The 10 Airlines with the Best In-Flight Entertainment

There are a lot of factors that people take into account when choosing which airline to book for a flight: legroom, customer service, food quality, value for money, the likelihood that they are going to cancel the flight over a light drizzle, whether or not they're capable of actually getting your luggage from point a to point b, and so on.

But, if we're being totally honest with ourselves, the most important consideration on a long-haul flight is the in-flight entertainment. And good in-flight entertainment is not an easy formula to perfect. You need something for the kids, you need TV shows, you need movies, and you need a CNN livestream for that one businessman on the flight who actually uses this stolen time to do something productive.

You also need a good mix of genres, as well as a blend of new releases and classics, because no one wants to be on a flight from New York to Singapore with nothing to choose from but Wedding Planner and You've Got Mail.

For your viewing pleasure, then, we've compiled a ranking of the best airlines for in-flight entertainment, according to the 2017 winners of the World's Best In-flight Entertainment at the World Airline Awards. So read on, and happy travels! And for more winning travel advice, don't miss the 30 Biggest Cultural Mistakes Americans Make Abroad. 

With a maximize size screen, you can watch their collection of over 1,000 hours of movies, short films, games, music, news and information as though you were in the comfort of your bedroom.

Delta is really trying to amp up their in-flight entertainment game. Under its Delta Studio product, passengers have the option to watch over 1,000 hour of entertainment on their iPhone, tablet, and seat-back screen. Delta also uses Gogo to provide in-flight Wi-Fi access on all of its long-haul flights.

Etihad has become synonymous with the future of luxury thanks to the opulent three-room "residences" they offer in first class. But even in coach, you can enjoy the luxury of over, 140 movies, 350 popular TV Shows, and 7 live TV news Channels to keep you entertained. Is that's not enough, there's always the WiFly internet service, which enables you to text and keep in touch with family while onboard the plane.

Qantas has really taken the world of in-flight entertainment to the next level by offering Netflix streaming services on some of its plane. By the end of 2017, the airline hopes to have free wi-fi on domestic flights, which will make it even easier to download the 4,000+ magazines on the Qantas app powered by PressReader.

Having enlisted the help of Portworx earlier this year, the airline's inflight entertainment now seamlessly offers passengers over 100 films in up to 8 languages, as well as an easier way to create their own in-flight audio and video playlists.  It also offers Wi-Fi access via its FlyNet service.

Frequent flyers rave about Virgin's easy-to-use interface, which, in addition to lots of films, offers users the ability to order food and drink, as well as the option to chat with other passengers on the plane.

With over 750,000 songs to choose from, and a carefully curated list of movies and shows spread over an effortless touch screen, you won't even notice the flight. But there's also a game channel for single or multiple players sure to delight gamers, as well as a system that allows passengers to receive weather reports every four hours and news updates every hour via SMS/email.

The airline's revolutionary KrisWorld system doesn't just have good movies, it provides a service that last long after you land. The multilingual system offers travel guides, checkout information, and even tutorials on language, business, and culture.

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The on-board entertainment platform, Oryx One, won the airline an award for content innovation at this year's Aircraft Interiors Middle East awards. The system offers passengers a wide selection of content tailored to the Middle Eastern market, including Turkish soap operas and Bollywood films. But they've also got a rotating list of 90 new feature films and 220 TV shows that rotate each month, so that you're spoiled for choice!

With over 2,500 channels of entertainment, including the latest blockbuster movies, award-winning television box sets, live TV, music and computer games, it's no wonder that this prestigious airline has won the World's Best Inflight Entertainment award for 13 years in a row.

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