Alaska Airlines announced that passengers will now pay an $8 flat rate for satellite internet service on sat-fi equipped aircraft, just in time for my wife and I to return from Fort Lauderdale over the weekend. If you have an Alaska Airlines Visa, your 20% in-flight discount will apply to the purchase price, meaning gate-to-gate wi-fi on any Alaska flight will cost just $6.40
Alaska Airlines has been retrofitting its aircraft away from the old ground-based GoGo to new high-speed internet that is offered in partnership with Intelsat. According to the press-release, it loads 50% faster than the ground-based system and connection speeds are 20 times faster than the previous GoGo system. I used it all the way back from Fort Lauderdale and found it to be much faster. It is one of the best I have experienced.
Is it possible to stream with the new, faster service? Yes. Is it pleasant? No. I tried to stream both of them. You can connect from boarding, instead of having to wait until you get above a certain elevation, like the old ground service or the initial satellite service.
Better service is provided at a lower price. This is a great change for Alaska and I hope it becomes standard across other carriers. It's frustrating to pay 15 to 30 dollars per flight for mediocre internet. I have had a monthly plan for years and I do a lot of work on planes. With a break-even rate of 8ish flights/month, I may have to rethink now that the $6.40 flat-rate is taking effect.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
