United Airlines Now Streaming Apple TV+ Hits
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On Tuesday, United Airlines announced that passengers can now view episodes of select Apple TV+ shows for free on flights through its updated in-flight entertainment system.
At launch, the airline is offering the initial seasons of Severance, Shrinking, Slow Horses, Silo, and Ted Lasso, with The Morning Show and Bad Sisters to be added in September. The airline will add more Apple TV+ content each month.
United passengers can view the Apple TV+ shows on United’s 130,000+ seatback screens, as well as through the United app. United is aiming to have 300,000 setback screens installed in its planes, as the airline adds hundreds of new planes and retrofits existing aircraft.
United’s “Next” growth plan includes investments in the “seatback experience” in recent years, which has included installing seatback screens in every seat. New aircraft interiors also now feature Bluetooth-enabled, 27-inch 4K OLED seatback displays, which United says are the largest in the US airline industry.
“Apple creates groundbreaking original series, and United travelers are going to love watching fan-favorite Apple Originals for free on their next flight,” said Mark Muren, United’s Managing Director of Product, Identity and Loyalty. “We’re setting a new standard for a premium inflight experience, and our first-of-its-kind collaboration with Apple TV+ gives fliers more high-quality content options on the latest high-definition seatback screens.”
The new partnership between Apple and United should prove to be beneficial to both parties, as it provides airline passengers with an additional entertainment option (between watching other passengers fight) while exposing more travelers to Apple’s lineup of streaming content. Currently, United passengers will only have access to the first season of each show, meaning passengers will need to purchase a $9.99 per month subscription to Apple TV+ to view additional seasons.
United also supports Apple’s Live Activities and Share Item Location features, and United employees use iPhones and iPads to perform their jobs.
United was the first US airline to offer support for Live Activities for iPhone and Apple Watch. Using their iPhone, United passengers can get live, personalized flight notifications for details, including countdown to boarding, gate number, seat, bag tracking, and more right on their iPhone Lock Screen or Dynamic Island, with no need to open the United app. Live Activities on the Apple Watch allows United passengers to access important flight information directly from their wrist.
In December 2024, United began offering support for Apple’s Share Item Location for AirTag, allowing its customers who travel with an AirTag or another Find My network accessory in their baggage to seamlessly share the AirTag’s location with United’s customer service team so they can better locate their luggage in the event that it is mishandled.
The feature requires an iPhone, iPad, or Mac running at least iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, respectively. By generating a Share Item Location link in the Find My app on their device and sharing it with the airline in the United Airlines app. UA employees can then use the link to view the location of the bag on an interactive map.
United employees use Apple’s iPhone and iPad to be fully mobile, which United says makes tasks simpler to complete, facilitates communications, and makes flying more enjoyable for customers.
