American Bringing Back Seat Back TVs On Narrow Body Planes? “Stay Tuned”

As we all know, American has become a distant third among the “big three” US carriers when it comes to both profitability and passenger experience. The issue is that American has essentially squandered the past decade plus trying to become less premium, focusing on a strategy of “the schedule is the product.” Suffice it to say that executives at the airline have realized that this strategy doesn’t work (as have employees, customers, and investors).

In recent times, we’ve seen American try to become more premium once again, realizing that’s the only way to compete with Delta and United. Several weeks ago, we learned how American is considering reversing one of its most controversial decisions in recent years. While there still hasn’t been an official announcement, this is now looking even more likely, especially with a recent comment from an executive…

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American may greatly revamp inflight entertainment

In late March, CNBC reported that bringing back seat back TVs on most of American’s narrow body mainline aircraft is under “serious consideration,” and a decision could be made within weeks, according to “a person familiar with the matter.”

There’s now something else that gives more credibility to this rumor to this. As flagged by View from the Wing, a newly published Forbes story about American Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden has the following tidbit about her:

Asked whether American will add seatback screens, which Delta and United both have, she said, “Stay tuned.” Asked whether American will offer the opportunity to convert three economy seats into a lie-flat bed on longhaul international flights, as United has announced, she said, “We have no plans right now.”

I’d consider “stay tuned” to be a pretty significant response to such a question, especially when the response to the next question was “no plans right now.” She didn’t deny it, and she also didn’t have some generic response about how the airline is always looking to improve the customer experience, or whatever. So I’m inclined to believe that this could very well be on the agenda.

The reintroduction of seat back TVs would be part of a larger revamp of American’s inflight entertainment on narrow body planes. The plans also reportedly include discussions with SpaceX’s Starlink, and Amazon’s Leo, to potentially provide higher speed inflight Wi-Fi.

American is also reportedly in talks with Amazon about providing content for the seat back entertainment, which could include Amazon Prime, music, and potentially shopping, allowing customers to redeem AAdvantage miles for purchases (not that it would be a great value). It goes without saying that any project to add back seat back TVs would be costly and take years to complete.

American did recently roll out free inflight Wi-Fi on most aircraft (essentially all those with Viasat connectivity). However, Delta definitely has the edge when it comes to entertainment overall, while United is currently on track to become the industry leader, between introducing modern seat back entertainment on most planes, while also rolling out Starlink Wi-Fi.

JonNYC also points out that American’s fairly new Chief Commercial Officer, Nat Pieper, was at Delta back in 2009-2015, and was head of fleet of the airline, and that’s largely when decisions were made to introduce seat back TVs.

My take on American’s potential reversal on entertainment

It’s nice to see American trying to improve its passenger experience as of late, as we’ve really seen the airline make some strides. As I’ve repeatedly said, here’s the issue, as I see it, in terms of this strategy having a material impact:

• American is a distant third to Delta and United when it comes to passenger experience, financial performance, and service, and those airlines are also greatly investing in their experience, so it’s hard to catch up under those circumstances (not that I trust his narrative, and he’s certainly biased, but United CEO Scott Kirby thinks that American is totally cooked… but he also wants to buy the airline, lol)
• The biggest issue is that American has completely squandered the past decade, and the fact that the airline went from installing seat back TVs to just ripping them out years later is absolutely wild to me; the airline literally spent money to make the passenger experience worse
• Even if American invests in its passenger experience, it’ll still likely remain in third place, so best case scenario the airline can hope to lose fewer customers to Delta and United, rather than winning customers based on quality
• I actually don’t think that lack of seat back TVs is among American’s top five issues, and I think what’s most important is focusing on customer service, reliability, expanding its long haul route network, etc.

Here’s the thing, and this is something that I’ve said pretty consistently. I understand that in theory seat back TVs are appealing, but I’m actually not someone who cares all that much about them.

I might be in the minority, but the issue is that technology is evolving at such a fast pace, and it’s incredible how fast a cabin with TVs can go from looking modern and cutting edge, to just looking terribly outdated.

So yeah, if American introduces seat back TVs, that’s great. I don’t think it’s a game changer, necessarily, and I care more about the airline introducing true high speed Wi-Fi, like Starlink.

However, it would certainly help to changing the “vibes” at the airline, in terms of signaling to customers and employees what the airline is trying to do, and that’s worth something. American needs some splashy announcement, to reclaim some of the attention that has kept United in the spotlight for so long.

Bottom line

American is reportedly seriously considering reintroducing seat back TVs throughout its narrow body fleet, along with adding higher speed Wi-Fi. American has fallen behind Delta and United in recent years when it comes to customer experience, after first introducing TVs, only to then spend years ripping them out.

While I don’t think TVs as such will solve American’s problems, it is a sign that American management realizes the extent to which they’ve screwed up. It remains to be seen if American can actually make up lost ground, or if it’s too late to right the ship.

What do you make of the prospect of American adding back seat back TVs on narrow body planes?