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Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

Jodyisfishing
Explorer B

This thread started in 2016 and I’ve been a companion pass business traveler for many years now. I can tell you the Wi-Fi is worse now than I can ever remember.  The absolute majority of all flights I take (numerous cities and countries) there is no Wi-Fi.  If you do have Wi-Fi it fails almost 100% of the time during flight.  This is my last year fighting the issue as I need to be connected to travel for business.  I have yet to see anything from SWA about we hear our customers and we are doing something about it.  It’s a disaster of a system.  

19 REPLIES 19

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Ok. Have you sent your feedback to Southwest? 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

dfwskier
Aviator A

SW is installing a faster and more reliable WiFI on all new planes. It knows there is a problem. I don't know if there are plans to retrofit on the existing fleet.

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

dfwskier
Aviator A

@Jodyisfishing wrote:

   This is my last year fighting the issue as I need to be connected to travel for business.   

I guess that means you plan to fly someone  else and give up your companion pass?

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

aMomTo6
Adventurer B

I'm copying my reply here from a similar question posted. You're not alone. I'm sorry that you won't get support from the experts here.  But we lowly peons need to keep chiming in together about this issue!

My original comment:

The wifi is just plain bad.  Really bad.  Terrible.  Worst ever in YEARS and that is saying something because it's been kind of BAD for a LONG time.  Also adding to the comedic irony here is that on May 11, SWA announced its concerted effort to "upgrade its equipment"...."providing a significant improvement to speed and bandwidth up to 10 times the current hardware on board". Just reading this quote from the May release just makes me laugh out loud. Wifi was always bad but seriously now is egregiously offensive.  I'd LUV for someone in the know to enlighten us to what is *actually* happening.  If it's anyone nay-saying the issue,  I'm calling your bluff here.  

I'm A List preferred,  LUV SWA, but seriously something is amiss here. 

As to your specific question... I'm not sure.  I travel several times a month.  Rarely in the past 6 months has there been a straight up good wifi situation.  It's been "glitchy", "reset", and yes I've just purchased it when the A list preferred free benefit didn't seem to work.  I think I'm at about 60% success (in getting ANY wifi- free or for purchase) in these 6 months  prior.  SWA how I LUV you... but you're not making it easy right now! 🤣

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

JasonCampbell
Explorer C

15+ year Alist with Companion, 200k avg miler on SWA every year. 

You'll notice many of these post UserNames are the same ones posting year after year and we are ALL saying the same thing year after year. Southwest WIFI is the worst in the industry and it gets worst every year and No they don't give a sh!t Yes they also selectivly block most work VPNs by targeting common VPN port usage (try moving from80 or 4433 to 443) or nesting your vpn through a commercial home user type VPN. If you are a frequent business traveler and you absolutley need to work while you fly.. find another airlines. IF the wifi even works you'll be lucky if you get AOL dial up speeds. 

I sat next to a pilot for swa one time who told me off the record that ever since the Wright Amendmant expired in October 2014 and gave SWA oppertunity to reach more occasional vacation traveling families in new markets, they don't give a crap about A-list Preffered frequent business travelers. For every one of us that gets fed up and leaves, they will quickly fill that void with traveling families that need a discount ticket t fly two or three times a year. 

Myself, I am tired of losing thousands of dollars in billable work because southwest is trying to be the Dollar Store of the airlines industry and won't spend money to fix simple things like Wifi networks. 

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

dfwskier
Aviator A

@JasonCampbell wrote:

 

I sat next to a pilot for swa one time who told me off the record that ever since the Wright Amendmant expired in October 2014 and gave SWA oppertunity to reach more occasional vacation traveling families in new markets, they don't give a crap about A-list Preffered frequent business travelers. 

 

 

??????????????

 

You mean the Wright Amendment that affected

one airport in one city???????

 

Really?????

 

I did not know that it's lifting had a system wide impact...

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

JasonCampbell
Explorer C

Ha! How are you a " Top Contributor" for SWA and you have no clue as to what the Wright Amendant is and what it did?

One of the major parts of Wright Amendmant giving SWA permission to base in Dallas was designed at the time to protect larger Dallas based American Airlines by preventing Southwest Airlines from flying into certain markets that were considered competing markets were American Airlines had a majority foothold. This wasn't just one city, it was hundreds across the US. Soon after October 2014 many of us frequent business travelers noticed an immediate impact in the number of available flights to common SWA hubs as Southwest cut many flight routes in order to re-route planes into new flight route markets they had never been allowed to fly into before.  This was about the time I also noticed Southwest customer service and attitude towards frequent business travelers went to crap.

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

floridaguy
Aviator C

Just because someone posts here a lot does not mean that they have any status over you.  You are welcome to share your views here, at the local grocery store or by contacting Southwest directly.

 

When I buy the wifi and it doesn't function properly, I contact Southwest and get an $8 credit.  I agree with you that even an old dial-up modem was more reliable than what Southwest is doing.

 

Now, if the wifi was free, you wouldn't be as agitated but to charge a fee and then it doesn't function properly is unacceptable.

Re: Wi-Fi worse than Ever many years and counting

JasonCampbell
Explorer C

The WiFi is free for me. As a 15+ year A-list Preferred I get free wife every year.  I get paid $300 an hour to be working. I'm on Southwest Airline flights anywhere from 8 to 20 hours a week for 48 to 50 weeks of the year. Even if I'm generous and say SWA wifi is reliable 50% of that time, I am losing min 200 hours of billable time a year, or $60,000 in income.