Meta, in partnership with Lufthansa, has received recognition for its initiative of providing Quest 3 headsets to business class travelers, winning an airline industry accolade.
This innovative program launched in the summer of last year and has seen nearly 4,000 passengers from Lufthansa’s Allegris Business Class Suite experiencing it, with feedback reported as “overwhelmingly positive.”
The collaboration between Lufthansa, Meta, and developer MSM.Digital was honored with the 2025 Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) Award for the Best Inflight Entertainment.
“We are delighted with the success of this project and the favorable responses from our passengers,” stated a Lufthansa representative in a statement. “It’s clear that immersive technology is a crucial component of the future of in-flight entertainment.”
Given the positive feedback, Meta has announced plans to “extend this offering to additional airlines while enhancing our product lineup.”
Onboard flights, the Quest 3 headset is equipped with a streamlined launcher and is preloaded with various applications.
While specific app details remain undisclosed, previous mentions from the company highlight that the experience allows passengers to:
• Experience immersive cinema with a selection of movies and television shows
• Enjoy narratives from notable travel podcasters that come alive through spatial videos and select 360-degree content
• Explore travel destinations with virtual sightseeing previews before arriving
• Engage in interactive games such as Connect Four and Chess
• Participate in active meditation exercises or indulge in a relaxing, passive experience
This initiative is made feasible due to Travel Mode, a feature introduced by Meta last year that enables the positional tracking of Quest headsets during travel in moving vehicles, such as airplanes. Prior to the implementation of Travel Mode, attempting to use a Quest on an aircraft would cause virtual objects and interfaces to misbehave during altitude, speed, or directional changes, and turbulence would create chaotic disruptions. The Apple Vision Pro also features a Travel Mode since its launch.
Extended Reality (XR) headsets provide a perfect way to pass the time while in-flight, allowing users to escape their limited physical confines into spacious virtual environments to watch films, complete work, engage in gaming, or explore fascinating destinations. With the increasing attractiveness of these advantages leading to more headset purchases each year, providing these devices for passengers without one represents an intriguing potential, and we will keep you updated on any further news from Lufthansa and other airlines as this program progresses.