perfectly fine for a screen on a flight that is right up to your face. I would prefer to see high quality screens with good pixel density and more viewing angles. If delta can pull off this retrofit onto its...
I am going to give credit to where credit is due. I am not the biggest fan of delta but the entertainment system they are going with appears impressive. Personally I believe that 1080p is perfectly fine for a screen on a flight that is right up to your face. I would prefer to see high quality screens with good pixel density and more viewing angles. If delta can pull off this retrofit onto its longhaul fleet I will have to give them a try in the future.
The flight controls in the screen are a great idea.
I am going to give credit to where credit is due. I am not the biggest fan of delta but the entertainment system they are going with appears impressive. Personally I believe that 1080p is perfectly fine for a screen on a flight that is right up to your face. I would prefer to see high quality screens with good pixel density and more viewing angles. If delta can pull off this retrofit onto its...
I am going to give credit to where credit is due. I am not the biggest fan of delta but the entertainment system they are going with appears impressive. Personally I believe that 1080p is perfectly fine for a screen on a flight that is right up to your face. I would prefer to see high quality screens with good pixel density and more viewing angles. If delta can pull off this retrofit onto its longhaul fleet I will have to give them a try in the future.
The flight controls in the screen are a great idea.
These announcements are laughable.
Just give me Fast WiFi. I already have a great entertainment device that I take with me everywhere and it connects with via Bluetooth just fine.
DL has over 600 domestic aircraft with fast free WiFi and new international markets are being turned on.
and DL has in-seat power via USB or 110 volt outlet on far more aircraft than any other airline in the world.
No personal device can last as long as many flights esp. in streaming mode.
“Free” = sky miles sign up and signing away your privacy rights
It is not free
I’ve been able to stream 3+hr podcasts on Youtube with no issues, for free, on a TATL Delta flight. It’s not “laughable” at all
The only feature here I value is bluetooth connectivity. I had a United flight the other day where I could connect my Bose QC45s wirelessly to watch a movie and it was fantastic.
it's also worth asking if DL is switching its onboard entertainment partnership from Paramount/CBS (as it is now) to YouTube.
If so, that is a pretty big coup for YouTube esp. in light of the announced merger of Fubo and Disney.
there are 4 large US carriers that offer streaming and or seatback video on the majority of their fleets which include over 750 domestic mainline aircraft on top of international fleets.
Where does...
it's also worth asking if DL is switching its onboard entertainment partnership from Paramount/CBS (as it is now) to YouTube.
If so, that is a pretty big coup for YouTube esp. in light of the announced merger of Fubo and Disney.
there are 4 large US carriers that offer streaming and or seatback video on the majority of their fleets which include over 750 domestic mainline aircraft on top of international fleets.
Where does this leave the industry in terms of content?
With all this Delta coverage you must be in your element Tim.
in my element, no.
it has been known for months that DL's CEO would deliver a keynote address at CES. It was a given that something would be announced.
A nod is as good as a wink to a blind man.
Blind indeed.
One can only see DL, the other can only see BA.
However “Blind” some accuse us of being, like many thinking contributors to this blog, we can ‘see’ gross ignorance and have the foresight to ignore it.
Exactly.
You should learn to ignore too.
Start by ignoring SkyTrax.
Ignoring there is only a single way to fly between DEN and LHR.
And ignoring BA as a good airline.
Notice they are featuring my favorite movie of last year Perfect Days!
These incorporate a number of features that may be available on other airlines but DL got the platform at CES, as it does at many events.
tell us the percentage of United's EXISTING fleet that has been converted to its new generation seatback AVOD. the answer is less than 20%. UA Polaris took 7 years to roll out and NEXT will likely take as long or longer from when it was announced.
If...
These incorporate a number of features that may be available on other airlines but DL got the platform at CES, as it does at many events.
tell us the percentage of United's EXISTING fleet that has been converted to its new generation seatback AVOD. the answer is less than 20%. UA Polaris took 7 years to roll out and NEXT will likely take as long or longer from when it was announced.
