(Credit: Alvin Man/Getty Images)
The number of US airline passengers able to connect to in-flight Wi-Fi for free will soar on Oct. 24 when Southwest Airlines begins offering no-charge connectivity courtesy of T-Mobile to members of its Rapid Rewards frequent-flyer program.
The airline—the third largest in the US by total seats and revenue passenger miles—and the carrier say passengers will need a Rapid Rewards account, even if they have to sign up in-flight, but they won't need to subscribe to T-Mobile. "No strings, no surprises,” says Mike Katz, T-Mobile’s president of marketing, strategy, and products.
Tony Roach, Southwest's EVP and chief customer and brand officer, says "free Wi-Fi [is] just one of the many enhancements Customers will see in the months ahead."
(Southwest has long been in the habit of capitalizing nouns referring to its passengers and employees, a company quirk like its flight attendants’ jokes and its recently ended practices of offering open seating and free checked bags.)
Southwest’s news follows a spate of other airlines announcing free Wi-Fi. Some have chosen to make their existing service free: JetBlue did that in 2017, Delta Air Lines did so in 2023, and American Airlines will do it for most of its planes in January.
By 2027, JetBlue plans to roll out Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite internet on "a portion" of its fleet. Others are switching to SpaceX’s low-Earth-orbit Starlink satellite broadband, which offers service to airlines on condition that they not charge passengers: Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines have begun that transition, while Alaska Airlines will in January.
Southwest currently charges $8 a flight for Wi-Fi delivered via satellites in geostationary Earth orbit; it comps service for passengers with A-List Preferred elite status and those who have paid for Choice Extra fares, its most expensive tier of service.
T-Mobile has offered subscribers at least an hour of free connectivity on most of its plans—some cover full-flight access for free—on Alaska, American, Delta, and United, but Southwest passengers have not been able to cash in on that benefit.
Soon, a flight on that Dallas-based airline will no longer require anxiety over having to pay for Wi-Fi if work or personal obligations demand it. It may, however, continue to require stress over phone and, especially, laptop battery life: Southwest’s planes don’t offer power outlets and only a subset of them include USB ports. You can bring a power bank, but remember to keep it where a flight attendant can see it.