Passengers increasingly are on their own, especially in economy. You won’t find seat back entertainment screens on American Airlines, Southwest, or Alaska – or Spirit and Frontier. That’s the province of Delta, United and JetBlue.
And even where the airline entertains you, you may prefer your own content. There’s not enough room to open your laptop from most seats, and hunching over it for hours at a time is anything but relaxing or good for your back and spine.
So customers figure out the best bring your own device ergonomics themselves. Airlines created the “bring your own screen” world. And there’s a whole genre of socail media dedicated to ‘hacks’ filling the missing hardware to achieve comfort and ease.
Seat designers keep reinventing tablet and phone holders (or omitting them), and passengers build their own.
Here this seat has a screen – but the passenger wants to stream their own content. Not every passenger uses the screen, but almost all passengers like the option (and it looks great in the cabin).
Simple but work everytime pic.twitter.com/Phw1nhtJDx
— nindi (@nindianiq) December 13, 2025
This is a good one, but people also use airsickness bags.
Flight hack: passenger uses air sick bag to mount smartphone for easier movie viewing (bag has been threaded through the back of the case) @SouthwestAir pic.twitter.com/2hspprXSnZ
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) July 1, 2024
And the headrest cover (“antimacassar”) doubles as entertainment center:
Your baseball cap is really a fully functional home theater system.
Here’s the Ziploc bag trick (and you probably have one of these for your TSA-compliant liquids):
Empty drink cans even double as a phone stand on your tray table:
When you need an impromptu phone stand
byu/findingmeno inlifehacks
Here are the do’s and don’ts of do-it-yourself:
| Do This | Don’t Do That | |
| Use a purpose-built tray-table clip/hinge mount (or a case with a stand) | Don’t wedge your phone into seat parts (hinges, recline gaps, armrest seams) | |
| Mount centerline (behind your own tray/seat), keep it tight | Don’t cantilever it off to one side or into your neighbor’s sightline | |
| Keep screen at eye level (as close as you can) | Avoid watching on your lap for hours | |
| Download offline (or pre-load) before boarding | Don’t depend on streaming/Wi‑Fi for must-watch content | |
| Use short cable routing (port → device) and coil slack | Don’t string a cable across the tray edge / aisle side | |
| Use subtitles and low brightness | Don’t blast brightness in a dark cabin (also conserves battery) | |
| Stow the setup fast for meals / landing | Don’t build a “rig” that takes 2 minutes to dismantle | |
| If you do “bag hacks,” use something you brought (clean pouch, elastic strap) | Don’t use the airsickness bag as a structural part | |
| Prefer non-marking contact points | Don’t use adhesives, tape, suction cups on seat materials |
Several airlines offer built-in phone or tablet holders. The usefulness varies. For instance:
- Southwest: new RECARO seatbacks include a personal electronic device holder.
- Alaska Airlines: retrofitted cabin includes an adjustable tablet holder at eye level.
- Hawaiian Airlines: A321neo main cabin seats feature tablet holders
- American Airlines: Most domestic narrowbodies offer seatback personal device holders
I don’t like TV or movies in general and prefer creator content or books. So I personally could not care less about screens built into seat backs. I also think like a consultant so I am really into no seat backs. When I travel long haul my spouse is amazed I never even use the screen.
One of the most useful amenity kit items I received was from JAL, I forget if it was J or F, but they included a foldable credit card sized phone stand, as well as a USB c plus iphone interchangeable charger cord.
Brutal thumbnail for this post… there’s an IFE screen right there… use it! Looks like Delta, which, along with B6, actually cares enough to entertain its passengers; meanwhile, AA, AS, WN, NK, F9, etc. can’t handle it. UA’s been getting better, 50/50, newer Max/321 got IFE. Free WiFi should be standard, too. Sorry, Gary, share the bandwidth!
Alaska Airlines 787 has IFE, which is good. Most 737 flights are short so no big deal.
Ironic that most of these “hacks” are phones with cases; where you could easily just buy a case with a built-in stand and just put it on the tray without any hack.
@derek — Ahh, a ‘short’ 5-6 hour transcon… not.
Alaska barely has its new 787, and the Hawaiian ones aren’t what I was referring to. AA, AS, etc. have BYOD on nearly all narrow-body aircraft (not counting AA’s 321T or new XLR). Meanwhile, DL, B6, and half of UA has IFE screens. It’s better to have than not to have.
Instead they should allow us to use the screen as a second monitor.
Coach has five letters and economy has seven so coach is more economical than economy. Further, with the prices of some so called economy tickets it seems like calling it economy is an oxymoron.
@Joseph
What does thinking like a consultant has to do with not liking IFE?
@IsaacM — Yeah, @Joseph is what we call… a weirdo. Seatback IFE is an amenity. Lack thereof is not something any airline should promote or celebrate. Yet, some weirdos still try.
My “hack” is to load my iPad with downloads from Paramount. Anything on that app is better than the junk that streams on the planes.
“My ‘hack’ is to load my iPad with downloads from Paramount. Anything on that app is better than the junk that streams on the planes.”
Sorry, got to disagree. Yes, I always have downloaded material even with IFE just in case. But, I very much enjoy watching content I don’t subscribe to. Streaming a number of Apple shows gave me pleasure, and I now subscribe. I don’t have HBO Max, but love watching episodes of Hacks or Curb YE when on the IFE. I had a trans-Tasman flight and streamed every episode of Death Valley (otherwise not available to me).
I don’t use my phone. I need something bigger (that’s what she said). I carry a 12.5″ Android tablet and paid a whopping $7 for a tablet stand on Amazon. Problems solved.