The future of in-flight entertainment has you in control via your mobile device

In-flight entertainment is back. And this time your smartphone is invited. After a few years where the best way to keep occupied on a plane was to take a tablet loaded with your own films and music – and completely ignore the tiny screen in the back of the seat in front – airlines are finally beginning to offer fully networked, connected systems that link to passengers’ own phones and tablets.

It’s about time. In the last five years tablets have become so common in cabins that airlines have left their inflight entertainment systems to age disgracefully, with limited, low resolution content displayed on LCD screens with embarrassingly narrow viewing angles and bleached out colours.

But with a new generation of in-flight entertainment platforms now coming online, it’s about to get personal, and in the long term, a lot more immersive.

For Singapore Airlines it’s all about BYOD (bring your own device). In the business class cabins of its A380 and B777-300ER aircraft, the airline is now offering KrisWorld, an in-flight entertainment system that comes with a companion app that lets personal devices get involved.

Long before take-off, passengers can see a list of films and TV shows that will be available to them on a flight, watch trailers, and read reviews and synopses. The app even lets you select which films you want to see, so they are in the queue waiting for you when you find your seat.