Delta Airlines announced at CES 2025 an exclusive partnership with Google to stream YouTube for free via an upgraded in-flight entertainment system on its flights.
Delta, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, described the Google deal as “a multi-layered partnership” that will permit members of its SkyMiles loyalty program to stream YouTube Music and Premium through Delta’s free onboard Wi-Fi service. The company will upgrade the onboard plane storage to up to 96 terabytes to cache the hosted videos.
The feature, available later this year, will serve content from key creators, including podcasts and music. This could be a winner, but there are some unknowns. For example, the announcement doesn’t clarify whether only the most popular YouTube videos will be cached for watching. And if so, are there just going to be Mr Beast and Cocomelon videos on a list next to Avengers: Endgame? What about less popular videos? How about Shorts?
I could be proven wrong, but most folks will probably want to stream a nice movie on flights instead of watching YouTube clips. Besides, movies on planes have more mass appeal than YouTube.
The airline will upgrade the onboard entertainment experience with new QLED displays featuring 4K resolution and HDR color. Additionally, passengers in all cabins will be able to pair their Bluetooth headphones or earbuds when watching videos, and turn on a new Do Not Disturb mode for communicating with Delta employees.
The upgraded entertainment system will “tailor content to customer preferences.” Delta wouldn’t say if passengers will need to cherry-pick their favorite content in the mobile app for these recommendations to work. The airline is expected to roll out these improvements by late 2025, with the first upgraded screens cropping up on its planes beginning in 2026.
The announcement also detrails new AI features coming to the mobile Delta app, including an AI chatbot (via a new Concierge service) to assist and guide passengers, notifications about passport and visa requirements, and other improvements.
Lastly, Delta has partnered with Uber to let SkyMiles members earn miles on UberX rides to and from airports (1 mile/dollar for UberX, 2 miles/dollar for Uber Premium, and 3 miles/dollar for Uber Reserve) and restaurant and grocery orders (1 mile/dollar for Uber Eats). Future features include showing details about specific destinations, translating important onboard announcements, in-app wayfinding, an arrival mode, an experience planner, and so on.
Source: Delta Airlines via PYOK
