Late last week, Alaska Airlines announced that it now has approximately 150 aircraft equipped with Starlink Wi-Fi. In partnership with T-Mobile, they have made free Wi-Fi available to Alaska Atmos members. Wi-Fi is now complimentary on all Hawaiian Airlines aircraft flying to and from Hawaii, as well as on 100% of the regional fleet between Alaska and Hawaiian, with the rest of the mainline fleet expected to be on Starlink Wi-Fi by 2027. That’s great news for those flying Alaska or Hawaiian.
I’ve personally found quite a difference between using Starlink Wi-Fi and other in-flight Wi-Fi systems in my recent travels, with Starlink being significantly faster in most cases.
I think it’s great news to see that Alaska is going to be offering fast, free Wi-Fi to members. Joining Alaska Atmos Rewards is obviously free, so all you’ll need to do is make sure you sign up for a rewards account before you fly Alaska or Hawaiian if you’re not already a member.
I’m not surprised to see Wi-Fi continue to expand to more and more airlines. We long ago identified this trend and its similarity to the trajectory of Wi-Fi at hotels. I remember the days when you had to pay for Wi-Fi access at hotels, but these days most hotels offer complimentary Wi-Fi for members. It has become an expected amenity. I imagine that in-flight Wi-Fi will similarly become an expected amenity as more and more carriers offer free Wi-Fi to their members. It certainly gives you a reason to join the program, and I imagine that most people will join in order to access free Wi-Fi while in flight.
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I just used it on Hawaiian flight to Tokyo, very reliable and fast. I just hope they upgrade the flights to Alaska soon too.
Was this SEA-NRT? On 787-9?
It would be on the Hawaiian-branded A330 only, it’s not yet on the Alaska-branded 787-9 (“coming this fall”)
Got it thanks
I remember when there used to be phones in the seatback and I think we paid 50 cents a minute or more to make a call. Seemed pretty amazing back then.
Here’s hoping they replace the WiFi pass credit card benefit with something that will be useful once free wifi is available fleet-wide!
Yeah, devalued the Summit card…..on top of the post-merger Awards devaluation (which wasn’t supposed to happen ler the merger agreement.
AS miles used to be super valuable on Int’l F/J amzing deals – yes hard to accumulate – so glad I did’nt gamble with my small hoard (.5M) of MRs and speculatively XFR to HA->AS. MR & UR have become equally hard to churn to collect (think I have gotten all the MR SUBs with exception of ABG card.
We both have the Summit card – but will likely just keep P2s for one more year (Int’l trip booked with 25K discount next year) will pool AS miles in her account and PC to Atmos Ascent for the CP (unless it has the $6K spend requirement – we already each a have a GF Ascent card without spend req.) Never PC’d an AS card before not sure if its possible or different non-branded BoA PC is a better move.
Daugter and SIL just used CP (saved them $600 – the AS CP has become more valuable with inflation.
3 Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion, SIL?
Who has best Gyro in PDX area, Yoni?
Hmm probably a toss up, (Gyro/Shawarma) Habibi’s (downtown) Nicholas and La Camel – Foodtruck in Sellwod.
The airlines will probably continue to follow the hotels in regard to wifi. Every members get basic wifi (slow), with the option to pay for premium to get faster speeds, and add premium wifi as a card/elite benefit.