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This is a full guide on how to listen to music on a plane in 2025. I’m lay out the top nine music streaming apps to use in airplane mode, without an internet connection.
There’s nothing better than being able to listen to your playlists on a long flight. Thankfully there are great options for playing music in offline mode.
Spotify
Free trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YES
Spotify Music remains one of the easiest ways to listen to any genre or curated playlists in airplane mode. There is a Spotify free and Spotify Premium version.
The free version is great for general use, but you need the Premium subscription to listen offline. The Spotify Premium subscription is available for students, individuals, and families and allows you to download unlimited playlists. Spotify Premium users can build their own playlists or let Spotify’s (scary accurate) algorithm craft Spotify song recommendations based on the user’s music preferences.
Even better, you can download podcasts too. The Spotify app is available on iPhone and Android devices.
To set up your downloads before your flight, make sure you have a Premium membership. Download the playlists and podcasts you want for your flight. Keep the app open while the playlists download on your mobile phone, tablet, or laptop.
Apple Music
Free trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YES
You can download Apple Music to your iOS device before take off. Just make sure you’ve subscribed with an Apple Music membership and downloaded the Apple Music app. There are student, single, and family Apple subscriber options. Hit download on your music before you board your plane, and stream this music when your device is offline.
In 2024 American Airlines has a deal with Apple Music where subscribers can access their Apple Music for free on domestic US flights. American Airlines provides this through their inflight wifi. Check American Airlines before you fly to make sure the offer is available on your flight.
Apple Music offers a free 1 month trial, so you can test out the app before investing in it.Free trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YESFree trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YES
iTunes Music
Free trial: NO – Premium subscription to listen offline: NO
iTunes and Apple Music are both owned by Apple but they are different products. iTunes lets you buy and download favorite songs to your music library on your devices, while Apple Music is a subscription model.
If you purchase music files with iTunes you can download it to your device before your flight. Just purchase the song, playlist, or album, add it to your library, and download it to be listened to offline. I’ve made the mistake in the past of not downloading my iTunes music onto my phone before a flight, and I wasn’t able to listen to it because of this.
Amazon Music Prime
Free trial: YES, through your free Amazon Prime trial – Premium subscription to listen offline: NO
Amazon Music Prime provides offline music listening through the Amazon Music platform. To use the app you have to have an Amazon Prime membership. Student, individual, and family plan Prime members have the same level of offline access. Once you’ve signed up for Prime, you automatically have access to the ad-free music and podcast selection on Amazon. You can download and listen to all access playlists, so it is less curated than Spotify, Pandora, or Apple Music for example.
You can download All Access playlists to play offline.
This Prime option is different from Amazon Music Unlimited discussed next.
Amazon Music Unlimited
Free trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YES
With Amazon Music Unlimited you can download your favorite tunes through the Amazon Music app and play music offline. Different from the Prime music mentioned above, music is only accessed through the Amazon Music app. Amazon is offering a 3 month free trial period if you’re curious about testing it out. After that, the membership is a flat fee.
The app will let you listen to music and podcasts ad-free, plus unlimited skips. Make sure you download the Amazon Music app and set up your subscription or trial before your flight. Then, download the music you want to access during your flight.
Youtube Music
Free trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YES
You can listen to Youtube Music during your flight as a Youtube Music Premium member. The app has student, individual, and family Premium plans available. There is also a one month trial option available if you want to test the service before investing.
You can download a ‘mixtape’ through your Youtube music app following these guidelines.
Pandora Music
Free trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YES
Pandora Music is a streaming service that offers download options to its Pandora Plus and Premium Subscribers.
As of 2024 Premium Plus members can download three playlists and their Thumbprint radio. In my opinion the downside with this service is that Pandora chooses the three playlists for you. You can give a thumbs up or down to make a different option, but you won’t be able to select your preferred playlists.
Premium individual and family plans have greater flexibility than Premium Plus. They can download a variety of songs and playlists.
The upside with Pandora is its 90 day trial offer. You can test out the service for three months before deciding if you want to invest.
Rakutan may also offer money back on Pandora if you are subscribing on a browser with the free Rakutan extension.
Google Play Music
Google Play Music has changed to Youtube Music and is no longer available. In the past this was Google’s music streaming platform. Check out Youtube Music to explore Google’s music streamlining option.
Deezer Music Player
Free trial: YES – Premium subscription to listen offline: YES
Deezer is a music player app that provides free and paid subscriptions to stream music. The Premium paid subscription allows for offline, ad-free listening to music and podcasts. Both Android and iOS devices support the Deezer music app. There is also a one month free trial if you’re curious to test out the platform.
Using Deezer offline is super easy because it does not require you to choose playlists individually. Just go into the Deezer app and choose the ‘offline’ option under settings > preferences.
In-flight Entertainment
Select airlines include music playlists and music videos on their entertainment consoles at no charge. United, Delta, southwest, and JetBlue are among the best airlines for in-flight music options. American Airlines also allows Apple Music subscribers to stream their music for free with in flight wi-fi.
The problem remains that you can’t use bluetooth for the back of seat entertainment consuls. But you can plan ahead by bringing high quality headphones with a headphone jack if you want to avoid using the airline’s free headphones.
How to Listen to Music on a Plane with In-flight Wifi
If you want to stream your music with in flight wifi rather than offline mode, you can plan to use the free or paid wifi available during your flight. The quality and availability of wifi differs by airline.
As of 2025, JetBlue is the only USA airline that provides free high speed wifi on domestic flights to all passengers.
Delta Airlines is rolling out free wifi across domestic flights. Right now, the company offers free wifi to Sky
United Airlines offers wifi for purchase with miles or dollars with special discounted pricing for MileagePlus members.
Southwest Airlines offers free wifi to A-List Preferred and Business Select customers, and paid wifi to other passengers.
Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, offer paid wifi for passengers.
Frontier Airlines does not currently offer wifi on flights as of 2025.
Hawaiian Airlines did not have wifi in the past since they fly over the Pacific Ocean. However, there are discussions in the works with StarLink to provide in-flight wifi in the near future. The airline does have in-flight entertainment through its app and back of seat consuls.
Virgin Airlines offers 20 minutes of free wifi, and different wifi packages for a fee after that.
How to Listen to Music on a Plane: Headphone Recommendations
Enhance your travel experience with good headphones. Great headphones make your music experience much better. Rather than struggling with the low quality headphones passed out on the flight, pack headphones that give great audio quality or even drown out the noise of the passengers around you.
How to Listen to Music on a Plane: Battery Pack Recommendations
Streaming music can drain battery especially on a long flight. Avoid a dead battery during your flight and during your travels in general. A high quality battery charger pack is the best way to avoid any stress about your phone hitting the dreaded 0% battery during important moments of your trip.
How to Listen to Music on a Plane: Final Thoughts
There you have it, a full guide on how to listen to music on a plane in 2025! Now you’re all set for your next flight.
This 2025 comprehensive guide for how to listen to music on a a plane covers everything you need to enjoy music during your upcoming trip. Keep in mind that the different apps will need to be downloaded before your flight. Then, sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey.
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