Comments on: US Airways Joins the WiFi Party

By: How FlyHub Can Change Your Life » Blog Archive » Travel Reads for the Week, August 6th

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:04:24 +0000

[...] -The race to add WIFI to flights is still on, but it’s close to being over, as US Airways has just hopped on the bandwagon. [...]

By: CF

CF — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:40:47 +0000

Artie – American is actually one of the best when it comes to power outlets. All the new 737s that are coming in have regular 110V outlets in every row. I think they’re testing that on 757s as well. So they are definitely ahead of the curve on this one. Continental does a decent job as well, but everyone else pretty much sucks, except for Virgin America, of course.

Steve – I had heard that originally as well, but I haven’t seen many problems like that in recent times. It may just be an issue during the winter months when headwinds are strongest, but then that impacts most Airbus narrowbodies.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:33:58 +0000

Interesting that they’re using the A321 for transcons. I read somewhere that US has had to make numerous fuel stops in this bird; something to do with winds, the weight of the aircraft, etc. If anyone has any additional info on this, that’d be great.

By: Artie

Artie — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:04:06 +0000

I have a Macbook. The battery (when it was brand new) used to last about 3-5 hours, depending on what I was doing. Watching a DVD meant I could get a good 3-4 hours max. Now that my computer is older, I can get a good solid hour, possibly hour and a half before battery is dead. I have no back-ups because, quite frankly, I’d rather not pay for/carry/have extra weight in my travel bag.

Solution – plugs! And I don’t mean the stupid, adapter necessary kind. I mean regular plus, like some airlines like Virgin have figured out!

Hey AA – listen up: I don’t fly US Airways for a multitude of reasons. But I do fly you often. There have been several flights where I would have shelled out the money for the GoGo service if you had normal plugs so that I knew my money would buy me more hours of internet than my computer battery can support. You sell earphones, perhaps consider renting adapters for your silly adapter plugs for a discount when we buy internet.

And hey Cranky – loved your post on the NY Times about crappy flying. Although I must admit I also loved the lady under you who essentially opined that we all need to shut up and realize that flying is not all that bad (which I agree with). But anyway, congrats on being published in the NY Times!

By: CF

CF — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:47:35 +0000

Dan – Fair point – I definitely didn’t write that as I had intended. I think by “onboard enhancement” I was trying to refer to “inflight entertainment” but clearly I blew that. My point was supposed to be that I didn’t consider the reinstatement of free water and soda to be inflight entertainment, but what was in my head definitely didn’t translate on to paper in this case. So I apologize – I’m fixing the post now, and you’re definitely right to demand consistency!

By: ttjoseph

ttjoseph — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:45:24 +0000

IMHO, perhaps US Airways is preparing for the day when WiFi availability will be considered necessary and standard industry-wide. People will expect (to be able to pay for) it, and any airline that doesn’t have it will be at a competitive disadvantage. Sort of like checked baggage today. If they can do it with minimal capital outlay, great.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:10:02 +0000

Crank,

I’m going to bust your chops a little and ask for some consistency. Yesterday, you said Delta brining back some frequent flyer benefits that it had eliminated is a positive thing. Today, you say that US Airways bringing back something that they had eliminated (sodas) is not something you consider to be good. Why the difference? What gives? Either an airline bringing back a “benefit” that it used to have is a positive or its not ;)

By: Nomadic Matt

Nomadic Matt — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:59:52 +0000

I’m actually using GOGO on an American flight right now. The connection is great!

By: Nicholas Barnard

Nicholas Barnard — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:24:55 +0000

David SF – The other reason airlines aren’t removing IFEs from parts of their fleet is fleet commonality. That 737-700 that did a short hop today, might be doing a long haul tomorrow. By not having differences in the fleet it makes the whole thing more flexible. But alas, there are tradeoffs with the fuel burn.

USAirways is being really smart here by only putting it on a fleet of airplanes that will be flying longhaul.

Of course the really short flights are flown by regional affiliates, so you’re lucky if you get a magazine for IFE.

Oh, when are they bringing back the animated flip books for movies? (Re: I Love Lucy)

By: CF

CF — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:46:11 +0000

David SF – That was the idea behind US Airways removing WiFi – that and the fact that the royalties for showing movies can be pretty costly. WiFi on short flights isn’t that great. You can’t use your device below 10,000 feet, so you really need a flight around 2 hours to have enough time to make it worthwhile.