American upgrades inflight Wi-Fi, but stops short of making good on free messaging promise
Staying connected while flying on American Airlines is about to get faster, more reliable and possibly even cheaper.
The Fort Worth-based carrier announced a slew of Wi-Fi upgrades Thursday, just in time for the busy summer travel season.
Perhaps the biggest upgrade will be the additional bandwidth that American is adding to its long-haul fleet. The carrier says this will enable video streaming on wide-body jets outfitted with Panasonic satellite connectivity.
Historically, American's wide-body fleet had some of the slowest, least reliable and most expensive internet plans I've seen among the U.S. airlines. I've paid between $35 and $50 for full-flight Wi-Fi passes on routes from New York to Tel Aviv and from Dallas to Hong Kong. The speeds weren't even fast enough to browse Instagram or upload pictures without a noticeable lag.
Once these improvements are rolled out in the coming days, the airline will become the first major U.S. carrier to offer Wi-Fi with video streaming capabilities on 100% of its mainline (nonregional) aircraft.
American is also rolling out another new addition: free Wi-Fi for eligible T-Mobile customers on all regional and narrow-body aircraft by July.
T-Mobile's Magenta and Magenta Max plans include free inflight internet. The former plan includes four full-flight passes each year, with one hour of internet access available on all other flights. Magenta Max subscribers receive unlimited inflight Wi-Fi all year.
Unfortunately, T-Mobile customers will still need to pay for Wi-Fi on flights operated by Boeing 777s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners — most of which are outfitted with Panasonic connectivity.
While these upgrades are certainly noteworthy, it's unfortunate that American still hasn't made good on its 2017 promise to offer free inflight messaging to everyone.
In 2017, Delta Air Lines was the first of the Big Three U.S. airlines to offer free messaging to all travelers. This allowed flyers to connect to the internet to use apps such as iMessage and WhatsApp without paying for a full Wi-Fi pass.
American announced the next day that it would match Delta's move "soon," without providing a concrete timeline.
Yet here we are, six years later, and American still hasn't enabled this offering. Even Southwest Airlines and United Airlines, which have much of their fleets outfitted with slower and less reliable Wi-Fi than American's fleet, now offer free messaging. So, it's a bummer that American still hasn't made good on its promise.
For its part, American told TPG that "we are continually adding new products and evaluating new offerings to bring to customers. Customers using ad-sponsored Wi-Fi on our Viasat aircraft allows for time-limited sessions that include email and messaging offerings."
All of these enhancements come as there's been an increased focus on upgrading the inflight Wi-Fi experience in recent months.
Heading the improvements is Delta, which formally unveiled free fleetwide Wi-Fi for SkyMiles members earlier this year. The airline is still retrofitting existing jets with this upgraded service, but the rollout is expected to finish by the end of 2024.
Of course, JetBlue was the first U.S. airline to start offering free Wi-Fi back in 2013. Other carriers, such as Alaska Airlines and United, recently lowered Wi-Fi prices to just $8 a flight. Even ultra-low-cost discounter Spirit Airlines debuted Wi-Fi on its yellow Airbuses last year.
In addition to Wi-Fi upgrades made by the carriers, satellite providers have also been racing to improve their connectivity offerings. ViaSat, one of the leading inflight Wi-Fi providers, recently launched its much-anticipated ViaSat-3 satellite that promises to deliver a faster and more reliable connection beginning in the next couple of weeks.
ViaSat now faces stiff competition from Elon Musk's Starlink. Starlink recently debuted on JSX, and it will be outfitted on Hawaiian Airlines jets in the coming months and years.
Earlier this year, I flew on one of JSX's Starlink-enabled jets, and I was blown away by the speeds, reliability and performance of the network.
In addition to American's Wi-Fi upgrades, the airline is bringing some other passenger-experience upgrades to the skies, including refreshed menus and buy-on-board offerings.
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