United and Spotify Announce Unique Collaboration: Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks Now Available on 130,000+ Seatback Screens
- First-of-its-kind partnership bringing Spotify's extensive content library to United's fleet
- Enhanced passenger experience with 450+ hours of free content across 130,000+ seatback screens
- Future integration allowing passengers to access personal Spotify accounts on seatback screens
- Gate-to-gate streaming capability on Starlink-equipped aircraft
- MileagePlus members can earn bonus miles through Spotify Premium subscriptions
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Insights
United's Spotify partnership enhances in-flight experience, potentially boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty without significant financial impact.
United Airlines' collaboration with Spotify represents a strategic enhancement to its in-flight entertainment offerings across 680+ aircraft with 130,000+ seatback screens. This partnership brings 450+ hours of Spotify content to United's passengers, including audiobooks and video podcasts—marking the first time these formats have been available on any airline. The partnership's exclusivity provides United with a competitive differentiator in the crowded airline market.
What makes this partnership particularly noteworthy is the planned 2026 feature allowing passengers to log into their personal Spotify accounts on seatback screens. This personalization capability signals United's commitment to modernizing the passenger experience through technology integration. The inclusion of high-quality 4K screens with Bluetooth compatibility further demonstrates United's investment in premium in-flight amenities.
The collaboration extends beyond content delivery to include a customer acquisition component for both parties. MileagePlus members can earn up to
While unlikely to directly impact United's bottom line significantly, this enhancement represents an incremental improvement to customer experience that may contribute to passenger preference and loyalty in the highly competitive airline industry. The partnership demonstrates United's focus on differentiation through digital experience rather than solely competing on price or route networks.
United customers can now enjoy a collection of Spotify's video and audio podcasts, audiobooks, and specially curated versions of Spotify's most popular playlists – for free – on 680+ aircraft with the airline's new 4K, Bluetooth-enabled seatback screens
Spotify's audiobooks and video podcasts are available for the first time onboard an airline, featuring popular titles like Good Hang with Amy Poehler, The Dave Chang Show, and The Comment Section with Drew Afualo
Coming in 2026, United passengers will be able to use their personal device to log into the Spotify app on the inflight entertainment screen
This is the first time Spotify has offered audiobooks and video podcasts onboard an airline, allowing United flyers to enjoy more than 65+ pieces of content, including popular titles like Good Hang with Amy Poehler, The Dave Chang Show, and The Comment Section with Drew Afualo.
In addition, next year, United passengers will be able to use their personal devices to log into the Spotify app on the inflight entertainment screen. This will allow passengers to enjoy their favorite personalized content on the seatback so they can pick-up their favorite podcasts, music, and audiobooks from right where they left off.
"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," said Richard Nunn, CEO of MileagePlus. "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."
"As a frequent United flyer myself, it's incredibly exciting to see Spotify now available on the world's largest airline," said Ian Geller, VP of Business Development at Spotify. "At Spotify, we're dedicated to being everywhere our users are, giving creators opportunities to reach new platforms and engage different audiences. I'm especially looking forward to bringing an even more personalized app streaming experience to seatbacks next year."
Onboard Experience
Spotify content will be available on more than 680 United aircraft and appear as a new content category – "Spotify." This replaces "audio" under the home menu and includes 'Podcast', 'Video Podcasts', 'Audiobooks', and 'Playlists' channels. Additionally, in the coming months, a majority of aircraft will receive a dedicated 'Spotify' featured channel where all Spotify content will be housed together for quick and easy enjoyment.
On Starlink-equipped aircraft, travelers can stream Spotify content on their personal devices from gate-to-gate without interruption. All they will need to do is log in to their MileagePlus® account and accept the terms and conditions for using Starlink. From there, travelers can open their Spotify app and stream content, just like they do at home.
Collaboration Beyond the Skies
To celebrate the launch, MileagePlus members who are new to Premium Individual can sign up for a subscription and earn up to 1,000 bonus miles. Spotify is also partnering with Kinective MediaSM by United Airlines – the airline industry's first traveler media network – to share the offer with United customers throughout their travel journey. Travelers may see prompts to sign up for Spotify Premium and earn miles based on their MileagePlus status. These messages will be served across United's owned and operated media channels, including inflight entertainment screens, the United app, United Club screens, email and more.
To learn more visit united.com/spotify.
About United
At United, Good Leads The Way. With
About Spotify
Since its launch in 2008, Spotify has revolutionised music listening. Our move into podcasting brought innovation and a new generation of listeners to the medium. In 2022, we took the next leap, entering the fast-growing audiobook market—continuing to shape the future of audio.
Today, more listeners than ever can discover, manage and enjoy over 100 million tracks, nearly 7 million podcast titles, and 350,000 audiobooks a la carte on Spotify. We are the world's most popular audio streaming subscription service with more than 678 million users, including 268 million subscribers in more than 180 markets.
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SOURCE United Airlines
FAQ
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