In flight internet experience

[neckels]

Yesterday I had a flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Las Vegas where I got a connection to Burbank.  The flight from Ft. Lauderdale stopped briefly in Houston before continuing on to Las Vegas.  I purchased internet for $8 after taking off from Ft. Lauderdale on that leg of the trip since I had heard you could no longer purchase for the entire day, thinking that the flight would be my longest of the day, so that would be the best part to buy the internet.  The flight, even though it had a stop in Houston, was the same plane, and the same numbered flight to Las Vegas…in my case, all the same flight.  Much to my surprise, my internet was turned off in Houston and I no longer had access for the rest of the flight….which was the longest leg of the day.  Does this mean that if I purchase a ticket for a flight that has two stops where I do not change planes or flight numbers, I will need to purchase $8 internet three times before I get to my destination? Oh, and then if I make a connection to another flight, I would need to purchase internet a forth time???  This seems a bit ridiculous and definitely not customer friendly.

Seems to me that with all the bad publicity Southwest has gotten lately, fixing this problem might be a good move.

Nancy Eckels

[TheMiddleSeat]

Yes, the new pricing structure is $8 per segment.  You should write Southwest directly and share your feedback.  Use the contact us link at the bottom of the page and send a message.

--TheMiddleSeat

[floridaguy]

This was a STUPID (they probably spell it "stoopid") decision by Southwest.  If you buy Internet, it used to be for the entire day, not it is per flight.  

If it is per flight, the price should have dropped accordingly.  Of course, they kept the price the same and upcharged the consumer.

My suggestion is to dispute the charge as those "user agreements" are not as solid as you think, including when you look at what they want you to "agree" to.

The Holiday DISASTER will follow Southwest around for a long, long time and will basically wipe out any earnings for 2023, unless they fully reserve for the cost in 2022 which they will likely do.

[TheMiddleSeat]

@floridaguy nothing to dispute as the service worked and is now charged per flight.  The OP misunderstood that to mean per reservation which is different.  Misunderstanding is not grounds for dispute.  I agree the price hike is not the most customer friendly move, but that's what Southwest decided to do and thus why the OP is encouraged to provide feedback to Southwest.

--TheMiddleSeat

[dfwskier]

I would think this is something that Southwest needs to clarify. You should contact the airline (click on contact us below) and ask for your money back.

If the fee is $8 per flight, I would think that a direct routing - one plane with one flight number and two stops - would qualify as a single flight - and not 3 flights.

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

I would think this is something that Southwest needs to clarify. You should contact the airline (click on contact us below) and ask for your money back.

If the fee is $8 per flight, I would think that a direct routing - one plane with one flight number and two stops - would qualify as a single flight - and not 3 flights.

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If it sells as "direct" on the website I would propose those passengers get the internet throughout their direct flight.

[floridaguy]

I would dispute any charge like this when I do not believe the service has value.  

That is my point.

[neckels]

"is now charged per flight" as you point out.  To me a flight consists of going from one point to another under one flight number on the same plane for the entire trip.

I did not expect the $8 to cover my entire "reservation" which did consist of an additional connection later for which I DID have to change planes and the flight number also changed.   However, I did expect it to cover one flight with one flight number regardless of the fact that it had a short stop in Houston.  It was still one flight Ft. Lauderdale to Las Vegas and had one flight number that did not change when we left Huston.  I will, however make my point with Southwest as you suggest

[stevenrollinson · Accepted solution]

Hi Nancy! I’m sorry to hear you were caught off guard by the recent change in our Internet purchase functionality. I definitely see your point of view: you’re not leaving the aircraft and the flight number isn’t changing, so it’s a flight. Unfortunately, the systems don’t see it the same way.

Without getting technical, which is hard for me to avoid, we needed to move to “per leg” pricing when we added a new inflight connectivity service provider (Viasat) to our fleet. I can assure you the change and mechanics around it were not taken lightly, and we are actively exploring long term solutions that we think you’ll love—but we can’t talk about them just yet. Stay tuned for some positive updates coming to the Inflight Entertainment and Internet products over the next few quarters.

[neckels]

I await those changes with great anticipation!