By admin 
I by no means fly with no good ebook tucked into my carry-on. I’ve boarded too many short-haul flights with no screens on the seatbacks, so I do know to have a backup plan to go the time.
However on flights the place I do hit the in-flight leisure jackpot — and offered these screens are literally working — I revel within the delight of getting so many films, TV exhibits, and music selections at my fingertips.
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My husband additionally boards with studying materials, however he at all times has his trusty earbuds and downloaded playlists, too. Squaring away our in-flight leisure helps make the journey expertise extra nice — which is excessive reward, on condition that Newark Worldwide Airport is our dwelling hub.
Related: United Airlines slashes ticket prices for surprising reason
However now that our airline of alternative has simply made a game-changing improve for future flights, spending extra time on the tarmac may not be so unhealthy.
Picture supply: Shutterstock
United welcomes aboard Spotify to its in-flight leisure
United (UAL) has simply introduced a brand new in-flight leisure collaboration with Spotify (SPOT) , bringing the large streaming service to its 4K Bluetooth-enabled seatback screens onboard greater than 680 plane.
All instructed, over 450 hours of content material will probably be delivered free of charge to over 130,000 screens on United flights. MileagePlus members, rejoice!
“Spotify has an enormous viewers and folks love their content material. And now our clients can get pleasure from all of it in a easy and simple approach, at 35,000 toes,” mentioned MileagePlus CEO Richard Nunn in a press release. “Collectively, we’re giving tens of millions of consumers a completely new technique to expertise and discover premium content material from the world’s hottest artists, authors, and podcasters – all whereas flying with the newest expertise within the sky.”
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Whereas this new Spotify entry is out there now, beginning in 2026, passengers will have the ability to use their private gadgets to go browsing to the Spotify app on the seatback display screen, permitting them to get pleasure from their very own curated leisure.
Spotify has beforehand collaborated with different airways. It’s a part of Emirates’ in-flight leisure, and it’s boarded Delta as a part of “The Passport Periods,” a music and tradition sequence.
However this new United collaboration is exclusive in that, for the primary time, a collection of Spotify’s audiobooks and video podcasts may even be out there free of charge. Passengers can tune into greater than 65 extra content material choices, together with “Good Hold with Amy Poehler,” “The Dave Chang Present,” and “The Remark Part with Drew Afualo”.
Entertained passengers may land as new Spotify subscribers
In celebration of the launch, MileagePlus members who’re new to Spotify’s Premium Particular person plan can stand up to 1,000 bonus miles once they subscribe.
Spotify at the moment has 678 million customers and near 270 million subscribers worldwide, per the corporate’s web site. This new in-flight leisure technique may flip into extra paying subscribers as soon as passengers are again on the bottom.
“As a frequent United flyer myself, it is extremely thrilling to see Spotify now out there on the world’s largest airline,” mentioned Spotify Enterprise Improvement VP Ian Geller. “At Spotify, we’re devoted to being all over the place our customers are, giving creators alternatives to achieve new platforms and have interaction completely different audiences.”
Extra journey:
- American Airlines adds new loyalty program perk cruisers will love
- Troubled airline gets no bids at bankruptcy auction
- CDC issues important warning every traveler needs to hear
The Spotify collab comes on the heels of one other massive change for United. It’s teaming up with JetBlue (JBLU) in a program referred to as Blue Sky, which is able to enable clients to earn and use MileagePlus miles and TrueBlue factors at each airways.
Loyalty program members can nonetheless entry their advantages, together with precedence boarding and complimentary entry to seats with further legroom, when touring with the opposite airline.
Blue Sky additionally features a flight trade: JetBlue will give United as much as seven each day round-trip flights out of JFK Worldwide Airport, and per a net-neutral trade, the airways may even commerce eight flight timings at Newark Worldwide Airport. Some elements of Blue Sky will launch this fall, pending regulatory overview.
It’s not a whole answer to the air visitors woes within the New York Metropolis space, however at the least United — and now Spotify — try to make journey a bit simpler.
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