Southwest Airlines Community

First off @Brian, thank you, thank you, thank you on the VOIP issue. I hope you also ban torrent sites, not only because of the bandwidth, but the potential legal liabilities. @Larry "No charge for luggage, great fares . . . I truly doubt everyone will want to make use of a WiFi connection, so why should those who don't need it or want it be expected to help pay for those of us who will choose to use it?" Larry, I personally don't make use of luggage, yet it's a standard airline amenity. Also so are non-alcoholic drinks, safety equipment, and bathroom supplies. Not everyone uses them, yet, they are all built into the cost of a ticket. Truthfully we are paying for everything on an airline; Southwest has just decided not turn what we all take for granted sometimes into a separate revenue-generating stream. They can do that, keep prices reasonable and still turn a profit more often than not. A trick those nickel-and-dime you to death airlines haven't done yet. Truthfully, I'm for either method, but I lean towards having it built into my ticket price, not just for budgeting reasons (I like that fixed fee that I've had to pay in ONE transaction) , but for not having to whip out my credit card and typing it in while in flight (possibly allowing my neighbor to see my numbers -- though privacy screens will become more commonplace soon.), having the flight attendants busy taking wi-fi orders separately from drinks, not having to turn it in as a separate expense and justifying it just to keep in touch with the office, and yes -- to make sure that Southwest can recoup the costs of building the infrastructure, thus making it more likely they'll KEEP Wi-Fi. I do sympathize though with those who don't want to pay it because they don't use it, but I see building it into the ticket price as something that makes sense. ... View more

First, hooray for the availability of wi-fi on the plane. I only ask a few things as a customer: 1) I know in advance whether or not my flight is going to have wi-fi. 2) That the Wi-Fi price is tied to the length of the flight. I would expect Wi-Fi on a flight from Phoenix to Vegas to cost less than Wi-Fi on a flight from Phoenix to Baltimore. I think building it into the ticket price is best. Paying $1.50-$3.00 each flight for WI-Fi I may or may not use wouldn't bother me.-- sometimes you are going to subsidize, sometimes you are going to be the one subsidized.) 3) Decent bandwidth speed... too high, it's going to encourage people to use bittorrents and the like. Too low... well I have no patience. 4) If you are going to limit where someone is going to surf, just spell it out and put it in the FAQ beforehand. 5) Please, please, please, please ban VOIP... otherwise you are going to have 25 people chatting on the plane at once (sorta like having Cell Phones in mid-air.) 6) Consistent quality of service (i.e. we don't pass through a dead spot and not have Wi-fi drop outs. ... View more