United Next represents United Airlines Bluetooth Planes and an ambitious vision to modernize its entire fleet, offering passengers a superior travel experience while driving sustainability and technological innovation in the aviation industry.
United Airlines Bluetooth Planes
United Airlines recently showcased its new Bluetooth-enabled planes, highlighting features for passengers who use AirPods Pro. Other Bluetooth-enabled headphones are supported. However, it’s the Apple devices and the technology within that enhance passenger and crew connectivity.
This is part of United’s broader plan, United Next, aiming to modernize and expand its aircraft fleet. Over 100 planes are equipped with Bluetooth, with plans to outfit around 800 aircraft by 2032.
United was the first U.S. airline to introduce Bluetooth connectivity, and now, along with already being able to connect with the seatback screens, travellers with 2nd Gen AirPods Pro can do even more.
One of the exciting AirPods Pro features is Conversation Awareness, which automatically reduces volume when passengers speak, making it easier to interact with flight attendants while ordering food and beverages.
Additionally, Adaptive Audio adjusts noise control dynamically, blending Transparency mode and Active Noise Cancellation based on the surrounding sound environment.
People want to stay connected while they’re in the air, but there’s also a lot of interactions between our crew and customers – the technological combination of wireless connectivity, Conversation Awareness and Adaptive Audio result in a great experience for everyone.
United Airlines
How it Works
To use Bluetooth on United’s new and retrofit planes, passengers must follow these steps for a new in-flight wireless entertainment experience.
- Select the Bluetooth icon from the toolbar near the bottom of the seatback screen monitor.
- Toggle Bluetooth on and ensure your Bluetooth headphones are disconnected from other devices.
- After placing them in pairing mode, select the device from your list of available devices.
- Enjoy your favourite TV shows, movies, podcasts, curated playlists and more without wired headphones!
United Airlines has a history of integrating Apple products, such as iPads for paperless flight decks, deploying iPhones and iPads for employees, and utilizing iPads with Touch ID for rapid document sign-off. This has improved operational efficiency and passenger experiences.
Beyond Bluetooth connectivity and fast Wi-Fi, the United widebodies offer Polaris business class with lie-flat seats and 16-inch seatback screens. The airline also announced new business-class amenities and services from Therabody and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Nice concept – I tried airpods pro and my Sony headphones on several flights and the devices were not found or did not connect.
That’s disappointing, did they advertise the aircraft as having been enabled?