If DL also targets this for installation on their A330CEO fleet, the installation of which has not been announced, then the rollout could be a lot faster.
In contrast to UA, DL is conservative about its fleet modification announcements and then achieves its plans faster.
it is also worth noting that, now that the year has been completed, DL and UA both received about the same number of new aircraft in 2024. DL used more than half of its roughly 40 aircraft for fleet replacement while UA replaced about 10 aircraft in the first half of the year before the MAX delivery delays worsened; DL received 12 widebodies - 2 A330NEOs short of plan. UA received just a couple 787s.
Point being is that the supply chain for new and renovated cabins is moving very slow. Nobody is doing cabin mods or receiving huge numbers of aircraft. And when companies like LH screw up with the product, then the problem is compounded many times.
Just like free WiFi, it is not about announcements but who actually achieves. DL has the world's largest fleet of aircraft equipped with free high speed WiFi and that rollout could very well be complete by the time UA rolls out its first mainline aircraft with free high speed WiFi.
As of today, 48.2% of all United aircraft have updated interiors. 75% completed by end of 2025 is easily achievable. Please get your facts right before providing false information to fit your narrative.
and how many of those are new deliveries esp. in 2023 when UA received a large number of new aircraft?
what is the percentage of the existing fleet that DID NOT HAVE updated interiors at the time of the announcement and does now?
Since UA has about 200 widebodies, most if not all of which have AVOD, the issue is not even the percentage of the total fleet but the percentage of the domestic...
and how many of those are new deliveries esp. in 2023 when UA received a large number of new aircraft?
what is the percentage of the existing fleet that DID NOT HAVE updated interiors at the time of the announcement and does now?
Since UA has about 200 widebodies, most if not all of which have AVOD, the issue is not even the percentage of the total fleet but the percentage of the domestic narrowbody fleet.
Feel free to let us know the percentage of the domestic narrowbody fleet that did not have AVOD at the time of the announcement and does now - that is the percentage of the fleet that has been retrofitted.
Whether you can accept it or not, large scale cabin retrofits are taking many years for any airline.
In UA's case, they can either buy large numbers of aircraft or divert cabin equipment for retrofits.
UA is simply not going to be able to get 100+ shipsets of new interiors for newly delivered aircraft and 100+ shipsets of new interiors for retrofits.
There are scores of airlines in the world that are buying aircraft and cabins and the supply chain simply does not support the level of new aircraft and retrofits that UA said for a 4-5 year period that it would take for UA to equip its entire fleet with AVOD.
UA is actually moving quite fast with retrofits. They expect 75% completion in 2025 and full completion in 2026. This is also less complicated than Polaris refits.
Delta may have the edge for now on average in the in-flight experience, but United is very quickly closing that gap. And that's fine: such is the nature of competition, and there *are* always going to be areas where Delta will lead and others where United will lead.
Delta won’t even be debuting their new product until 2026, and so far it’s only going to be on newly delivered planes. While it’s true that a lot of United’s planes with the new entertainment setup were newly delivered, they are making good progress on the existing fleet as well. If they stay on track, 75% of the fleet will have the new entertainment setup by the end of 2025, before any of the new...
Delta won’t even be debuting their new product until 2026, and so far it’s only going to be on newly delivered planes. While it’s true that a lot of United’s planes with the new entertainment setup were newly delivered, they are making good progress on the existing fleet as well. If they stay on track, 75% of the fleet will have the new entertainment setup by the end of 2025, before any of the new Delta planes have even entered service.
United has plenty of issues, but in my mind it does have the best passenger-facing technology of the big 3. Its new IFE, is definitely the best (albeit, there are still mainline planes without IFE) and its website and app are much more intuitive and functional than DL/AA’s. With flight delays and IRROPS, UA is the only airline to provide a reason as to why delays are happening, which can be very useful in determining whether you need to seek alternatives or whether or not things might change suddenly. Also, while they aren’t perfect, UA tends to be best about communicating delays promptly and providing updates in real time on its app (DL isn’t bad in that regard and AA is still atrocious).
United decided to add AVOD more than 10 years after DL started adding it to its domestic fleet.
