Passengers are terrified that airlines are SPYING on them after spotting cameras on in-flight entertainment systems
The airlines said that they have never activated the cameras and have no plans to use them
PASSENGERS have spotted cameras on the in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems of several major airlines, sparking fears that they could be spied on.
The newer IFEs available on some planes operated by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Singapore Airlines have cameras.
It's likely there are also cameras on planes used by other carriers.
All four airlines said that they have never activated the cameras and have no plans to use them.
A passenger on a Singapore Airlines flight posted a photo of the seat-back display last week, and the tweet was shared several hundred times.
Several Twitter users said that they would be travelling with stickers from now on.
Singapore Airlines explained on Twitter that the cameras seen were "provided by the original equipment manufacturers" as part of the "hardware".
The airline added that the cameras were disabled on their planes and "there are no plans to develop any features using the cameras".
However, companies that make the entertainment systems are installing cameras to offer future options such as seat-to-seat video conferencing, according to an American Airlines spokesman.
A United spokeswoman initially said that none of its entertainment systems had cameras before apologising and saying that some did.
On Saturday, Delta also said some of its in-flight entertainment screens have the cameras.
The airlines stressed that they didn't add the cameras but manufacturers embedded them in the entertainment systems.
Cameras are a standard feature on many in-flight entertainment systems used by multiple airlines
American Airlines spokesman
American's systems are made by Panasonic, while Singapore uses Panasonic and Thales, according to airline representatives.
Neither Panasonic nor Thales responded immediately for comment.
As they shrink, cameras are being built into more devices, including laptops and smartphones.
The presence of cameras in aircraft entertainment systems was known in aviation circles at least two years ago, although not among the travelling public.
American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein told Buzzfeed that cameras are in "premium economy" seats on 82 Boeing 777 and Airbus A330-200 jets. American has nearly 1,000 planes.
He said: "Cameras are a standard feature on many in-flight entertainment systems used by multiple airlines."
Singapore spokesman James Boyd said cameras are on 84 Airbus A350s, Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s and 787s. The carrier has 117 planes.
While the airlines say they have no plans to use the cameras, a Twitter user named Vitaly Kamluk, who snapped the photo of the camera on his Singapore flight, suggested that just to be sure the carriers should slap stickers over the lenses.
He said: "The cameras are probably not used now.
"But if they are wired, operational, bundled with mic, it's a matter of one smart hack to use them on 84+ aircrafts and spy on passengers."
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