United and Spotify Bring Personal Libraries to Starlink Seatback Screens

United Airlines and Spotify announced Thursday that passengers can open personal Spotify accounts on Starlink-equipped seatback screens, extending the airline’s inflight entertainment beyond its existing curated channel.

The feature is rolling out now on equipped aircraft. Passengers can use the app to resume saved content and access personal libraries. Spotify’s catalog includes more than 100 million tracks, plus millions of podcasts, playlists, videos and albums.

To connect, passengers scan a QR code on the seatback display and sign in on a phone. They do not enter Spotify credentials on the screen. Both Free and Premium users can use the app, though available features vary by plan and market. A paid Wi-Fi pass and MileagePlus login are not required, and accounts are logged out automatically at the end of each flight.

Spotify plans to add the feature to more aircraft through 2027. United expects personal Spotify access to reach half its fleet by spring 2027. Starlink installation is a separate effort: Wi-Fi was available on more than half of United’s daily flights as of Nov. 5, and the airline expects to finish installing the service across its fleet before the end of 2027. The broader Starlink rollout at United has been underway as the airline equips more aircraft.

United had more than 181,000 seatback screens on Nov. 5, covering about 85% of its mainline fleet. It expects that total to exceed 219,000 by the end of 2027.

The personal-account feature builds on a curated Spotify channel that United and Spotify launched in June 2025. At that launch, the channel offered more than 450 hours of content across more than 130,000 screens. By Nov. 5, more than 2.3 million customers had listened to over 1.9 million hours of Spotify content onboard.

“Our customers are used to streaming entertainment that's tailored to them, and that level of personalization shouldn't stop when they board one of our planes,” Andrew Nocella, United Airlines’ chief commercial officer, said.