Airlines to Have Captioned Movies

Many airlines will begin showing in-flight movies with captions, according to a press release from the National Association of the Deaf.

Picture of US Airways jet on airport runway
US Airways is one of several airlines that will now have captioned films for customers, thanks to a NAD and Gogo LLC agreement. photo credit: CLT 4-5-09 N183UW via photopin (license)

The association has made an agreement with Gogo LLC. According to the release, ” The National Association of the Deaf (NAD), a non-profit civil rights organization of, by, and for deaf and hard of hearing individuals, and Gogo LLC, the global leader in providing broadband connectivity solutions and wireless entertainment to the aviation industry, have reached a historic agreement for Gogo to make closed captioning available for 100 percent of programming content sourced by Gogo and streamed through its on-demand in-flight entertainment service, Gogo Vision.”

Customers will be able to display closed captions for Gogo content. The company is also replacing its current content with captioned entertainment films, to be completed by June 30, 2017, according to the release.

Woman's face and text below reads, Does your life have meaning?
In-flight films will have a lot more meaning for travelers who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. photo credit: via photopin (license)

“This is a monumental step in making in-flight entertainment accessible to the 48 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States alone,” said Howard Rosenblum, CEO of the NAD, of the agreement.

Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo’s chief commercial officer said,  “Watching movies on a passenger’s own device has become a very popular product for Gogo and we are excited to provide access to this product to the deaf and hard of hearing.”

According to Gogo Inflight Internet, the following airlines currently partner with Gogo:

  • American Airlines,
  • Delta Air Lines,
  • United Airlines,
  • US Airways,
  • Virgin America,
  • Alaska Airlines,
  • Aeromexico,
  • Air Canada,
  • AirTran Airways,
  • Japan Airlines,
  • Vietnam Airlines,
  • and Virgin Atlantic.

Missing from the list are Southwest Airlines and JetBlue, though AirTran merged with Southwest in 2010. Continental Airlines ceased operation in 2012 and merged with United Airlines, which is a Gogo LLC partner.

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