United Integrates Spotify Into Seatbacks—Will It Catch on With Other Airlines?

United Airlines has announced it will integrate Spotify into the seatback entertainment display on 680 planes in its fleet—for more than 130,000 screens.

The move is a clear upgrade to in-flight entertainment options, offering passengers access to over 450 hours of curated playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks—a first for any airline. However, the partnership is limited to curated content with no ability for passengers to use their own Spotify accounts.

United has replaced the generic ‘audio’ category with a dedicated ‘Spotify’ section on its seatback entertainment displays. Passengers can now access popular content like “Good Hang with Amy Poehler,” and “The Dave Chang Show,” alongside a wide array of curated music playlists. This move is notable for passengers who enjoy audiobooks and video playlists, which have not previously been available on seatback displays. The addition of Bluetooth audio compatibility with the screens allows travelers to use their own wireless headphones.

While the initial rollout offers a curated selection of content, it does not yet allow passengers to log into their personal Spotify Accounts. United says that feature is coming in 2026. Until then, the feature will remain largely generic with little personalization for users who have built an extensive library of playlists and favorite audio content on Spotify.

This limitation is especially noticeable given how much Spotify focuses on user personalization—the pre-selected audio shows will always be Spotify-produced content rather than content available on Spotify (but not necessarily produced by the audio giant).

“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.”

Another point of contention for this update is the reliance on satellite connectivity for streaming. While United’s partnership with Starlink enables free streaming of Spotify content on personal devices for some flights—not all aircraft are equipped with this tech. This creates an inconsistent experience across the fleet—which is something United excels at doing.