Update on Wi-Fi

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Tue, 03/24/2009 - 07:29 — Whitney Eichinger

Southwest now has four aircraft up and running with Wi-Fi service—and so far, the testing is going really well. Southwest has operated the service on more than 500 flights and more than 9,000 Customers have logged on. Folks are utilizing Wi-Fi for anything from e-mail to surfing the net to Facebook and the feedback so far has been great. Comments we are hearing from Customers are that the service is fast and they’re pleased with the quality of streaming media.

Our service provider, Row 44, is entering the final stages of securing permanent FCC licensing which is obviously important for Southwest Airlines! We're excited about the possibility of offering Wi-Fi for our Customers and will continue to survey those using the service through the spring. Let us know if you've used the service, and tell us what you think! (For you airline geeks out there who want to see if you might be flying these planes, here are the tail numbers of the Wi-Fi equipped planes: N901WN, N902WN, N906WN, and N907WN.)

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Comments

What an awesome luxury to be added on to your flights. You might have told us in the past, but I have one question for you... What's the cost for the WIFI?

Chase Fritchle — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 07:57

Is it possible to find out our tail number of a flight before the flight? I'll be flying SWA later this month and would love to know before I'm boarding the plane.

Thanks.

Scott Roewer aka Declutteryou.com — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 07:58

Please, please, please continue to roll this out. I've been flying WN more and more lately and while I like the product, wifi would be the icing on the cake.

Oh, wait, in-seat power for laptops would not be too bad, either....

Jeffrey Ward — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 08:35

Awesome! Southwest rocks...love the fact that I can set my watch by SWA and you get it done almost without fail...curious here but I assume there is no additional cost for the WiFi service...the answer being no fees on most things...thanks again!

steveharrison — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 08:59

SWEET!!!!

Julie — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 09:58

I think this is great but I hope yall dont go too far and let people use cell phones because that would destroy the peace on the flight and it would bother a lot of people. Good job on what you are doing now though.

Megan Morris — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 10:41

I'm already a huge SW fan...this is more icing on the cake! :-)

Roger in PA — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 10:48

Yea! You are the best airline --- EVER!

Anonymous — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 11:09

Would it be possible for @SouthwestAir to tweet each morning a list of flights that will be WiFi enabled? I've noticed that @AlaskaAir (which is also using row44) provides that info.

Sean Rouse — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 11:36

Chase,
It is in an experimental stage right now so there is no cost at this time.
Scott,
Unless you are an employee, not at this time.
Jeffery,
Too much weight and it would require a lot of retrofitting.
Steveharrison,
See the response to Chase.
Megan,
No need to worry about that. Skype is not allowed.
Roger and anonymous,
Thanks we try our best everyday :-)

Mdw aptech — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 12:12

Rad. Oh, and now I'll never get any work done while flying. For Scott, I'm assuming the dome in front of the tail will let ya know if the plane has wifi.

Russ — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 13:58

Hey Sean - love the idea and we were actually talking about it this morning. Standby, and we'll see if we can make that happen.

Paula Berg
Southwest Airlines

Paula Berg — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 15:05

PLEASE no cell phones... but Wi-Fi is fabulous - well done... just another reason to always fly SWA!

Susan Davies Sit — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 15:22

Makes sense (for security reason) that you can't use Skype. however, can people stream video content? it would be awesome to stream an on-demand movie from my NetFlix account. Also, will you be charging for this in the future once it's out of beta?

Casey — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 15:33

How much more can I love Southwest?!

Melissa — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 16:21

I recently flew to andb from Las Vegas.I have seen your handicaped service and appreciate it for those who need it.However when I see people running for the plane with their canes not even touching the ground I have to Question This.If the handicapped must get on 1st because they are slower and unable to move ,FINE.But it's funny when they have to get off the plane they have cat like moves and swift departures.How about holding those who board handicapped to depart last.To avoid phonies.Thank you

jmente98 — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 16:37

You guys ROCK !!!!.

Pam — Tue, 03/24/2009 - 19:06

I don't think you can require someone to remain on board. All you can do is ask, anything else would be holding them against their will.

anonymous — Wed, 03/25/2009 - 15:06

@Casey

I would assume that this would remain free after beta is done, as part of the No-Hidden Fee Zone Campaign that WN is advertising, but then again it's never safe to assume so one can only hope. =)

Ron — Thu, 03/26/2009 - 13:18

I recently flew on a Wi-Fi equipped flight and blogged about it on Newsvine during the flight.

http://wingod.newsvine.com/_news/2009/03/30/2617871-blogging-from-35000-...

Dennis Wingo — Mon, 05/04/2009 - 17:34

hi sw airlines,

i was on a flight yesterday from austin to phoenix with your wifi connection. i loved it. the only thing tricky was the log on didnt seem to work instantly and took a number of attempts for me and the passengers around me (maybe we all were trying to log in at once and it bottle necked the system?). anyhow, great service! keep it up! i couldnt find out where to leave feedback other than here so please forward this to the appropriate folks...

adam mcmullen — Wed, 05/06/2009 - 11:29

I had wifi access this morning from MHT to MCO and it was great. It did take about 10 minutes after reaching 10k feet before the access point showed up but then it was fine. The speed was awesome! SpeakEasy speed test through Dallas and Seattle was 7MB/200Kbs. For Chicago it was 8MB/200Kbs. I had to play with my work VPN settings but I was able to get that to go. I was also able to make a Skype call without any issues and the sound quality was excellent. As far as I am concerned the service is working fine and I'm more than willing to drop $10 to $20 for access on a flight. Time to roll it out systemwide! Air Tran will have it on all 136 of it's planes by summer. Delta has it on 139 of it's planes and will have it on 500 by the end of the year. Virgin has it on 28 of it's planes including all flights out of Boston. I hope you guys are feeling the heat!

Sean — Mon, 05/18/2009 - 17:25

dude... WN.. is... a BEAST!
i love southwest!
I'm flying you guys in two weeks.
and then again in winter from AUS-MDW.
I'm hoping by then that my AUS-MDW flight will have wifi! =]
Keep it up Southwest. We Love You.

Garrett — Thu, 07/02/2009 - 03:27

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