Southwest and Wi-Fi

[Fangorn]

I saw some press reports this morning (although this happened a few days ago) mentioning that Southwest has announced it will be installing Wi-Fi on all its planes beginning next quarter. It'll will take until 2012 to complete the installation on all aircraft. At this time SWA has not made a final decision on the price for this service, but they have indicated they will charge the users of the service rather than up ticket prices for everyone. The service is a satelite-based service rather than the typical G3 ground-based system found on most airlines.

Not sure I really want to spend time on the internet when I'm going on vacation to WDW, but it could be handy at times while traveling on business. :mickey:

Steve

[Ed]

I'm not sure I like that idea. :shrug:

I love SWA, and fly them frequently. But the seats on their 737's are tight to start with, and I'd hate to be stuck next to somebody manipulating a large laptop for 2 or 3 hours. I can just imagine getting elbows in the ribs, etc. And I really hope that they will have the foresight to REQUIRE the use of headsets/earbuds when the user is on sites that have any audio. Otherwise, I can imagine there could be a lot of :badpc: happening.

:twocents:

[Ian]

And I really hope that they will have the foresight to REQUIRE the use of headsets/earbuds when the user is on sites that have any audio.Actually they already do. On our flights to/from MCO last week they made a point of announcing, "Southwest now requires all passengers to use headsets when listening to music, watching movies, or playing games with audio."

Another reason to luv Southwest! :thumbsup:

[Fangorn]

Along the same line, SW has already said they will be blocking VOIP usage so we won't have to deal with people making phone calls from 30000 feet.

Steve

[TheRustyScupper]

nd I'd hate to be stuck next to somebody manipulating a large laptop for 2 or 3 hours.

1) I encounter this all the time.
2) Whether on internet or just computing.
3) The best way to get them to stop is eavesdrop.
4) Consciously lean over to view the screen.
5) When you get the first dirty look, keep viewing.
6) They usually get so paranoid they stop.
7) If not, take out a piece of paper and pretend to write on it.
8) They think you are spying and stop quickly.

NOTE: I am not against people computing, just not next to me. Especially at night when they turn on a light to compute.

[ThanxForNoticin]

I'm not sure I've seen a laptop that's so big, it would be considered instrusive on my 'space' on a Southwest flight. Sometimes, a laptop takes up less room on the plane than a book, magazine, or newspaper.

To me, the wifi is just one more option for folks to quietly entertain themselves during a flight, or get some work done (not everyone flying can be heading out for a vacation destination). Several other airlines already have this feature available (most notably Airtran). This is just something business folks and the younger generation have been asking for.