Alaska Airlines has recently updated its onboard Wi-Fi offering, dropping the cost from $21 to just $8 a flight.
Onboard Wi-Fi has become something of a golden egg in the aviation industry, where decisions about service can be made or broken by the ability to keep digitally tethered to the ground.
Unsurprisingly, the value proposition of inflight Wi-Fi has improved considerably in recent years as technology advances with each aircraft. Airlines seem to be increasingly offering lower prices and flat rates to woo passengers onboard.
Southwest Airlines was the first airline to dip its toe in the water, offering flat rate $8 Wi-Fi pricing for quite some time. Legacy carriers have been slower with carriers like United Airlines charging $8 for Wi-Fi for MileagePlus members, and $10 for non-Mileage Plus members. and younger carriers like JetBlue leaning fully into it and offering Wi-Fi for free with their relatively modern fleet.
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Alaska Airlines Wi-Fi Offer
Alaska Airlines’ $8 onboard Wi-Fi offer applies to all mainline aircraft with satellite-enabled connectivity. This is really attractive pricing, and those with an Alaska Visa Card can even save 20% on these purchases.
With the purchase of $8 flat rate satellite Wi-Fi for their entire flight, passengers can stream content on their personal devices from their favourite services such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other streaming platforms.
Alaska partnered with Intelsat for their Wi-Fi, the company is seen as a leader in the aviation connectivity space with British Airways and Cathay Pacific also equipping the systems onboard.
The airline says the new service launches 50% faster than before. And while many airlines’ Wi-Fi service kicks in after reaching 10,000 feet, Alaska says travellers can connect from the ground during boarding.
However, the fine print is important as the service covers all intercontinental flights. Although, flights to Mexico, Hawaii, and Costa Rica have been excluded from this service list.
Additionally, Wi-Fi is not available at all on shorter flights that use select 737-9 MAX aircraft or Q400 aircraft.
Free Messaging Onboard
Alongside paid internet service Alaska Airlines offers free texting service on all of their wifi-equipped flights.
Passengers do not have to sign up or pay to use the free online texting service while flying with Alaska Airlines. All they have to do is connect to the “Alaska_WiFi” network and choose the free texting option on the AlaskaWiFi.com website.
Once the connection is established, passengers can use iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger completely free during the whole flight time. But texting with emojis, photos, and videos is not supported.
Monthly Plans Stick Around
For those who need it, GoGo air offers a monthly internet package on Gogo-equipped flights on Alaska Airlines and Virgin America – but not Horizon for some reason.
It’s a bit restrictive considering it only works within the United States, Canada, and Mexico, where network coverage is available.
How To Connect
- Turn on your device’s Wi-Fi, and choose “Alaska_WiFi” or “gogoinflight” network.
- Open your web browser and visit AlaskaWiFi.com.
- Choose what you’d like to do: free texting, entertainment, or the internet.
