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Never pay for another overpriced pair of junky airline headphones again.
By Matt Jancer
I’ve got the awful habit of forcibly watching movies on airplanes with no audio. If anyone is within eyeshot in front of me, I end up watching the entirety of whatever they’re playing. The Isle of Dogs, Dear Evan Hansen, Blade Runner 2, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (shudder). Only I do it with no audio because it’s like three seats and two rows away. It sucks. It’s not like I want to watch it. There are just flashing shapes and colors in front of me, and so I have to look. Yes, like a Golden Retriever.
You don’t have to suffer through only half knowing what’s happening on screen like me, even if you don’t want to buy an overpriced pair of wired headphones with a jack that can plug into the seatback screen’s 3.5mm port. The Twelve South AirFly Pro Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter ($15 off through Friday, July 10, 2026) plugs in and connects to whatever wireless headphones or earbuds you have handy. The only catch is that you have to be watching on your own seatback in front of you, because duh.
The AirFly Pro has enough charge for 24 hours of use. You’ll run out of juice before it does. Plugging into an airplane’s seatback audio is just one way to use it. Even though consumer devices have long ago incorporated Bluetooth for seamless connections to wireless headphones, public-use commercial spaces are largely stuck with the 3.5mm headphone jack.
That goes for the gym’s exercise equipment, too. How many stepmills, treadmills, and ellipticals have I seen with Bluetooth built into them? None. All the ones I encounter still have 3.5mm headphone jacks. That means you might buy the Twelve South AirFly Pro for a trip, but you don’t have to throw it in the junk drawer between infrequent flights. You can use it anywhere you want to use your normal wireless headphones and there’s just a headphone jack.
The Avantree Relay Airplane Bluetooth Adapter works the same way as the Twelve South AirFly Pro and offers similar battery life at 25 hours. It has a busier look compared to the Apple-like sleekness of the Twelve South, which some may dig and others may abhor.
The Avantree Voyager runs a bit more expensive at $48, currently on a deal, but it adds a unique feature. Its OLED display shows whether your wireless earbuds or headphones are connected, their battery life, and volume level.
Laicomein has less of a presence on the wireless headphone adapter market than Twelve South and Avantree, but its Upgraded Pro Bluetooth 6.0 Transmitter Receiver sells for less at $26.
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