BNA-WNFan

I am very geeked up about getting to try this.

Is there a date set for the testing to end? I think it should be tested fleet-wide for at least six months before the fees start.

I'd love to try it this weekend, but I'm on F9 to SJD hopefully for the last time, or at least until we get the WN/Y4 codeshare.

dwebb

The big factor about the length of the testing is waiting for the FCC to approve Row 44.

SoonerRed

Too funny....

I think I'd do this for long-haul only, and that may be the target audience obviously.

For anyone that's used it so far, are there any restrictions as to applications? (Skype, etc....)

ftnoob

dwebb

So I finally listened to part of Red Belly Radio on this...and it says the Wi-Fi maxes out at 59 users.

Interesting. Guess it helps preserve speeds.

expert7700

Paging SWABrian

Loyal FTers want to know the schedule for N901/N902! For the first/second day it was posted 2 days in advance. Can it be posted in this thread and be kept up to date?

Someone might just be inclined to buy a ticket to do an internet run, or at least change routing or flight times to get the 'good' plane

SWABrian

I hear you expert 7700, and if I had access to that info, I would be happy to keep y'all updated. Unfortunately, I don't, and we had to call our very busy friends in Dispatch as a favor for the schedule the first couple of days. the other thing to keep in mind is that we can switch aircraft onto new routings pretty often, so just because the aircraft is assigned to a specific flight when the day begins, there is no guarantee it won't be changed during the day.

curbcrusher

The test has generated a huge amount of interest. It seems to me that WN is squandering an opportunity by not planning and publishing the routings for these aircraft. I understand the Dispatch issues, but I would take a trip just for the WiFi test if I could do so at a justifiable fare (WGA). I can't justify such a trip at Anytime fares (which would have been necessary during the first two days) or as a shot in the dark.

SWABrian

Well I will pass your request on. I am just guessing here but it may be that for test purposes they want to see how an average flight responds, rather than have it full of "testers"? I did find this out from our internal Q&A:


Will Customers know ahead of time if they are on a Wi-Fi-enabled flight?Customers scheduled to be on one of the Wi-fi aircraft will receive an e-mail 24-hours prior to their flight alerting them to the fact that they have the potential of being on a test aircraft.

curbcrusher

That's a start! Instead of shooting in the dark, I can just book each of the 200-ish flights a day ex-PHX until I get lucky and receive one of these "golden ticket" emails.

expert7700

well they ARE fully refundable tickets,right? I can only imaigne the humorous conversation if you called the 800# to book 200 flights a day and then kept moving the reservations a day forward if you don't get a golden ticket email. SWA would laugh a bit and deny the bookings under the 'prohibited bookings--speculative bookings' clause.

It's a shame that flightview doesn't show the aircraft registration #s.

I asked a gate agent in SEA this past weekend if they could find a certain aircraft # in their system to see the location/schedule, and they looked at me like I was a terrorist. If I came across the test aircraft when walking through the airport I would have gone up to the agent and said sell me a ticket for that plane, where am I going by the way.

nsx

I think the premium version of flightaware will allow you to track past and present flights of a particular tail number.

SWABrian

Okay, I guess I are smarter than I thunk. I heard back from Marketing and I was pretty close to the reason. This is what they tell me.

By telling Customers where the planes are, we wouldn't get a clear picture of how many carry on personal devices and log in as a result.

Firewind

Line of the day.

lougord99

It has been stated here ( I have no idea if the statement is correct ) that commercial aircraft do not register by tail number and so flightaware will not have that info. Flightaware allows tracking of non-commercial aircraft by tail number, so I am not clear why they would not allow it for commercial aircraft if they had that info.