Single_Flyer

I thought the next generation of wifi was still gogo. Is it not?

Also, my guess is that if an airline can charge for it (wifi), they will.

finlandia

Yup. Remember, this survey explicitly asks what they can charge us for. If you choose wifi, then that's one vote for either raising fares to include it or offering to presell you a flight pass when you buy the ticket.

That said, I chose wifi in the surveys because status already takes care of the other stuff I might care about.
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Kacee

I received the survey but promptly deleted. Not interested in providing AS free market research.

VegasGambler

Fares don't really get raised to include it. In most markets fares are priced competitively, not based on costs, because that's what will get them the most revenue.

In non competitive routes they are also priced to maximize revenue, which is basically the max gouging that the customer is willing to endure.

Costs don't really play that much of a factor in either decision. This is why unbundling is so successful.

formeraa

On the flip side, you lose the opportunity to influence AS products and services...don't want to hear any complaints from you

_fx

Yes, but it's the new satellite-based WiFi (named 2ku) which is much faster than the old ground-based towers.

_fx

True, but it's hard to be sure your answers will lead to outcomes you like. User researchers can make inferences you might not have thought of. For example:

AS asks how much you'll pay for WiFi. You say $5, thinking "hey, I'm willing to pay a little..." A dozen questions later they ask whether you fly primarily for business versus pleasure. You answer honestly and say business.

Three months later, AS UX presents a slide to finance: "85% of business travelers said they'll pay for WiFi, while only 25% of leisure travelers did. Of those leisure travelers that would pay, the median was $7."

Finance then decides to charge $50 for WiFi, because it's more profitable to "deep" and gouge price-insensitive business travelers vs "wide" and capture as many leisure travelers as possible. It doesn't matter you answered $5 to "how much," because the question was really "will business travelers pay at all." They know once your corporate credit card is in-hand, you'll pay anything within reason.

Note: I didn't receive the survey, so I don't know if this specific example applies. My point is just UX is complicated.

PDXPremier

Unless it was an emergency, I would never pay for in-flight Wifi and I'm always a bit perplexed that so many people would put up with painfully slow, dial-up style wifi....every time I try accessing the AS website for free, I'm reminded of why I never purchase wifi....I guess so folks are more patient than me and don't mind watching the little spinning wheel forever.....

tusphotog

Works great for me. I'm not loading much outside our corporate VPN and email and maybe iMessage. The nice thing about the plane for me is uninterrupted time to get stuff done. I can land and actually disconnect from the world and binge Ozark when I get home or to my hotel.

VegasGambler

On planes with satellite wifi you can generally stream video with no issues. Netflix, hulu, youtube, etc. VX had this for at least a year before AS bought them (on some of their planes). I don't think that they were unique in this regard.

The latency is bad though so something like web browsing could be annoying. There is a clear tradeoff being made here -- you are getting lots of bandwidth at very high latency.

PDXPremier

That's good to hear...maybe it's just the "free" Alaska website that's the problem....I wonder if the speed improves for paid users.

SeaProf

I received the survey today. I have no status on AS (Elite on NZ) but did fly AS in the last few days. Therefore, I'm guessing it's not just sent to specific elites but could be part of a post-flight survey.

rustykettel

Xrayman

Paid monthly access $50/month. Works out to be about $5 a flight. Email works great. Surfing the net is a bit slow but looking up single topics works pretty well.

Able to connect to business related sites and work without issue. Well worth the price as I consider the first 2 hours of a flight a good opportunity to do work. I don’t need the WiFi to stream videos as I have movies downloaded in advance.