Delta Air Lines has a ton of seatback screens on its planes. But only a small number of them can link up with Bluetooth headphones like Apple AirPods.
Changes might be on the horizon.
Delta is currently trialing a way to bring Bluetooth connectivity to inflight systems on more of its planes, TPG has learned.
In fact, lucky customers may already be able to pair their listening devices on certain flights. As we speak, the carrier is testing out Bluetooth on “select fleet types,” a spokesperson said — including some of Delta’s Boeing 767s. If successful, this could pave the way for the Atlanta-based carrier to expand headphone-pairing technology to many more planes in the future.
A surprising gap in Delta’s onboard service
Bluetooth connectivity is on many airlines’ onboard wish lists. After all, it’s been years since consumers widely adopted wireless headphones. But as it stands today, only the devices in the first-class cabin of Delta’s Airbus A321neo jets can connect to AirPods and the like.
That means most Delta flyers have to dig out older wired earbuds to watch a movie, a TV show or the YouTube Premium content the carrier began rolling out to its inflight screens last year.
Meanwhile, it’s been more than two years since its top rival, United Airlines, announced plans to outfit more than 800 jets with Bluetooth-ready onboard entertainment systems. Considering how the two airlines tend to go tit-for-tat on innovations, it was almost surprising that Delta hadn’t announced more ambitious Bluetooth plans.
There was a reason for that.
Technical hurdles
Delta officials last year told me the airline, all things being equal, would love to offer Bluetooth headphone pairing on more of its planes. But it hadn’t found a viable (and presumably cost-effective) way to upgrade its existing seatback screens without actually replacing them.
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“We just haven’t found the right solution that meets our customer experience needs, meets our maintenance needs,” Kara Nishida, the airline’s director of customer experience and design, told me on the sidelines of an industry conference last year in Hamburg, Germany.
There may now be signs of progress.
Bluetooth testing underway
Delta is in the midst of a major software upgrade to its seatback screens, bringing the “Delta Sync” interface — already installed on more than 300 domestic aircraft — to larger jets like its Boeing 767s and Airbus A350-900s.
As part of that overhaul, the carrier tells TPG it’s experimenting with enabling Bluetooth pairing. That means if you find yourself on the right plane and the right flight, you may be able to connect your wireless headphones.
It’s unclear so far whether this could be a sign of what’s to come.
“Testing will continue as we scale thoughtfully and learn what works best,” a spokesperson said this week.
A larger seatback upgrade is on the horizon
Regardless of how those tests turn out, more Bluetooth is coming to more Delta planes.
The airline is plotting an even more futuristic seatback device — 4K screens with a host of high-tech features, including Bluetooth pairing in every cabin (not just first class).
You’ll eventually see these devices on newly delivered A321neos, not to mention Delta’s eventual Airbus A350-1000s.
The carrier also plans to add the next-generation systems to certain existing planes, including some of its twin-aisle Airbus A330s, as part of heavier retrofits.
Bottom line? Expect many more Delta seatback screens to be AirPod- and Bluetooth headphone-ready in the coming years.
“It is a go-forward specification that we have,” Nishida told me last year, “so any new system that we get must have cabin-wide Bluetooth.”
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