JetBlue is now giving passengers FREE WiFi on all domestic flights. JetBlue claims to be the first U.S. airline to offer the perk. Other airlines have on-board WiFi, but you have to pay for it.
Delta and American Airlines offer WiFi on most domestic flights, for $16 a day, which includes connecting flights. Southwest charges $8 per day per device on domestic flights. Charges vary for international flights on all carriers, domestic and foreign.
JetBlue, which is based in New York City, is offering the FREE WiFi on its entire U.S. continental fleet of 227 planes.
“We have designed a way to offer the same amount of bandwidth to every device,” Jamie Perry, JetBlue’s vice president of marketing, told CNN Money. He said a flight from Boston to San Francisco had 190 devices connected at one time, and that, “They could still stream video smoothly.”
Alaska Airlines which recently acquired Virgin America, recently began offering FREE iMessage, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger in-flight on WiFi-enabled flights.
Airline perks taking off again
Airline freebies are returning, bit by bit, to offset passenger anger over more and more add-on fees, and to compete with the other guys for passenger loyalty despite the fees.
JetBlue, you might remember, was one of the last airlines to offer FREE checked baggage.
Recently, Delta made all its inflight entertainment free, followed two months later by American Airlines.
Last year, Delta did a test on whether it would bring back free meals on some flights.
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