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Southwest Airlines Community

Wifi

denno
Adventurer B

Why do airlines in general and Southwest in particular charge for wifi, especially when the product is not dependable?  Anywhere else in society, from auto dealerships to churches to convenience stores to doctors' offices, wifi is free.  Is this just a "gotcha" like $7 hot dogs at the ball park?  Delta appears to be moving in the right direction by discussing the possibility of free wifi.  Will Southwest follow suit?

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Wifi

dfwskier
Aviator A

Morning.

 

Most airlines charge for wi-fi. I think the only one that does not is Jet Blue.

 

Why do they do it? t's a source of revenue -- just like charging for alcohol, and on airlines that serve food (as opposed to snacks) food. It adds to revenue and profit and likely keeps ticket prices a bit lower.

Doctor's offices don't charge for wi-fi because people probably would not buy it. After all, you can access a cell signal and cell data in most doctor's offices, but not on a plane.

 

That beind said, Southwest doesn't hold customers hostage and make them buy wi-fi. It's totally voluntary. Contrast that with airlines that charge $200 or more to change a ticket - nothing voluntary about that at all.

Re: Wifi

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@dfwskier wrote:

Morning.

 

Most airlines charge for wi-fi. I think the only one that does not is Jet Blue.

 

Why do they do it? t's a source of revenue -- just like charging for alcohol, and on airlines that serve food (as opposed to snacks) food. It adds to revenue and profit and likely keeps ticket prices a bit lower.

Doctor's offices don't charge for wi-fi because people probably would not buy it. After all, you can access a cell signal and cell data in most doctor's offices, but not on a plane.

 

That beind said, Southwest doesn't hold customers hostage and make them buy wi-fi. It's totally voluntary. Contrast that with airlines that charge $200 or more to change a ticket - nothing voluntary about that at all.


Southwest does offer several free entertainment options as well which I think is favorable compared to other airlines.

 

I agree that the paid internet could be stronger though for getting work done.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Wifi

chgoflyer
Aviator A

The economics of in-flight wifi are complicated.

 

Southwest doesn't actually generate profit from it's wifi fees. Satellite bandwidth is very, very expensive. Those $8 fees basically help offset what Southwest pays their internet service providers (along with partnership agreements, where companies pay money to advertise on the in-flight system). It costs Southwest money to provide the internet connectivity (and in-flight entertainment), but they see it as a service they need to offer in order to be competitive. Because it's a cost center and not a profit one, upgrades are slow to roll out, and quality of service is fairly abysmal when compared to what other carriers offer. Row44/Global Eagle would love for Southwest to upgrade to their latest and greatest technology, but that costs money.

 

Most other carriers do make money off their wifi. Services like Gogo provide the connectivity, charge hefty fees for access and/or membership, and then cut some of that profit back to the carriers -- even at a risk to their profitability. Because they are the provider, it's in their best interests to offer good connection and upgrade frequently. So the connection is more reliable.

 

JetBlue writes their internet provider a big check so that they can offer free wifi as a differentiator. It's a marketing cost.

 

When/if Delta actually offers free wifi, it will be because they believe trading the income they receive now for a new cost is worth it from a marketing standpoint. As a business-focused carrier, wifi is important, and free wifi is a huge benefit. Another factor (for all carriers) is the costs in initially installing the systems into each plane. Sometimes the carrier pays for this fully (often amortized over time), sometimes it's partially paid for by the provider, sometimes it's a rental agreement. One possibility I've read with Delta is that they may have reached the point where the installation costs have now been fully paid off, which changes the economics and allows them to shift what were those costs over to cover the service they now offer their passengers for free, with no overall change to the bottom line.

 

As I said, it's complicated. 😉