On your next excursion into the friendly skies – especially if it’s a long-haul domestic or international one – you might just see a few more of the elusive in-flight amenities of yore. Instead of crappy peanuts, perhaps a muffin or a fresh apple will appear on your tray table during the beverage service. Maybe you’ll have a personal multimedia screen at your seat. If you’re lucky enough to be in first class, warm towels could refresh your hands and face instead of clammy wipes. Yes, after resurfacing from gloomy doomy financial times so prevalent in recent years, airlines are slowly bringing back amenities to shore up customer loyalty and attract new fans.

Personally, I couldn’t care less about snacks or muffins or pillows. My battle cry: bring on the in-flight entertainment. It should come as no surprise, then, that my favorite new in-flight development has taken place at Delta:

Delta in September started adding on-demand digital television, movies and games at every seatback on select longer U.S. flights where it is competing aggressively for customer loyalty. Those flights include ones from Atlanta and New York to cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and San Francisco.

My husband and I were lucky enough to end up on one of these x-country Delta flights two weeks ago, and my football-loving better half declared – multiple times – that he would fly Delta exclusively if he was sure he’d get on-demand TV during flights. It seems like a much better perk for the flight staff as well. I suspect there is a direct correllation between in-flight entertainment and passenger moodiness…

Airlines are Restoring In-Flight Perks