The Best Airplane Bluetooth Adapter

Twelve South’s published figures for the Pro 2 Deluxe; the SE’s figures are its published listing information. Read 11 September 2026. We have not tested these adapters.

The problem it solves

Seatback entertainment is still, on almost every aircraft, a 3.5 mm headphone socket. Most premium earbuds and many over-ear headphones no longer have a cable, or travel without one. Seatback screens do not speak Bluetooth.

A Bluetooth transmitter plugs into the armrest socket and sends that audio to your wireless headphones. It is a single-purpose object, and on a long-haul flight with a good film selection it is the difference between your own headphones and the thin ones the airline hands out.

The two models, as published

Two pairs at once is the feature that matters

Two travelers, one screen, one film: the Pro 2 publishes pairing for two sets of wireless headphones simultaneously. For a couple, or a parent and a child, that turns one seatback into a shared screen without a splitter cable and two wired headsets. Kids’ headphones.

For one traveler it is irrelevant — which is exactly when the SE is the simpler answer.

The airline adapter in the Deluxe box

Twelve South includes an International Airline Adapter with the Deluxe model. Some older aircraft use a two-pin audio socket rather than a single 3.5 mm jack, and an airline adapter is what bridges it. The SE publishes no such adapter in the box — on a single-jack seat that does not matter; on a two-pin seat it does.

Battery against flight length

25+ hours published for the Pro 2 and 20+ for the SE are both longer than any single flight. The number that matters more is whether you remember to charge it — and a transmitter is one more device on the list alongside the earbuds themselves. The tech checklist.

The headphones are usually the shorter battery. Soundcore publishes 8 hours per charge in ANC mode for the Liberty 4 NC, 40 with the case — so on a very long flight the earbuds go back in the case at some point, and the transmitter waits. Earbuds for flying.

The free alternative

A wired headphone. If your headphones have a 3.5 mm input and you carry the cable, you need nothing else — and nothing to charge. The transmitter earns its place only for headphones that cannot take a cable, or for sharing one screen between two.

The picks

• AirFly Pro 2 Deluxe — the pick. Two pairs at once, 25+ hours, an airline adapter and a two-year warranty, all published. Its con: $69.99 published, and one more device to charge.
• AirFly SE — one traveler, standard jack. 20+ hours published. Its con: one pair only, and no price, weight or warranty read from a Twelve South page.
• The earbuds it connects to — Soundcore Liberty 4 NC publishes 40 hours with the case in ANC mode, at $99.99. Its con: no wired mode, which is why the transmitter exists.