US Airways Rolling Out Inflight Wireless for Much of Their Domestic Fleet

by Gary Leff

US Airways has a plan to equip all their Airbus single-aisle planes and their Embraer jets larger than 50 seats with inflight wireless internet from GoGo by the end of 2013.

Currently they only offer inflight connectivity on their Airbus A321s, a limited subset of the fleet indeed. They’re not going internationally with the widebody aircraft, and not announcing plans to upgrade the aging 737s (which are sadly what I’m on most!). But it’s a big step forward.

When I started flying American Airlines with some regularity back in December, inflight wireless changed my life. Now, they don’t offer it on every flight, but often enough that I can feel the difference in my productivity. No longer do I get off the plane after flying cross country to a barrage of unanswered emails and frantic colleagues. I’m more productive and more relaxed, some of the best money I could spend.

Of course, Delta has far more extensive wireless connectivity than American or anyone else does, I just won’t fly them because of the value of the miles and how they prioritize upgrades, which are an especially big deal in the DC market (and it doesn’t help the case that they’re scaling down in DC anyway).

But US Airways as the dominant carrier at National airport, with inflight wifi, really helps their case with me! It can’t come soon enough.

(HT: DeacFlyer1 on Milepoint)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Do any blogs realize that many of us are “route captives” to Delta? I feel like they are continually put down in the blogs and largely ignored. Do you blogers realize some of us have no other good options? So, why not write more about Delta, not less just because they are more difficult on miles issues? I am tired of them being ignored in your blog. Even in this post, when you admit they have the best wireless service, there is nothing else said positive about them or give me insight on how to use their program or cards. I have not read one helpful thing about Delta since the Fidelity information you posted. (thank you again for that.)

    Come on, you have a great blog and put some information that us Delta flyers can use!

  2. Hi Gary,

    Sorry to continue on the Delta angle, but I’m curious what it is about how it prioritizes upgrades that you object to and how it differs from US/AA, who you seem to fly most?

  3. Good article, but when are we going to get the PH Maldives trip report? Looking forward to that one!

  4. @Adam Delta prioritizes full fare over status, American does not. AA doesn’t upgrade gov’t fares, which is a big deal for a DC flyer.

  7. Unfortunately, US Airways is at the back of the pack when it comes to inflight power, even on transcontinental routes. They can add GoGo all they want, but when I have a 6 hour flight and a battery that only lasts 3 hours, the value-proposition is zilch.

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