Southwest Airlines, which spent over $2 billion on in-flight upgrades last year, will now charge by leg of travel for its onboard Wi-Fi.
Beginning Feb. 21, Southwest customers will pay $8 per flight as opposed to Southwest’s $8 per day pass. That means passengers with connecting flights or making a round-trip in a single day will pay more.
“This impacts a small subset of customers due to our robust network of nonstop flights, free onboard entertainment and a limited number of customers choosing to use paid internet across connecting flights,” said Alyssa Foster, Southwest Airlines spokesperson.
The changes come as Southwest adds two Wi-Fi vendors to its fleet. The carrier is introducing an additional internet provider, Viasat, alongside Anuvu. Viasat will provide Wi-Fi hardware on new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft deliveries by early March, Foster said.
Now the company says it has more than 350 aircraft upgraded and expects its full fleet to be upgraded by the third quarter of this year, according to Foster. The new changes came with upgraded routers and modems.
In May, Southwest announced it would start testing upgraded Wi-Fi hardware that allowed more customers to access faster in-flight internet connections. The test began with 50 planes using equipment from hardware maker Anuvu that would increase internet bandwidth onboard by tenfold.
The $2 billion spend came with other perks, too. Southwest added new, bigger overhead bins on Boeing 737 Max jets. The power ports on seats should also come with those new 737 Max jets set to be delivered early this year. They will include USB-A and USB-C power ports near the tray tables so they don’t take legroom from passengers. Southwest has long skipped power plugs at seats, despite competition from other airlines.
Other carriers like JetBlue, which operated over 120 flights a month out of DFW Airport over the last year, offer free Wi-Fi on every plane. Last month, Delta Air Lines introduced free Wi-Fi in partnership with T-Mobile to all customers. Delta flew an average of nearly 1,800 flights a month out of DFW Airport over the last year and over 260 flights out of Love Field a month this past year.
Southwest is planning its busiest year ever at Dallas Love Field. The carrier will send more than 200 flights a day out from the airport during peak summer travel rush in July and August, more than the company flew before the COVID-19 pandemic.
