After World War II and until the 1990s, the most plane passengers could expect was a movie at the front of a cabin: first using a projector, and later shown on a few sparse TV screens lowered from the ceiling. Some airlines also offered music to passengers, first through little airtubes blowing sound into your ears, and then later via some proper electric headphones plugged into a socket in the seat’s armrest.

Now of course, keeping passengers entertained is a serious business. And this doesn’t come cheap – airlines spend as much as $15,000 on seats featuring on-demand TV, movies or games as we tick off the miles. But in-flight entertainment is about to go through another transformation, now that planes are connected up to the internet and passengers can stream content right to their personal gadgets. How will this change your flight experience?

On-demand streaming

One of the biggest game-changers for in-flight entertainment is the fact that much faster internet connection is now available via satellite.

On board wi-fi has now become routine on many US flights, and other parts of the globe are catching up. In many cases, though, it’s not free: passengers have to fork out around $5 (£3.20) per hour, or $16 (£10.25) for a full day’s access – but more and more flights are providing the service. In the past five years, more than 60 airlines using Airbus planes have committed to it, says Gregor Dirks from Airbus.