--- title: American Airlines Is Getting Rid of This In-Flight Feature description: Travelers on American Airlines’ new Boeing 737MAX planes later this year might notice something missing: The seat-back entertainment screen. canonical: https://time.com/4765365/seat-back-screens-american-airlines/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-12T14:07:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:51.904Z og:title: American Airlines Is Getting Rid of This In-Flight Feature og:description: And it's all our faults og:url: https://time.com/4765365/seat-back-screens-american-airlines/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc406f13b976e8567/6988b776f887dc0428e98d5d/170126_americanairlines.jpg?branch=production&width=930&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 930 og:image:height: 523 og:image:alt: 170126_americanairlines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: American Airlines Is Getting Rid of This In-Flight Feature twitter:description: And it's all our faults twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc406f13b976e8567/6988b776f887dc0428e98d5d/170126_americanairlines.jpg?branch=production&width=930&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # American Airlines Is Getting Rid of This In-Flight Entertainment Feature by [Talia Avakian / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Talia Avakian / Travel + Leisure May 12, 2017 2:07 PM UTC  Courtesy of American Airlines by [Talia Avakian / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Talia Avakian / Travel + Leisure May 12, 2017 2:07 PM UTC Travelers boarding [American Airlines](http://www.travelandleisure.com/tags/american-airlines/american-airlines-basic-economy)’ new fleet of Boeing 737MAX aircraft later this year might notice something missing: The seat-back entertainment screen. The airline announced the change, which comes as more and more passengers are traveling with their own personal devices, in a statement sent to employees Tuesday. “More than 90 percent of our passengers already bring a device or screen with them when they fly,” airline representatives wrote in the statement. “Those phones and tablets are continually upgraded, they’re easy to use, and most importantly, they are the technology that our customers have chosen.” **_TravelandLeisure.com:_** [_How to Book American Airlines Business Class for the Price of Economy_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/american-airlines-business) So instead of staring at the seat-back in front of them, passengers on American will have the option to watch movies, television shows, and live television on their phone, tablet, or laptop—all without needing to purchase in-flight Wi-Fi. Passengers will also be able to stream from on-demand platforms like Netflix and Amazon, or purchase high-speed Wi-Fi on board to surf online. “It makes sense for American to focus on giving customers the best entertainment and fast connection options rather than installing seat-back monitors that will be obsolete within a few years,” the airline statement reads. Seat-back monitors will still be available for passengers flying American Airlines internationally on the Boeing 777s, 787s, and on Airbus A330s, A350s, and A321s. The airline also plans to have completed the installation of their speedier satellite-based Wi-Fi aboard half of its narrow-body jets by 2018, and on its entire fleet by the end of 2019. _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/american-airlines-seat-back-entertainment) _originally appeared on_ [_TravelandLeisure.com_](http://travelandleisure.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4765365/seat-back-screens-american-airlines/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4765365/seat-back-screens-american-airlines/"},"headline":"American Airlines Is Getting Rid of This In-Flight Entertainment Feature","datePublished":"2017-05-12T14:07:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:51.904Z","description":"And it's all our faults","url":"https://time.com/4765365/seat-back-screens-american-airlines/","keywords":["Living","Travel","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc406f13b976e8567/6988b776f887dc0428e98d5d/170126_americanairlines.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Talia Avakian / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc406f13b976e8567/6988b776f887dc0428e98d5d/170126_americanairlines.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170126_americanairlines","caption":"American Airlines Seat Back TVs","creditText":"Courtesy of American Airlines","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4765365/seat-back-screens-american-airlines/","name":"American Airlines Is Getting Rid of This In-Flight Entertainment Feature"}}]}] ```