Can you use AirPods on a plane? Yes, and you might want to start. American Airlines' Bang & Olufsen headphones, handed out in its international business and first class cabins since 2019, are reportedly wearing out. Until a proper replacement arrives next year, some premium flyers may get generic American-branded headsets instead, according to a well-known airline insider. American hasn't confirmed the change.
That's a small thing on its own, but it gets at a question almost every traveler has at some point, usually while untangling a pair of free earbuds that feel like they came out of a cereal box: can I just use my own headphones? Usually you can. It just takes a little planning.
Can You Use AirPods on a Plane?
You can wear AirPods or any other wireless earbuds on a plane. US airlines let you use Bluetooth headphones with your phone or tablet as long as the device is in airplane mode, and Bluetooth can stay on in airplane mode. Listening to your own downloaded music or shows works exactly the way it does on the ground.
The catch is the seatback screen. Most of the screens on planes today still only have a headphone jack, so they can't talk to wireless earbuds on their own. That's why the movie you want to watch on the screen stays silent in your AirPods unless the plane, or you, adds Bluetooth to the mix.
Which Airlines Have Bluetooth Screens
United has gone furthest among US airlines. It started adding Bluetooth to its seatback screens a few years ago, says every new and retrofitted plane in its mainline domestic fleet now has it, and has said it wants Bluetooth on more than 800 planes by 2032. If you're on one, and the United app or your airline's app will usually tell you which plane you're on, you tap the Bluetooth icon on the screen, put your earbuds in pairing mode and pick them from the list.
Delta's Bluetooth screens have so far been limited to first class on a small number of Airbus A321neo planes, though it's adding Bluetooth in every cabin on some new planes from 2026. Elsewhere, it's very much plane by plane. The safest assumption is that your screen will want a wire.
The Easy Fix
A small Bluetooth adapter solves almost all of this. You plug it into the headphone jack at your seat, pair your earbuds to it and the screen's audio plays through them. They're cheap, about the size of a thumb drive and most last a long flight on one charge. Just charge it before you leave, since the one thing worse than airline earbuds is a dead adapter at hour three.
Two other things are worth tossing in your bag. A short wired pair of earbuds is a good backup if your battery runs low, and some older planes on international routes still use a two-pronged plug, so a cheap two-prong adapter can save a flight's worth of movies. If you're flying for Thanksgiving, it's worth sorting this out now, since airlines have already shown which days will be the busiest.
What I Bring
I use AirPods Pro on every flight. Always, always, always. I find over-ear headphones uncomfortable and, honestly, just bleh. Noise-canceling earbuds are worth it on their own, too. On a long flight, cutting out the drone of the engines makes a bigger difference to how tired you feel when you land than most people expect.
So if American's fancy headsets do get swapped for generic ones, I won't be the one complaining. Bringing your own also means you get headphones you already know fit, already know how to use and never have to hand back. Pair them with a good seat, just make sure your window seat actually comes with a window.
