Alaska Airlines Inside

I’m a huge fan of in-flight Wi-Fi, especially for flights longer than 90 minutes, so I’m excited to learn that two more airlines that serve the Bay Area in a big way are adding it. But not for a while.

First off, Alaska Air announced that it’s reached a deal with AirCell’s Gogo—the same provider used by Virgin America, United, Delta and others. But don’t hold your breath. The carrier still has to go through testing and certification with the FAA. It plans to outfit its fleet of new Boeing 737-800’s first, but has not officially set a target date for installation.

One downside: Much of Alaska Airlines’ flying is over water or desolate areas in Alaska, Canada and Mexico where the ground-based Gogo system is currently out of range of the network of radio towers it depends on. That means I’ll get a good Wi-Fi signal in-flight if I choose an Alaska Airlines flight from here to Seattle or Austin. (It adds a second daily “Nerd Bird” nonstop between San Jose and Austin next week.) But my Wi-Fi is not going to work on those new Alaska Air flights from here to Hawaii. And it will be spotty at best on the long coastal flights between Seattle and Anchorage.

Here’s where this story gets ironic. Southwest Airlines, which flies almost exclusively over land, has chosen another in-flight Wi-Fi provider called Row 44, which uses a satellite-based system that works over water and just about anywhere else.

Alaska Airlines Inside
Alaska Airlines Inside
Alaska Airlines InsideAt one time, Alaska Airlines seemed close to landing a deal with Row 44, which would make sense given its flying patterns. Instead, it’s gone with land-based Gogo. Why? “Ultimately Alaska Airlines decided to go with Aircell’s Gogo service because of its proven track record of deploying affordable inflight Wi-Fi services to travelers. Its lower-cost equipment, coupled with the ease and speed of installation and finally its system reliability, allow us to rapidly deploy a desirable service to customers,” Alaska Airlines spokesperson Bobbie Egan told The BAT.

Anyway, Southwest plans to start outfitting its fleet of 540 Boeing 737’s this spring, and says Wi-Fi will be available fleet wide by late 2012.

Frequent travelers from the Bay Area are lucky… they have more in-flight Wi-Fi choices than nearly any other major city. (Except maybe Atlanta, where AirTran offers it on all flights from its hub there, and Delta’s got it on well over half its fleet.) From the Bay, all Virgin America flights offer it. Delta, United and American offer it on all flights between SFO and JFK, and on select flights to other cities. AirTran offers it on all flights between here and Atlanta and beyond.
Alaska Airlines Inside
Alaska Airlines Inside
Alaska Airlines Inside
Alaska Airlines InsideUNITED ORDERS NEW PLANES. While they won’t be touching down at SFO until at least 2016, United recently announced that it’s placed orders for 50 new wide-body aircraft. It split the order 50/50 between the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” and the Airbus A350. Both are about the size of current Boeing 767 or 777 aircraft and will eventually replace them.

NOT SO DREAMY. We’ve got an issue with the whole “Dreamliner” name… and get irritated when we see reporters get all wistful and dreamy-eyed thinking that everyone’s going to get a massage and a flat bed for sleeping (and dreaming) on every flight. Sorry folks—the plane is a dream to the airline, because it purportedly uses about 20% less fuel. But it’s not so dreamy for passengers sitting in coach– it’s just another twin-aisle, wide-body plane…okay, with bigger windows, maybe, but still…. (See photo above. Look beyond those dreamy first class seats!)

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UAL: BEST ON TIME PERFORMANCE—EVER? Yep, it’s true. According to the DOT, United was on time 91% of the time this past November, its best performance since the government starting tracking it in 1987. How did this happen? It’s all about the money according to gadling.com. Since last winter, United has offered all employees a $100 bonus each month the airline tops the DOT on-time ranking. They get $65 for second place.