Southwest Airlines Offers Gate-To-Gate WiFi Access on their Planes
This afternoon I was at an APEX (airline passenger experience) conference and an executive from Southwest Airlines was speaking about their newly introduced (today) gate-to-gate WiFi. That means that as soon as you board the plane, you will have internet access for the entire duration of the flight. Here is an email I just received as well:
Internet access is $8 per day (not per flight) – which is great if you have more than 1 flight on Southwest per day. There are currently 13 live television channels and a few recorded television channels. The executive said that NFL RedZone was a premium channel (sounds like it will cost money to watch) and they are working on adding more channels to their portal.
Not mentioned in the online announcement, Southwest will also introduce a $2 internet plan which is for passengers who only want to “text” through iMessage (iOS) or other Android apps (WhatsApp). This could be a cool feature if you feel like texting the entire flight. It is all done over the internet so you will not incur any data or texting fees from your carrier.
I asked the executive about the Dish Network content and she said that content was not provided by Dish Network, they are only a sponsor (advertising only). I also suggested that Southwest modify their boarding system to allow people to board earlier so they can use the internet longer. I will see if that idea every comes out.
That’s it from Southwest. Good changes for passengers. If you have any comments, please leave a comment below.
Awesome post Grant, so glad I achieved the companion pass status on Southwest for 2014!!! YIPPPIE, text, email, web, shop, game, at 3 feet or 30K. when is swa going to start offering in flight food though?
No clue about the food. They don’t sell food on longer flights?
No, I don’t understand why. You think any flight over 3 hours would at least have a few options. I have never seen food on swa and when I ask they say there is none available. Maybe next year, we can hope
Better buy good before you board a SWA flight