engadget.com — A tipster sent us a recent corporate presentation at SouthWest Airlines that twice mentions that "Inflight wireless internet connectivity" is being looked at. Rather predictably for an airline, this is mentioned on a slide discussing future revenue opportunities -- hey, dems airlines gotta get paid!
Jul 9, 2007 View in Crawl 4
laserethJul 9, 2007
Wouldn't the internet waves be blown away by the sheer speed of the airplane??? How can you connect to internet when your internet waves are trailing behind the plane?????
rupawJul 9, 2007
How innovative! Only 2 years after LUFTHANSA introduced this to all inter-continental flights. LOL!
warpteraJul 9, 2007
Ooh... How neat, especially considering that I get free flights all over the US, much of the time on SW's airlines. :) It's great to have a mom who works for an airline... :p
dickybrownJul 9, 2007
you mean you don't like being herded onto the plane like cattle?at work we lovingly refer to SWA as "Cattle Call Air"
ethergnatJul 9, 2007
Can I get a $49 ticket from Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale on Lufthansa? No, the two airlines don't compete at all. Nobody said it was innovative, but it still would be great news to the millions who regularly fly Southwest.
volvinatorJul 9, 2007
Agreed. It's worth the Cattle-Call herding that I've familiarized myself with in order to board.
rory096Jul 10, 2007
Being a wave doesn't make something move at light speed. Look at water waves, for example. Nevertheless, radio waves are electromagnetic waves, and DO move at light speed.
woknbluesJul 10, 2007
i think that it is a bad idea. it is hard enough to get people to understand that during takeoff and landings, you have to stow your portable devices (a la the cell phone proposal that was recently dismissed). Southwest uses short trips (regional) as their focus. Not to rant, but the in the hell do people have to a)eat b)urinate and defecate c)sit in first class d) be continuously entertained for on average, a 70 minute flight? Just sit the @#$ down, shut the @#$ up and relax for minute. In no time at all, the flight will land and you can then resume running around with your iphone looking for hotspots. And who the hell needs an assigned seat? It's a freakin one hour flight! I can sit on the floor for an hour. I love Southwest because they just get you where you want to go. @#$ movies/wifi/and large comfy seats, i travel by air about 20 times a year and couldn't afford to pay for bulls**t frills that have left other airlines unprofitable and going into bankruptcy. Now, put me in a transpacific flight for 10 hours plus, and I might like a bit of distraction, unless I can save some good money, then screw it.