JetBlue Partners With Amazon to Offer Free In Flight Amazon Prime Video Streaming

In flight entertainment just got a big boost thanks to a new partnership between Amazon and JetBlue. Under the new pairing Amazon Prime members will be able to use their current Amazon Prime membership and Instant Video services to stream videos, music and more during their JetBlue flights.

The new partnership will enable JetBlue’s free high-speed Fly-Fi broadband internet for use by Amazon Prime members, giving them access to Prime's selection of thousands of movies, TV shows and more at no additional cost. Fly-Fi will give users internet speeds they would get at home or work, thanks to the use of satellite technology. In addition, all JetBlue customers will be able to rent or purchase hundreds of thousands of titles in the Amazon Instant Video store, including new-release movies and day-after TV programming, over the free broadband internet.

“We want to provide the best digital video experience to our customers and we’re excited that, with JetBlue, we will raise the bar in airline entertainment,” said Michael Paull, Vice President of Digital Video at Amazon. “We’re thrilled that Fly-Fi technology will give Prime members and customers unlimited, on-demand access to the full catalog of titles from Amazon’s digital video library while they’re in the sky—without the need to rush to download one more episode or movie before taking off, we’re helping make airline travel more enjoyable.”

For Prime members, Amazon’s entertainment library will be built into the JetBlue Fly-Fi Hub, giving customers instant access to watch titles from Amazon on their laptops, Fire devices, iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets—no pre-flight download needed. JetBlue’s free Fly-Fi broadband internet will be available on all of JetBlue’s Airbus A321 and A320 aircraft this year, and on JetBlue’s Embraer E190 aircraft in 2016.

JetBlue's website description of Fly-Fi says its new Ka-band satellite service is "much faster than competing Ku-band satellites and older ground-to-air technology, giving you a Wi-Fi experience that feels more like what you have at home or work." The service, which is listed as still in beta, offers two tiers: Tier one is basic Internet access for free while tier 2 is the Fly-Fi Plus plan that typically costs users $9/hour and offers faster service that supports "bandwidth-heavy applications like streaming movies and large downloads."

Source: Amazon Media Room