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Questions/Discussion About WiFi Availability on United Flights [Merged]
Is there any information available from United on which routes will be equipped with WiFi, and when? As a 1K who flies from DC to LA 2 to 3 times per month, and I now at a point where I will be walking from United (I have +1M miles) if they do not offer this very basic service. I can no longer chose United and be off-line for 6 hours when a competitor can allow me to be online (at a lower price). I will have to ride coach, but United’s cross continental planes are so old and tired, you are basically riding in coach in their business class anyway.
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Please see: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...rovements.html
Originally Posted by UA Insider
(Post 16964917)
Hi Everyone, in the coming months we’ll be sharing many details about the new United – several you really care about. There are still a lot of blanks to fill in, and we appreciate you bearing with us while we lay this all out. Today, I’ll outline for you a number of investments we’re making to our onboard product (we’ll be issuing a press release as well). These particular investments total up to $500 million, and I can assure you, this is just the beginning. Here are some of the highlights:
... [*]Streaming in-flight entertainment and Wi-Fi are in the works. We’re currently selecting a vendor to provide streaming video in-flight entertainment option on our 747-400 aircraft, enabling customers to access video options via their Wi-Fi-enabled handheld devices, tablets and laptop computers. This would be in addition to the audio-video on-demand currently offered in First and Business Class. We’re also continuing with our plan to install Wi-Fi on our aircraft. Last March, Continental Airlines signed a letter of intent with LiveTV to install advanced broadband Wi-Fi using Ka-band satellite technology on more than 200 737 and 757 aircraft equipped with DIRECTV. Stay tuned on this front, there’s more to come. ... There’s more on the way, and this is just the beginning. As always, we’ll fill you in once we have the details. Scott O’Leary Managing Director, Customer Solutions United Airlines |
Close the door behind you then. :D
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Originally Posted by mcguimp
(Post 18119869)
Is there any information available from United on which routes will be equipped with WiFi, and when? As a 1K who flies from DC to LA 2 to 3 times per month, and I now at a point where I will be walking from United (I have +1M miles) if they do not offer this very basic service. I can no longer chose United and be off-line for 6 hours when a competitor can allow me to be online (at a lower price). I will have to ride coach, but United’s cross continental planes are so old and tired, you are basically riding in coach in their business class anyway.
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This is incredibly frustrating and has me considering the same switch. The thing is: I realize it takes time to outfit a fleet with Wifi, so I have been patient for the last few years. In those few years united has provided zero insight in to their plans however other than to say "we picked a vendor! no wait until we decide to do something". No timelines, no trials, nada. It clearly is not a priority for them in any way.
With E+ and Wifi United could easily become the best "office in the sky" as you would actually have enough room to get some work done. My colleagues who fly Delta have been enjoying Wifi for years now.
Originally Posted by mcguimp
(Post 18119869)
Is there any information available from United on which routes will be equipped with WiFi, and when? As a 1K who flies from DC to LA 2 to 3 times per month, and I now at a point where I will be walking from United (I have +1M miles) if they do not offer this very basic service. I can no longer chose United and be off-line for 6 hours when a competitor can allow me to be online (at a lower price). I will have to ride coach, but United’s cross continental planes are so old and tired, you are basically riding in coach in their business class anyway.
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Gosh, how did we ever cope without wifi on a plane ? :D
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I'm a 1K thinking of leaving UA b/c of WiFi, too
I'm on a domestic flight pretty much every week. Really can't wait any longer for WiFi; need it for work; the promises seem to be getting vaguer, if anything.
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Maybe United's target market doesn't include pax who want Wifi? :eek:
I'm only being a little sarcastic. I just flew on a DL RJ and it had wifi so how hard can it be to get this installed? Also, who pays for the installation and maintenance of the system - the airline or the wifi provider? Does the airline see any of the revenue that comes in from the charge for wifi? |
This has already been committed.. .Panasonic is the vendor.
From the time of planning start to install it can take a new carrier 6 months to get started - once they start they can do aircraft pretty quick. See: http://www.electronista.com/articles...nic.for.wi.fi/ http://airinsight.com/2011/11/04/its...tal-gets-wifi/ http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/ru...ns-massiv.html |
Originally Posted by NickP 1K
(Post 18251366)
This has already been committed.. .Panasonic is the vendor.
From the time of planning start to install it can take a new carrier 6 months to get started - once they start they can do aircraft pretty quick. See: http://www.electronista.com/articles...nic.for.wi.fi/ http://airinsight.com/2011/11/04/its...tal-gets-wifi/ http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/ru...ns-massiv.html |
Originally Posted by 45rpm
(Post 18250828)
I'm on a domestic flight pretty much every week. Really can't wait any longer for WiFi; need it for work; the promises seem to be getting vaguer, if anything.
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I just flew to Newark from Seattle on Monday, on a new plane. Flight attendants said that flight would have Wi-Fi by the end of March, and were talking up the service a lot -- seemed like they had been told to tell people. (Two announcements over PA, and mentioning it several times as they walked around the cabin.)
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The Wall Street Journal has a story on wi-fi and planes today. Just 2% of United planes have wi-fi, better only than Jetblue.
United Airlines said its installation of satellite-based equipment will begin in the second half of this year, with all planes equipped by the end of 2015. Here's the story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories |
Originally Posted by flyingjmatthew
(Post 18252634)
I just flew to Newark from Seattle on Monday, on a new plane. Flight attendants said that flight would have Wi-Fi by the end of March, and were talking up the service a lot -- seemed like they had been told to tell people. (Two announcements over PA, and mentioning it several times as they walked around the cabin.)
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The PS flights are nice, worked pretty well with my iPad (couple of glitches).
To the OP, if you do a connection through JFK, you can fly the PS flight to LAX. Not ideal, granted, just a point. All LAX-JFK and all SFO-JFK flights are PS (barring any MX-related equipment substitution, that is). |
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