Southwest Airlines to test in-flight WiFi via satellite

It's taken a while, but it looks like Southwest Airlines is the latest (and no doubt far from the last) to jump on the in-flight WiFi bandwagon although, as with most, it's still quite a ways from rolling out the service across the board. Still, according to the airline, at least four of its planes will be outfitted with the desirable service by this summer as part of the initial testing, with each of those relying on satellite internet service provided by the folks at Row 44 (last seen hooking up Alaska Air with some in-flight WiFi of their own). No word if the service will be free or not, but the company promises it'll "set the standard for excellence in inflight connectivity," which would be somewhat hard to do if they're charging you through the nose for it.

[Thanks, Dominic]

[Jeff @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:31PM]

if they do this, they should just raise the price of tickets a few bucks across the board rather than charge those that want to use them.

think of it this way...if i'm asked to pay $10 to surf the web for my 2-3 hour flight from la to pheonix, i'd laugh at them and call them crazy. but if my ticket price goes from 110-120, that doesn't seem like such a big deal.

[AwlAmericanDawg @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:04PM]

Yeah, that's what i'm thinking too.If the price goes up, I would think heh a $130 flight to New York isn't bad with free wi-fi but, if they charge you then (depending on price) I'd probably say no thanks.

[Reader @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:43PM]

Communist... Trying to make everything a public good :D

I agree with you though, I would never buy WiFi for 10 bucks on a short plane ride, but if it was required I wouldn't mind.

[John @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:13PM]

2-3 hours from LA to Phx? try like an hour and a half.

[John @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:14PM]

Only 45 minutes to Vegas. Just enough time to make a hotel reservation on your way.

[jperry2010 @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:26PM]

[Borat voice] Very nice...how much? [/Borat voice]

Please...Please...Please...be free. As a college student, I don't have the money to pay out the ass to check my email in flight.

[Adam @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:34PM]

as a college student, you don't really have the NEED to check your email in-flight. don't you worry though... if there is any carrier that will do this right, it is Southwest.

[jperry2010 @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:44PM]

Eh...I need to check my email rather frequently. I am currently working as an intern for a Senator's re-election campaign as well as serving as executive director of a student political organization. Many times, I really cannot afford to go 3-4 hours without checking my email, specially when I am flying to
a campaign school.

@ Jeff

I do like the idea of just adding it into the ticket cost. Although I will still be paying it, that just seems better for whatever reason.

[Alex @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:37PM]

Lufthansa used to have wifi, worked great until half way through the flight when it cut out in the middle of an IM conversation..

[Bryan @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:45PM]

@jperry2010 - If your internship requires you to be connected to the internet to check email while you are flying, they should reimburse you for any expenses associated with that.

[John P @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:47PM]

This is a smart move for Southwest. They've been preaching their ability to increase productivity, so what better way than connecting people with the ground while in the air? Also, Southwest has never let me down in any of my expectations, so I'm expecting great things from them.

[tsw @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:55PM]

Satellite based will not be so good (better than nothing I suppose), hope it's free. Too much latency, might feel like dial up in some ways.

[insertAlias @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:32PM]

Even if it is dial-up speed, it beats the hell out of nothing.

[Chris @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:15PM]

So when are we going to be allowed to leave our wifi-enabled gear on during flights? A bit of DS multi-player would be fun (and free) if you're on a flight with a friend.

[Pavan @ Jan 30th 2008 3:24AM]

You're allowed to now...just don't tell anyone!

[kody Willnauer @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:28PM]

Wait for the Skype calls to be made in flight.... I'm sure the Verizon air phone people will be pissed, not to mention fellow passengers.

[sgt_easton @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:16PM]

I was thinking the same thing. I'm willing to bet that we're not the only ones thinking it either - Verizon will do whatever it takes to make sure they're not losing money. I don't know much about the technical part of Skype, but I think Verizon will try everything in it's power to make sure it's impossible.

