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American Airlines is making sure you can’t escape TikTok

Trevor Mogg
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American Airlines is now flying high with TikTok, giving passengers an easy way to while away 30 minutes of travel time for the princely sum of nothing.

The carrier this week announced that whether you like it or not, half an hour of free TikTok access is just a tap away on your smartphone, enabling you to get your fix of the short-form video app even when you’re hurtling along in a metal tube at 30,000 feet.

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In a promotion that launched earlier this week, free TikTok is now available to passengers traveling on American’s narrow-body aircraft equipped with Viasat satellite broadband.

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“Customers play the lead role in helping us better understand what content they want during their inflight experience and TikTok is one of the platforms they love on the ground, and we’re thrilled to work with Viasat to give customers free access to TikTok while they’re in the air as well,” American’s Clarissa Sebastian said in a release.

American’s blurb also includes some explanatory notes for those whose lives are yet to collide with TikTok, describing the app as on a mission to “bring joy through short-form videos.” But some of those who first experience TikTok while cooped up in coach may not thank the carrier in the days, weeks, and months (possibly years) that follow, their lives taking a new turn as they burn through countless hours on their new favorite app. Then again, it could mark the first step to becoming a TikTok star.

It’s not clear how popular the offer will prove. If a traveler is looking at two airlines offering a similarly priced flight to the same destination, TikTok could conceivably seal the deal for serious addicts of the popular app. Then again, if flights are for downtime, for disconnecting, for taking a break from all of the many distractions of the online world, then perhaps you don’t want to be faced with the temptation of even more TikTok. Because you just know you’ll cave.

Of course, what American Airlines is hoping is that at the end of your free 30 minutes, you’ll be hopelessly immersed in TikTok, desperate for more, leaving you with no choice but to cough up cash for extended connectivity.

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