dcpatti

I'd love to see expanded wi-Fi and power at the seats but I'm not holding my breath. .US doesn't see them as a source of revenue. US doesn't like spending money without a way to get it back in revenue, and as much as people complain about US' lack of IFE (traditional or wi-fi), I think the people who actually choose a domestic flight based on amenities are in the minority. The elites are brand loyal (because that's how you reach elite status) and the general public shops by price and convenience. If th on-demand streaming IFE that AA is rolling out proves to produce a good stream of revenue, I'd think US more likely to follow suit but I think that service will follow the pattern of gogo on all carriers: usage is high when it's free during promos but low when the customer has to pay for it..

I do think gogo would have higher usage if they lowered their price point but no idea why they don't do that. Surely 100 passengers connected on smartphones at $2.95 would be more profitable than 50 at 4.95. At some point you do need to scale up capacity but given that streaming audio/video sucks on gogo, and most people play games, read email and fart around on Facebook inflight, the scale-up might not be imminent.

Also not sure why there's no 100% ad-supported wi-Fi service yet. The occasional "free gogo sponsored by Company X" deals are really popular. People will use it if it's free. Probably a lot of ad revenue could be had, if promoted properly. Give customers a choice to pay for an ad-free session and it sounds like a win-win.