Perhaps overshadowed by my roommate’s girlfriend’s birthday, yesterday’s in-flight Wi-Fi update—the latest in an ongoing, often comically paced saga—was unveiled to no great pageantry. The update, delivered via almost colorless press release, was this: United Airlines will be bringing Gogo-powered wireless internet to its regional jets—200+ to start, with a larger dent scheduled for completion by “mid-2015.”
For the #AvGeeks among us, the first to get Wi-Fi will include the E175, E170 and CRJ700 jets. For the rest of you, the news promises a world with slightly more in-flight Facebook status updates and hopefully more 15th century Flemish-style portraits taken in airplane lavatories.
Come fall, United’s once-tragic Wi-Fi offering will remain nothing more than a lighter shade of woeful when compared to what its domestic rivals are shelling out. Math spun out of United’s Wi-Fi page and corporate fact sheet tells us that 424 planes out of the full mainline United fleet of 698 are Wi-Fi-equipped. That’s 61%. Accounting for its 562 regional jets, of which zero offer even dial-up speeds, Wi-Fi is available for purchase on just 37% of United’s full fleet. So, adding the 200 regional jets teased yesterday would still only yield a whole 50% of the United fleet by mid-2015. The math portion is unfortunately not yet over.
Laughing at the overall state of affairs at United is Richard Branson, whose Virgin America offers in-flight Wi-Fi for purchase through Gogo on 100% of its flights. Delta, too, is sitting pretty, earning praise for its Wi-Fi (among other things) from Virgin America’s own CEO in this Skift interview. Nearly 80% of its mainline fleet can currently feed your internet addiction—as can every one of its two-class regional jets (270 in total, says Yahoo Travel).
How about American? That same Yahoo Travel write-up notes that 832 of AA’s 984 aircraft (85%) offer Wi-Fi, and that includes regional jets (through Gogo) purchased by both American and new pal US Airways. Southwest? In-flight Reddit access is available 80% of the time via Row 44. JetBlue? Fly-Fi, notably not powered by Gogo, is available with a side of blue potato chips on 66% of the fleet.
In these more connected skies, it’s good to see United showing signs of life, but at least for now, you and your laptop should be more excited about its personal device entertainment option.