Last month, on an otherwise unremarkable flight from Chicago to Frankfurt on United Airlines, I experienced something amazing: An unedited movie in economy class.

Put the issue of movie quality aside for a moment. And ignore the fact that you’re lucky to even get your own (working) personal television screen on American carriers, not to mention the lack of on-demand video. (I know, some Northwest and US Airways A330 planes have more modern video-on-demand in-flight entertainment systems. But they’re the exception.) Most films are edited for content, removing most of the expletives, nudity, etc., that you’d see on the DVD.

Apparently, that’s changing. Several of the movies last month were denoted in the entertainment guide as unedited. (Of course, this only works if you have a personal video monitor with multiple choices, and not a single movie on overhead screens.) I opted for the Richard Linklater film “A Scanner Darkly,” (a film I didn’t know existed before the flight) and listened to Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, and Robert Downey, Jr. dropping f-bombs like nobody’s business.

Airlines outside the U.S., much like those nations’ broadcasters, have long been less prudish. (Watching the unedited version of “Me, Myself and Irene” on Air New Zealand comes to mind…)

I’m glad to see America’s airlines starting to treat passengers like adults, able to decide for themselves whether or not to watch a film with “adult situations.” And if parents are traveling with kids, and they don’t approve of coarse language or the sight of a woman’s breast, then they can easily monitor their child’s viewing. After all, they’re sitting right next to them.

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