crimonist

This is really encouraging: https://twitter.com/RunwayGirl/statu...88546453721088

Download speeds of 14 mbps? Even a quarter of that would be an upgrade over most flights' wifi speeds.

Southwest's wireless and in-flight entertainment partner, Global Eagle, said back in October that they would be doubling bandwidth over the next few months: https://www.runwaygirlnetwork.com/20...-the-hardware/

steved5480

So assuming the times/route reported are all correct, flight #2169 operated on N7740A (a former AirTran -700).

PAX62

In today's business traveler environment, reliable Wifi is going to become more of a factor to retain marketshare.

I am a weekly WN traveler with A+ and CP status as well as a die hard WN fan, but just last week opted for a Jet Blue coast to coast flight over WN because I was flying during a time that I NEEDED to have reliable internet and email access for for a client project.

They lost my business on that flight 100% based on unreliable wifi.

joshua362

So are comfortable and workable seats / trays and power but WN doesn't seem to care or is in no hurry to do so...

sdsearch

WN has a whole problem with all of this because of their no-assigned-seats strategy.

No assigned seats translates to unknown airplane flying your route, which translate to only part of the fleet having something (upgraded WiFi, power at seats, etc) being useless information.

At airlines which do such upgrades by plane type, you could see whether you had a 737-700 or 737-800 on your flight from the seat map (as you chose your assigned seat), and then it would be useful to have such upgrades done in stages (because you pick the flights that had planes that had already been upgrades).

But as Southwest, when you pick your flights, you cannot know what kind of Southwest you'll get, so unless they've done an upgrade to all of their planes, doing it to some is useless.

So not having assigned seats has much more ramifications than only not knowing what seat you'll have on the plane. (But, btw, some other airlines only have in-seat power in only a certain part of the plane, nowhere near all of the plane, and Southwest again can't do very that very easily if there are no assigned seats.)

tusphotog

People say the same thing about the new UA seats, the new AA seats (haven't experienced them on the A319s yet), and the new DL seats. Clearly "comfortable and workable" seats aren't as big of a necessity as you claim they are.

PAX62

Seats and no power are fine for me. I have yet to have a flight plus connection that my laptop and phone can't outlast...but I am one that fully charges everything every night.

They have repeatedly said power ain't gonna happen due to the weight increase.

Having status that pretty much guarantees me that I can get an aisle seat when I book literally just days or even hours in advance is one reason I am a loyal WN flyer. Go to assigned seats and I will be flying Virgin and Jet Blue a heck of a lot more.

Internet improvement is the easiest upgrade that will bring them on par with many of the other carriers.

joshua362

I don't particularly care about working on a plane, I prefer to get drunk and entertain myself but do enjoy exit row space and a good internet connection...

alggag

Perhaps I'm not quite following you but the Southwest website tells you on the booking page what type of aircraft is scheduled to fly the route. That said I will concede that if you don't note it at the time of booking it can be hard to find without trying to book a dummy reservation to pull up that info again.

rsteinmetz70112

Yes but they can and do change equipment often.

expert7700

I fly 2-4 times a week and have never had a lesser plane swapped in for a 737-800.

If I happen to be flying from the East Coast, I fly on an early-AM flight which guarantees me fast wifi (as there are few Southwest flights fighting for bandwidh).

I do agree that I am seriously considering some Jetblue transcons when I need to have an active workday in flight.

kennycrudup

Has anyone else noticed the WiFi has been inop a lot more often since the last few months? I swear, the failure rate since April or so (~30 flights for me) has been about 25%- either no WiFi, or WiFi and no connectivity. I had yet another inop WiFi on a 738 MDW-SJC this morning (no signal, and yeah, it was a "hump" aircraft).

I posted this here instead of the other longer WIFi thread, as I wonder if the issues are related to the speed upgrades? I guess the upgrades are actually happening, as once I was able to pull 1.1MByte/sec when Google Play had started an upgrade.

dlaue

NoStressHere

You lost your entire business? Or a business deal? Or WN lost your business...

nsx

I have not noticed any change.