Friday, October 29, 2010

Southwest Airlines Settles On WiFi Pricing

Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it has priced out its wireless Internet services on its fleet, and will initially charge $5 per flight for any device or flight length for WiFi service. Southwest's wireless Internet is being supplied by Westlake Village-based Row 44, which uses satellite connections to connect airplane passengers to the Internet. Southwest and Row 44 began testing WiFi on four of its aircraft in 2009, and has now installed the systems on 32 planes. The airline had been price-testing the wireless service at different price points across its fleet, and until recently had not settled on a consistent price plan for wireless access. Southwest Airlines is looking to install Wi-Fi in 60 of its aircraft by the end of the year, and says it will have its entire fleet Wi-Fi enabled by the end of 2012.

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