United decided to add high speed WiFi years after DL made that decision.
It is commendable that UA is recognizing the advantage that DL saw in its cabin amenities.
all but about 100 DL mainline aircraft have AVOD.
more than 600 of DL's mainline aircraft - mostly narrowbodies - have highspeed WiFi with widebodies getting...
United decided to add AVOD more than 10 years after DL started adding it to its domestic fleet.
United decided to add high speed WiFi years after DL made that decision.
It is commendable that UA is recognizing the advantage that DL saw in its cabin amenities.
all but about 100 DL mainline aircraft have AVOD.
more than 600 of DL's mainline aircraft - mostly narrowbodies - have highspeed WiFi with widebodies getting it added every week.
both operate nearly 1000 mainline aircraft.
Neither airline will accomplish either task quickly.
If UA has 50% of its fleet with AVOD now and you subtract out over 200 widebodies and 100 new deliveries in 2023 and half that (at best) in 2024, UA has retrofitted less than 200 narrowbodies with AVOD.
I will stand by my statement that UA will not add 250 aircraft per year with AVOD as a combination of retrofits and new aircraft. And the percentage will not go up near as fast unless UA starts retiring older aircraft which so far they don't want to do because they have such lofty growth plans.
Technology is continually improving. The system that UA is installing is higher tech than what DL had. DL's new system might beat UA's in time. That is the nature of technology.
hundreds of millions of DL passengers have enjoyed AVOD on DL narrowbodies for over a decade.
Starlink might be deployed faster than DL's rollout - or might not - and might provide a better product, although people stream TV on DL free WiFi now.
Good for UA in recognizing that DL's decisions from a decade ago and even more recent were the right ones.
DL and UA are the future of the US industry for lots of reasons.
DL and UA are making the money to invest in new products and planes.
But let's dispense with the incessant notion that UA is going to dethrone
any carrier that not only has been as innovative as DL has been but continually comes up with new things that other airlines, like UA, copy.
as for the comment about UA's passenger notification about delays, just because an airline doesn't put information on their website for all the world to see doesn't mean they don't communicate. DL clearly does not believe that openly (to non-customers) providing the level of information and in writing is necessary to achieve its goals.
Let's remember that DL's customer service metrics consistently outperform UA's.
Aka. Delta flies around planes with no WiFi routinely
The only carrier in that sad state for mainline aircraft
I can't get WiFi on transpacific Delta.
And I'm not expecting to get Bluetooth on the 767-300.
But great job at showing off CES.
They still kept that creepy and useless boarding pass toy at DTW.
Delta Sync is still not available on a lot of flights.
They still can't properly apply GUC/RUC.
So many showcase features.
After 5 years, what happened to that exoskeleton that lifts heavy objects....
I can't get WiFi on transpacific Delta.
And I'm not expecting to get Bluetooth on the 767-300.
But great job at showing off CES.
They still kept that creepy and useless boarding pass toy at DTW.
Delta Sync is still not available on a lot of flights.
They still can't properly apply GUC/RUC.
So many showcase features.
After 5 years, what happened to that exoskeleton that lifts heavy objects. Lost in basement of Tim's mother?
Tim, did you know Ed and Delta 'paid' to be a CES keynote.
By the way, did Ed say anything about CrowdStrike at CES?
I guess meltdowns doesn't count as consumer electronics.
well of course the world is full of pay to play.
If it mattered to other airlines, they would have paid.
as for CRWD, DL still managed to have a higher on-time than any other continental US airline for the year and a lower cancellation rate than all of the large airlines including AA and UA but not WN.
and DL still managed to outperform UA on earnings for the 3rd quarter even with...
well of course the world is full of pay to play.
If it mattered to other airlines, they would have paid.
as for CRWD, DL still managed to have a higher on-time than any other continental US airline for the year and a lower cancellation rate than all of the large airlines including AA and UA but not WN.
and DL still managed to outperform UA on earnings for the 3rd quarter even with the CRWD meltdown and even though UA still has yet to settle w/ its FAs and now has amendable contracts with other labor groups now.
