Hello everyone! You probably saw the title of this blog post and thought, “haven't I heard that before?” True, the road to onboard wi-fi has been a long one, but this week we took a major step that gets us closer to rolling out the system fleetwide. We ended the equipment "testing" phase and signed an equipment purchase contract with our wi-fi provider, Row 44. That means we now begin the process of getting equipment ordered and aircraft scheduling in place to begin our full fleet installation.
We’ll begin installing the equipment in the second quarter of 2010. We expect to install equipment on around 15 aircraft per month initially, with the goal of increasing that number to 25 aircraft a month as we ramp up the process. With this schedule, we estimate that our full fleet of more than 540 planes will be outfitted with wi-fi service by early 2012.
So, on to the next pressing issue… what will it cost to connect?. We don’t have an answer to that quite yet. We’re still testing a variety of price points on the four aircraft that currently have wi-fi. We’ll have a decision on price in the second quarter of 2010—rest assured that, just like our fares, it will be a great value. You can count on it!
We’re excited about this new inflight amenity and we promise it will be well worth the wait! We’ll have more updates along the way, but, in the meantime, keep booking those Southwest flights! Your chances of traveling on a wi-fi plane will increase soon! (And don’t worry, we won’t tell your boss that you've been surfing the Internet.) ;)
Comments
Keep the fares low & the bags free and I will pay for WiFi.
One thing that would be nice is to know in advance of a flight if the plane will have wi-fi. Would be nice if that can be communicated as part of the flight information. Just a thought.
Keep the fares low & the bags free, and I would be happy to pay a few bucks for WiFi.
Soon, not just "Ding!" but also "Ping!" (Yeah, your marketing folks can use that for one free flight.) :-)
How about free?
I was disappointed to find out that Southwest would be charging for this service. I've been anxiously awaiting wifi connectivity and think that you should just build it into your fares. One price covers everything is what Southwest is harping on with the whole "bags fly free" campaign...why not build on that brand with free Wifi? Consumers don't like to be "nickel and dimed". Just my 2 cents.
How about using some "drink" tickets in exchange for Wi-Fi?
you guys are sooooo awesome!
thanks,
Chris
Get it done faster! :-)
I hope you are figuring that most of the passengers will want it, and plan capacity accordingly!
As for price point. Free would be a good one, but probably not in the cards! I hope you just have one price, one speed, etc. And not based on flight length or something like that.
No matter, I'm sure it will be great. Just as the rest of SWA is hands down the best there is. It's the only carrier I will fly in the US.
Awesome! Can't wait to be able to surf the web during flight! Bravo!
Kerry Soileau
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