Is the Twelve South AirFly Bluetooth Transmitter Worth It?
Worth it, if you actually use aux-only gear
You're settled into your seat, the seatback screen is glowing, and you go to plug in your AirPods only to remember they don't have a cord. Somewhere in the seat pocket there might be a pair of wired earbuds the airline handed out, thin and tinny, or there might be nothing at all. That little 3.5mm jack was never built to talk to the headphones you actually own.
The AirFly's whole job is bridging that gap: one end is a standard 3.5mm plug, the other end is a Bluetooth 5.2 radio, and the two are wired together inside a case barely bigger than a car key. Plug it into any aux jack, hold the button, and it drops into pairing mode so your AirPods or any Bluetooth headphones can find it. From there it just relays whatever audio comes through the jack, wirelessly, to your ears. The transmitter supports aptX and SBC, which matters because those codecs keep the lag low enough that lips on a screen still match the words you hear, not something you'd get from a bargain adapter running an older Bluetooth chip. The battery is rated past 20 hours, and because it charges over USB-C while still transmitting, a dead plane charger isn't a dead AirFly. None of this changes what the source device does. It just quietly gives every dumb aux jack, plane, treadmill, hotel TV, an entry point into whatever headphones are already in your bag.
You're not buying an audio adapter, you're buying compatibility, the ability to use headphones you already own and like on hardware that was never built to expect them. The jack was always going to be there. The AirFly just decides whether it's useless to you or not.
Worth it if
- You fly regularly and want your own AirPods on seatback entertainment
- You use gym equipment or a treadmill with only a 3.5mm jack
- You want low-lag audio on old TVs or in-car aux systems without buying new hardware
Skip it if
- Your headphones already have a cord for these situations
- You rarely encounter aux-only audio gear
- You want a permanent fix rather than something to carry and remember
Not for people whose headphones already have a cable, or who rarely encounter jack-only gear in the first place.
If you fly a few times a year or use gym equipment with a built-in aux jack, this is a quiet yes, it earns its spot in a bag pocket and mostly gets forgotten between trips. If your headphones already have a cord, or you rarely touch aux-only gear, you don't need this.
Amazon shoppers rate it 4.3 out of 5 across 7,004 ratings. That is their number, not ours.
Before you go
Is AirFly worth it on planes?
Yes, for the specific case of wanting your own Bluetooth headphones on a seatback screen or in-flight system that only offers a 3.5mm jack, since that's the exact gap it's built to close.
What is the difference between AirFly Pro and SE?
The SE is the pared-down model in the lineup, built to do one job, transmit audio to Bluetooth headphones, without the extra dual-connection or receive-mode features found in pricier AirFly versions.
Is Twelve South a good brand?
Yes. Twelve South specializes in travel and desk accessories for Apple devices, and AirFly is one of its longest-running, most consistently updated product lines.
By the numbers
earn an unconditional yes at full priceOut of 149 electronics products we have reviewed. This one is a yes with a condition attached.
other reviews field the same questionWhat is the difference between AirFly Pro and SE?
comes up across our electronics coverage, not just here — one of the things worth settling before you choose.
Verdict datasetQuestion indexCC BY 4.0
Full spec sheet
| Additional Features | Quick Pairing Mode |
|---|---|
| Enclosure Material | Plastic |
| Color | White |
| Supported Media Type | MP3 |
| Installation Type | Plug In |
| Power Source | Battery Powered |
| Voltage | 5 volts_of_direct_current |
| Number of Batteries | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. |
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