DL's competitors are the ones that would love to keep talking about CRWD; DL itself proved it had no impact on DL's operational or financial leadership
Tim being Tim.
As expected any CrowdStrike question would result into a fluff about better on time for the whole year ignoring the issue completely.
Other fluff you like to answer to ANY questions includes earnings call, A350-1000, ATL profitability, coastal fortress hubs, best airline in SEA, DOT data, etc.
So tomorrow's the response to CrowdStrike could possibly be DL is still the most profitable in SEA.
Next week's response would be DL...
Tim being Tim.
As expected any CrowdStrike question would result into a fluff about better on time for the whole year ignoring the issue completely.
Other fluff you like to answer to ANY questions includes earnings call, A350-1000, ATL profitability, coastal fortress hubs, best airline in SEA, DOT data, etc.
So tomorrow's the response to CrowdStrike could possibly be DL is still the most profitable in SEA.
Next week's response would be DL will be flying the A350-1000 which is not affected by CrowdStrike.
You’re insufferable. Post was about delta and you dragged United into it. You’re just as bad as you claim Ben is. Your behavior is gross
Ben brought United into it
Tim, you can track United's fleet progress here: https://sites.google.com/site/unitedfleetsite/united-next-progress_1
Those numbers and percentages were without counting wide bodies so your math is off. Less than 400 narrow bodies to retrofit not counting replacements.
thank you very much for the link.
This quote from UA's press release on June 29, 2021 is the timeline that I have referenced
"What's more, United intends to upgrade 100% of its mainline, narrow-body fleet to these standards by 2025, an extraordinary retrofit project that, when combined with the number of new aircraft joining the fleet, means United will deliver its state-of-the-art inflight experience to tens of millions of customers at an unprecedented...
thank you very much for the link.
This quote from UA's press release on June 29, 2021 is the timeline that I have referenced
"What's more, United intends to upgrade 100% of its mainline, narrow-body fleet to these standards by 2025, an extraordinary retrofit project that, when combined with the number of new aircraft joining the fleet, means United will deliver its state-of-the-art inflight experience to tens of millions of customers at an unprecedented pace."
As I have said, UA is doing about 100 mods per year on average based on the announcement and spreadsheet you provided. They planned to take delivery of at best 150 new aircraft per year; 2024 was considerably less than that while 2025 might approach 100 aircraft before retirements.
UA is not going to retrofit almost 200 aircraft per year, let alone over the next 2 years. And once deliveries improve, they will have to retire some aircraft which will help the total number of aircraft with Next but not result in the size of fleet that some think will happen and UA at one time said would be the case
feel free to let me know when UA next is complete before then but I am betting it won't happen before the last quarter of 2026 unless UA retires a significant number of narrowbody aircraft - 50+
Lol re keynote address at CES by Delta. If they're at the summit of technology innovation, we're all on go slow. Or maybe its to help people forget the Cloudflare incident, which hit them for far longer than anyone else.
“Bluetooth capabilities in all cabins, so travelers can pair their personal wireless devices“ This has been available on first class in several Delta planes since last year.
While I'm glad that they're upgrading tech with 4K, Bluetooth audio, and other goodies, but just like Emirates, American, et.al, I wonder what made them decide to switch IFE vendors? For the longest time IIRC, they've either been using Panasonic or even developed their own.
And just like majority of the carriers in the Americas (sans AC on their A321s), the cameras won't be included.
Does anyone know if they offer live TV?
I personally...
While I'm glad that they're upgrading tech with 4K, Bluetooth audio, and other goodies, but just like Emirates, American, et.al, I wonder what made them decide to switch IFE vendors? For the longest time IIRC, they've either been using Panasonic or even developed their own.
And just like majority of the carriers in the Americas (sans AC on their A321s), the cameras won't be included.
Does anyone know if they offer live TV?
I personally like the addition of YouTube especially without the annoying ads. I just hope there's no lag.
Does it matter? With any decent tv service at home, you should be able to stream on delta for free. I.e. YouTubetv, etc