[Jay @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:28PM]

Living in Chicago, specifically the southside....I fly Southwest A LOT

This better be free

[Roger Alford @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:10PM]

Southwest is one of the nations best airlines, in terms of passenger carriage (the most people carried), baggage lost and found (shortest time), ontime flights (99%) and MORE businesses use Southwest for their commuter and shorter day or two day flights then any other carrier. Because they offer MORE flights to desired and popular destinations on short-mid length flights, more people can select different times to fly, thus not all flights are packed. I dont know about you, but busting out a laptop on a full packed flight isnt easy, or gives you space to move your arms when typing. I think this is a fantastic move for Southwest.

[Greg Legowski @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:34PM]

This might ALMOST get me to sit through the hell that is Southwest (*)

(*) YMMV, every time I've flown Southwest I've had a bad experience; not so much with the airline, but with the all the once-a-year PASSENGERS.

[Reader @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:02PM]

Really? I've flown Southwest about 80 times now and it's a pretty good airline. Never really had much to complain about when in comparison with one like Alaskan.

[Eric @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:01PM]

Same here, I have nothing but good experiences with Southwest. In fact, I just came back from FL on Sunday. Flight left home on time, arrived on time. Flight left FL on time, arrived early. Both very quiet flights. In the past year I've flown exclusively on Southwest.

[jperry2010 @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:12PM]

Oh...and while we are talking about Southwest. Open seating is probably the worst idea ever conceived. Every experience I have had with it has went exactly like this. Families get on and all their kids run to their own window seat. Then older people get in and don't want to sit next to the kids, so they take the isle seat. Then I board and I get the pleasure to sit between the two. I would much rather just get assigned a seat. Okay, that was a bit of a rant, I apologize.

[jperry2010 @ Jan 23rd 2008 3:14PM]

And i just noticed that I put isle rather than aisle. Mi dispiace.

[Lemmiwinks @ Jan 23rd 2008 4:51PM]

They've moved "family/child boarding" to after the A's, but before the B's. (Pre-boarding now means those with mobility disabilities and/or business "plus" folks who pay a bit extra.) As long as you check in online as close as you can get to 24 hours before the flight, you should have no problem these days getting one of the 60 A spots.

I actaully like open seating, and it's gotten so much better now that they've got a numbered structure behind it instead of just an every-man-for-himself-all-the-A's-board-now-cluster-eff. Head to the back, last two to four rows. Nobody seems to like to go back there, and it only adds like five minutes to your deplaning time. I've taken over a dozen "full" SW flights over the past month. Never once had to sit directly next to anyone thanks to people's apparent fear of the back of the plane.

[ross @ Jan 24th 2008 3:53AM]

thats why you check in online early and get an A boarding pass.. that way you can choose your seat first.

[danny @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:57PM]

This will sell like hotcakes. You know how ridiculously bored I get on flights when my Zune dies? I would totally drop 5 bucks for an hour of glorious connection. Too bad it will probably be more than that.

[ross @ Jan 24th 2008 3:43AM]

When I travel by air .. southwest is always my first choice.. I'm hoping that they will get it done right.. i mean.. after all their logo has a heart in it.. how bad could it be?

[Pavan @ Jan 30th 2008 3:25AM]

Jw, when was the last time you saw a Verizon Airfone that was active? USeless Airways has their covered up with plastic and WN (Southwest) has never had them = non issue.

[Pavan @ Jan 30th 2008 3:28AM]

I'm not sure if anyone is reading this anymore since it's a few days old, but: If you're in college, you can get double rapid rewards points if you sign up as a college student, plus you get 4 bonus points for signing up. Since you only need 16 points, 3 r/t's = one free trip (I've had great luck redeeming tix for Hawaii).

[XxT3chnoIzRadxX @ Feb 11th 2009 11:27PM]

its free. its on southwests blog.

[IFlySWA @ Mar 9th 2009 8:25PM]

I flew one of the equipped planes today and the service worked great on both my XP laptop and my iPhone. If you are going to use the iPhone, you must open Safari and agree to their TOS. Once this is done, you can surf and check e-mail even in Airplane Mode.

It is free during the testing period, but I'm guessing it will be a fee-based service once it becomes widespread.