CES 2023: Delta Announces Free WiFi Starting February 1st

Jan 5 2023

No Risk Tech News (Written by GPT-3)

Delta Air Lines has announced that it will be offering free Wi-Fi on most of its planes starting February 1. This marks a significant change in policy for the airline, which currently charges nearly $50 per month for Wi-Fi on flights within North America and $70 on international flights. The move to offer free Wi-Fi is part of Delta's efforts to improve the customer experience and increase loyalty to the brand.

The announcement, made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, has been several years in the making. Delta CEO Ed Bastian stated in 2018 that offering free Wi-Fi across the airline's fleet was a priority, but the company needed time to improve the technology so that passengers wouldn't have to struggle with slow speeds. In-flight internet on any airline has long been plagued by complaints about inconsistent speeds, but advances in technology have helped to improve the situation in recent years. However, in-flight Wi-Fi still has some catching up to do to reach the speeds of home and office networks.

To access the free Wi-Fi on Delta flights, passengers will need to be members of the airline's SkyMiles loyalty program. Customers who are not members will have to pay a flat fee of $10 for Wi-Fi access. Delta's loyalty program currently has around 100 million members and the airline is hoping that offering free Wi-Fi will make passengers more loyal to the brand and further grow the program. In October 2022, Delta announced a partnership with Starbucks, under which SkyMiles members can earn one mile for every $1 spent at the coffee chain. Bastian predicted that the partnership would add one million SkyMiles members within a year, but in fact, Delta ended up adding one million new members within just two weeks of the partnership's launch.

Delta's free Wi-Fi offering will be available on more than 500 of its domestic narrow-body planes serving the airline's "most popular routes" at launch. Wide-body international and smaller regional jets will be coming online with the service by the end of 2024. Customers will be able to identify flights with free Wi-Fi by a decal near the boarding door, and will be able to connect multiple devices at one time.

Delta is the first of the "Big Three" U.S. airlines to offer free Wi-Fi. Both United Airlines and American Airlines currently charge varying rates for access to in-flight Wi-Fi, while JetBlue has offered free Wi-Fi since 2017. Delta's move to offer free Wi-Fi may put pressure on its competitors to follow suit and offer similar services to their customers.

In conclusion, Delta Air Lines' decision to offer free Wi-Fi on most of its planes starting February 1 is a significant change in policy for the airline and is part of its efforts to improve the customer experience and increase loyalty to the brand. The move may also put pressure on other airlines to follow suit and offer free Wi-Fi to their customers.