United Airlines Announces On-Board Entertainment Change for Travelers
On June 2, United Airlines announced a record travel schedule coming this fall from its Chicago O'Hare hub. In October, the airline is scheduled to fly up to 592 flights a day from O'Hare, more than any other time this year — surpassing the summer's schedule.
“Building on the momentum of an anticipated-record-breaking summer, we’re taking things further this fall with our busiest flight schedule of the year — adding more flights and extending service to warm-weather destinations in the U.S. and around the world,” Omar Idris, United’s Vice President of O’Hare said in a statement. “This is truly a historic time for our hometown hub of O’Hare as we’re not only offering our customers the largest network from Chicago, but also new industry-leading amenities both at the airport and in the air.”
Just three days later, the company is back with some big news for travelers who are seeking a shift in their entertainment offerings. United announced a "first-of-its-kind collaboration" with Spotify giving passengers over 450 hours of content available for free on the airline's 130,000+ seatback screens.
"Spotify has a huge audience and people love their content. And now our customers can enjoy it all in a simple and easy way, at 35,000 feet," Richard Nunn, CEO of MileagePlus said in a statement. "Together, we're giving millions of customers an entirely new way to experience and explore premium content from the world's most popular artists, authors and podcasters –all while flying with the latest technology in the sky."
This is the first time Spotify has offered audiobooks and video podcasts onboard an airline. United also announced passengers will be able to use their personal devices to log into the Spotify app on the inflight entertainment screen allowing them to access their favorite personalized content.