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It Is Official--Wi-Fi Is On The Way!

dridley
Explorer C

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.)  😉

457 Comments
GATTI
Explorer C
nice
WillFlyIfThereI
Explorer C
Did this ever really happen? How many planes is this available on now?
snelson
Adventurer C
Dear WillFly, The WiFi project is going forward, and as of today, seven aircraft have been equipped. Hope that helps!
Anonymous20
Explorer C
I love flying Southwest. If it is only a dollar or two increase for everyone maybe that would be okay. I also wonder if the drink tickets would be a good option since I don't drink maybe I could use them for something.
Anonymous4330
Explorer C
Is there any way to determine which flights include those 7 planes?
Anonymous3356
Explorer C
A Listers should receive for free.
GCM
Explorer C
Wifi will be great... but what about no power ports? Using wifi takes up a lot of a laptop's power and w/o any way to charge inflight, I'll be reluctant to pay for the wifi access...