Aussienarelle

I have given up complaining to United. When the WiFi had issues it means I cannot watch the inflight entertainment. Take a book with me. Wish United would stop saying there is inflight entertainment on flights. Not for me.

Resonant Programmer

cardinal98

Dropped packets checks out -- stats from two recent flights on SkyWest below -- I believe both were EMB-175. Stats are about a week apart.

--- <hostname> ping statistics ---
5236 packets transmitted, 4912 packets received, 6.2% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = -8182.327/260.858/9782.737/471.315 ms

--- <hostname> ping statistics ---
9120 packets transmitted, 8500 packets received, 6.8% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 69.172/312.631/21581.934/551.511 ms

For those concerned about the bandwidth used to prepare these stats, a ping echo request is 32 bytes. So, 9,120 * 32 bytes = 291,840 bytes, or 291 KB -- less than one average web page. Spread over the entire flight.

nmenaker

In three of these flights, SFO_EWR in the past four months, I have had ZERO flights where the wifi worked for internet and exactly ONE flight where the PDE was working.

nomad420

I have called and sent emails to them. Nothing but a form return letter saying sorry it happened and telling me were to apply for a refund. You won't get any kind of even a minimal cash voucher. I got the impression that it happens so often they just don't care anymore. But for me it is an issue on these long TCONs when you expected to get some work done on the flight. Needless to say I no longer rely on getting work done in flight with UA.

lincolnjkc

In some kind of weird parallel universe so far the WiFi on the two flights I've tried using it on today (IAD-DEN, B789; DEN-RNO A320) has worked quite well, while the WiFi in the UC (East?) was unusable to the point where I tethered my phone after a few futile tries.

Duke777

I complained about in-op wifi on two flights in one week and was called the day I submitted the complaint and got $100 voucher. Nice gesture, although frustrating to not have wifi and no announcement prior to departure even though the crew knew the wifi wasn't working.

raiachat

it is even more frustrating when the FA's say "the system is working' when you know it isnt and you have to tell them to reboot it. ugh.

HNLbasedFlyer

I have different experiences.

When I purchase wifi in First - if I have issues I always get a proactive email within a day or so indicating a refund if issues.

If in economy - and connection issues for entertainment - I always get the appreciation email for an ecert and apology

nomad420

Just did it, no ecert did get apology though :-)

wxguy

I've had good luck recently on sUA 757-200s equipped with Gogo. Six flights in a row with good service. And the past two 777W TPACs have been good too. #Hopeful

iluv2fly

What's more frustrating is when the purser tells you at wifi is not included in the price of the ticket - only seat and transportation. I then asked why do they send you an email the day before extolling the benefits of having wifi available on your upcoming flight. Kind of frustrating when it's a school day and you want to get work done for four hours. So he told me to call GS and ask them for compensation. I told him that GS counts on you to provide it. He was told no. A little more back and forth. He left.

He came back and said he contacted GS in SFO and they will be waiting for me at the door to discuss the issue. I told him that was a little overkill, but whatever. I also told him that I know that there will be nobody to meet me. He said that he knows the GS people at SFO and they assured him that someone would meet me. I said I know these people too and they most likely will not. More back and forth. He left. (I was hoping there would be since I was transferring to the SIN flight and would have loved to get the car to the Polaris lounge.)

Does anyone want to take a guess if anyone was waiting for me?

bocastephen

I'm assuming you're offering 1-8 odds on that one, but what the heck - I'll say "no" to anyone waiting to meet you, and for a bonus, "no" to any further apologies or follow up.

Any chance you could describe the purser? Sounds like my usual experience flying eastbound from Asia.

iluv2fly

Correct. Nobody.

Male in mid thirties. Actually very friendly. This was domestic and a s/CO crew.

Kacee

lol. I let go of that expectation quite a while ago. Now I tell people "I may have wifi . . . if you don't hear from me, it means I don't."

I have never received pro-active communication from UA relating to bad wifi.