Southwest Airlines $5 Bucks for WiFi onboard Flights

I travel a lot for a living and I can tell you the latest round of air travel has left me so upset at Delta, United, American, and Continental that I could just scree,. In the span of 2 weeks, all of the above mentioned carriers managed to loose my luggage. This is of course after I had to pay $25 for the first bag, and $35 dollars for he second bag. That is a total of $60 dollars for checked luggage. Because I live in the South, I do have another option, and I am glad to see that they just announced that they will be adding WiFi on board 32 of their equipped aircraft for just $5 dollars per flight. Southwest Airlines, really the only Airline that seems to have their act together, will now have $5 dollar WiFi available. Even if you don’t want to pony up $5 bucks for internet access, Southwest will still have some free content: “Free content includes a flight tracker, games, shopping on Skymall and Home Shopping Network, and access to www.southwest.com.”

Here’s more form Southwest:

DALLAS, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Today, at Southwest Airlines ‘ Media Day 2010, pricing for Southwest Airlines WiFi HOTSPOT was announced. Southwest will offer WiFi onboard its fleet at a special introductory flat rate of $5 per flight for any device or flight length. Southwest is able to offer this price point and tailor the Customer Experience with the satellite-based technology provided by Row 44. To view a video of how WiFi is installed on the Southwest fleet, visit www.swamedia.com. Southwest partnered with Row 44 and began testing WiFi on four aircraft in 2009. Today, Southwest has 32 WiFi-enabled planes.

"Southwest tested a number of different pricing points throughout this process and is pleased that we will offer one low fee for this service, making it easy for Customers to know what to expect," said Dave Ridley, Southwest’s Vice President Marketing and Revenue Management. "We are excited to have WiFi on our flights. This technology will make our Customers’ experience even better."

Customers on a WiFi-enabled aircraft will be greeted with the newly designed WiFi HOTSPOT placard onboard the aircraft. When opening the Southwest Airlines WiFi HOTSPOT browser, Customers will be taken to a home page that houses content free of charge. Free content includes a flight tracker, games, shopping on Skymall and Home Shopping Network, and access to www.southwest.com. To read a blog post about WiFi, visit:  www.blogsouthwest.com

Customers will receive an e-mail prior to their flight informing them they will be on a WiFi-enabled aircraft.  Southwest plans to have 60 WiFi-enabled aircraft by year end and the entire fleet of 737-700s (346 aircraft) enabled by the end of 2012.  To learn more about Southwest Airlines WiFi HOTSPOT, visit www.southwest.com/wifi. 

After nearly 40 years of service, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) continues to differentiate itself from other low fare carriers—offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service.  Southwest Airlines is the nation’s largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, now serving 69 cities in 35 states. Beginning March 13, 2011, Southwest will initiate service in Charleston and Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina. Southwest also is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet.  To read more about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One Report™.  Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,200 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.