AA to Expand Entertainment on Demand

American Airlines is to expand its entertainment on demand system – the airline's inflight streaming video product – to approximately 400 Wi-Fi enabled aircraft by the end of 2012.

American, a founding member of the oneworld alliance, was one of the first North American airlines to offer inflight streaming video, which enables customers to wirelessly stream content such as movies and TV shows from an inflight library to select Wi-Fi-enabled laptops during flights.

The entertainment on demand product is currently available onboard American Airlines flights operated by 15 767-200 aircraft – primarily transcontinental flights between New York JFK and Los Angeles and JFK and San Francisco. In addition, the streaming video product will be installed on more than 90 MD-80 aircraft before the end of 2011. The remainder of the Wi-Fi-enabled fleet, including additional MD-80 aircraft and Boeing 737-800 aircraft, will be equipped with streaming video by the end of 2012.

"Initial customer feedback shows our entertainment on demand product is a hit with our customers, and we feel it's a great example of how we continue to deliver products our customers truly value," said Rob Friedman, American's Vice President – Marketing. "In addition to our expansion news today, we are thanking our customers for their loyalty by extending the free Internet and introductory pricing offers until 15 October."

Customers on American's 15 767-200's can take advantage of the introductory price of 99 cents per TV show and $3.99 per movie. Customers will also receive a free internet session for a future flight with the purchase of a TV show or movie through 15 October 2011.

Customers do not have to purchase inflight Wi-Fi to utilize entertainment on demand. Using their own compatible personal Wi-Fi-enabled laptop, customers simply click on the entertainment on demand banner on the inflight Wi-Fi homepage, select a movie or TV show from the popular titles housed in the content library, create an account or log in, enter the form of payment, and click "rent". All major credit and debit cards are accepted.

The inflight library features more than 100 movies and TV shows from major Hollywood studios to offer customers a variety of entertainment choices. Movies and TV shows will remain accessible for viewing after the customer has landed – movies for 24 hours and TV shows for 72 hours. Unexpired rentals will be available for playback on the ground by using the same device and browser used onboard.

American's entertainment on demand product is powered by the Gogo system. Movies and TV shows are stored on the onboard server, allowing the air-to-ground connection to be fully available for American's Wi-Fi product. Select personal Wi-Fi-enabled laptops are compatible with entertainment on demand. Gogo is currently working to increase the number of compatible devices and intends to make tablets and other devices available for use with entertainment on demand in the coming months.

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