Delta Among Airlines Offering Streaming Video At 35,000 Feet

Delta has designed its new safety video to appeal to customers who enjoy watching videos on the Internet, but as it turns out, that’s not the airline’s only overture to its connected clientele. Business Insider reporter Antonio Villas-Boas, who recently flew Delta from Atlanta to New York City, chronicled his experience with what he calls “Netflix in the sky.” As it turns out, Delta is one of several airlines offering its customers a streaming video service that plays through devices like iPads.

As Villas-Boas explains, he discovered the “Delta Studio” service after connection to the plane’s in-flight WiFi. From there, he was invited to browse a selection of movies and TV shows, including Birdman (which isn’t even available on Netflix Instant) and Top Gear.

Business Insider’s commenters were quick to point out that Delta isn’t alone in its decision to implement an airborne streaming video service; Alaska Airlines, United, and Southwest

all offer their own WiFi-enabled services. I can confirm that a recent Southwest flight I took invited flyers to stream video on their mobile devices. At the same time, a lack of seat-back or drop-down screens prevent flyers from watching in-flight video in the traditional manner.

Some may see this transition to streaming video as a cost-cutting maneuver from airliners, but there’s no denying that viewing movies and TV shows on HD-enabled mobile devices is a much more aesthetically pleasant experience than low-quality “seat-back viewing.” For that reason, expect these Netflixes in the sky to become much more prevalent, and remember to charge your devices before long flights.