JetBlue Adds ‘Watch Party’ Feature to In-Flight Entertainment System

Next time you take a JetBlue flight with your friends, you can all sync up the movie you’re watching and give the group something to discuss once you land.

The airline today announced a number of new personalization features that it’s calling Blueprint by JetBlue. One of them is a “Watch Party” feature that enables passengers to watch the same film or television show at the same time with up to five other passengers on the flight.

You don’t have to be seated together for the feature to work, just be on the same plane. Play and pause for the program can be controlled from any of the six seats, which could potentially get chaotic if everyone needs to head to the bathroom at different times or a friend hits pause for the food service that won’t hit the rest of the group for at least another 15 minutes. That said, if you’re all seated together, or have similar bathroom schedules, then it could be a great way to have a group experience in the air.

(Credit: JetBlue)

To watch, look for your first name on your seatback TV, and sign in with your last name and date of birth. Then go to any on-demand content, press watch party, and the screen will prompt you to invite up to five people. Note that JetBlue displays don’t support Bluetooth headphones, so you’ll need wired ones with a 3.5mm headphone jack. (You can buy them onboard.)

Beyond group viewing, the airline is also offering a new “Pick up where you left off” feature, so if you don’t finish that movie before your layover, you can keep watching on your next flight or the trip back home. It’s also now offering personal recommendations on what to watch based on things you’ve previously viewed and allows you to save favorite so you can find that movie you’ve been wanting to watch quickly when you board.

Settings will also save from flight to flight, so you can select the perfect volume as well as your preferred language, parental controls, and close captioning preferences on one flight and have them show up on others as well.

All of it is part of a goal to make the airline feel “as comfortable as” your living room, according to JetBlue, which also offers free unlimited Wi-Fi on all of its flights and access to streaming services like Peacock.