The big question: Will the discounter offer its Wi-Fi service for peanuts?
said Friday that it plans to begin outfitting its aircraft to handle
Row 44’s satellite-based broadband service by the second quarter of
2010.
equipment on about 15 aircraft per month initially and gradually
increase that rate to 25 planes per month. It estimates that Wi-Fi will
be available on the more than 540 planes in its fleet by early 2012.
In little more than two years, Internet service has become widely available on flights within the U.S.
Passengers have been slow to warm to the service, however.
estimates that about 15 percent of passengers surf the Web on a
Wi-Fi-enabled flight, although 80 percent of these users purchase Wi-Fi
on subsequent flights
Some theorize that pricing practices are slowing
adoption rates. Customers who are used to free Wi-Fi at neighborhood
coffee shops may balk at paying
“There’s no question airlines remain frustrated with some of the pricing of some of the vendors,” said
Getting the price right is especially important for
primarily operates short- to medium-length flights, survey data shows
that passenger interest in Web service is greatest on longer trips,
Harteveldt said.
much about what services it will offer through Row 44 or how they will
be priced. The carrier said in a post on its “Nuts About Southwest”
blog Friday that it is still testing a variety of price points for
Internet connections on its flights.
“We’ll have a decision on price in the second
quarter of 2010 — rest assured that, just like our fares, it will be a
great value. You can count on it!” wrote
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