American Airlines Has Changed Its Mind in a Big Way

About a decade ago, American Airlines began moving away from putting screens on the back of its seats on its aircraft. In fact, just last year, American made the decision to remove the screens from final short-to-medium haul aircraft with seatback screens. Now, American has changed its mind.

Last week, American Airlines announced a rather stunning reversal of this policy as the airline announced that it would be bringing seatback screens back to its narrow-body planes over the next few years.

American Initially Ended Seatback Screens

Back in August of 2025, I wrote about American Airlines deciding to remove its seatback screens from its A319 aircraft – the final short-to-medium haul aircraft in its fleet that was equipped with seatback screens.

It followed a larger plan from American Airlines as the carrier began phasing out the seatback screens on its aircraft a decade ago. Instead of a seatback screen, American Airlines offered free entertainment to customers on their own devices, which creates frustrations.

In order to access the in-flight entertainment, customers must have a WiFi accessible device that they wish to use exclusively for that purpose throughout the flight. If you’re using a cell phone to stream a movie, for example, you can’t reasonably use that same cell phone to browse social media or send text messages. Using a device for streaming also drains the battery on the device.

At the time, Louis Hardiman of View From The Wing explained that the decision was a cost-cutting measure.

“This move has been implemented to save costs. Screens cost money to install and upkeep, and licensing for the films and TV is not free. Furthermore, screens add additional weight, contributing to greater fuel burn needed to carry out services,” Hardiman wrote for View From The Wing.

Hardiman also noted that this change would set American apart from its comeptitors, but not in a good way.

“This will set American Airlines back from the competition, as it will become the only US legacy carrier that has no seatback entertainment on its short-to-medium-haul aircraft,” Hardiman wrote. “Carriers like Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have opted to continue seatback entertainment. These carrier retrofits have focused on improving and installing seatback screens.”

American Changes Its Mind

Apparently recognizing these issues, American has totally reversed course on this plan, announcing last week that it would be installing new and improved seatback screens to its narrowbody fleet.

American announced plans to install the new screens on around 800 single-aisle jets, with new Airbus and Boeing jets being equipped with new screens beginning in 2028 and retrofits on its existing aircraft starting the same year and continuing into the early 2030s.

While the initial change was a cost-cutting measure to help the bottom line, American now acknowledges that customer satisfaction can boost revenue, too.

“The technology has advanced so much from when we made this decision more than a decade ago,” Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden told CNBC during an interview. “Ultimately, when you have customer preference and customer satisfaction improvements, that also generates revenue.”

source https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/american-airlines-has-changed-its-mind-in-a-big-way