Forum Discussion
Half-truths about airline wifi on T-Mobile website
According to T-Mobile’s website: “We partner with Intelsat, Viasat, Thales and Panasonic to give free in-flight Wi-Fi on Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and select Delta Air Lines flights.”
The thing is that these are at most half-truths. We have flown on 7 flights recently, 4 domestic and 3 int'l. Most recently, we flew 5 flights, all on American. All flights had wifi - NONE had the T-Mobile listed. Why? Because they all use Panasonic Avionics for wifi. So I asked American why they didn't offer the T-Mobile promotion. This was their response:
“Thank you for contacting Panasonic Avionics in regards to your in-flight Wi-Fi experience on board your recent American Airlines flight. T-Mobile has partnered with Gogo to provide free Wi-Fi and texting in-flight. Unfortunately, this is not an available offering on board Panasonic's equipped aircraft at this time.”
Somebody is lying.
I flew from Newark to Zurich last week on UA and T-mobile was not available for WiFi connection
I have never had any issues accessing then-in-flight WiFi but I always fly American. PHL - YYZ, CLT - YYZ, CLT - ORF, BUF - PHL, BUF - CLT, CLT - RIC, CLT - PHF are all routes I fly regularly.
jwclack52 wrote:
syaoran wrote:
I sometimes fly through Philly, Terminal F. The Tony Luke's in there and everywhere I fly usually goes from the same terminal. The only flights from American that usually don't have WiFi, is when I am flying into very small regional airports, like Roanoke or NewPort News. Those smaller planes do not have WiFi but those flights are also usually less than a half hour from takeoff to landing.
Both of our domestic flights had Wifi. I could access aainflight.com, but no T-Mobile link for free wifi. Both airplanes used Panasonic.
Same for me. I just flew back from PHL to DFW and just like jwclack52 I could access aainflight but the T-Mobile option was NOT there. This is the case when Panasonic is providing wifi. The only option is to purchase wifi. I've flown the same route on other planes and the T-Mobile option IS available. Only when Panasonic is providing wifi the option goes away.
I wonder if someone from T-Mobile monitors these message board to comment.
BTW: I found this on reddit but take it with a grain of salt.jwclack52 wrote:
syaoran wrote:
I sometimes fly through Philly, Terminal F. The Tony Luke's in there and everywhere I fly usually goes from the same terminal. The only flights from American that usually don't have WiFi, is when I am flying into very small regional airports, like Roanoke or NewPort News. Those smaller planes do not have WiFi but those flights are also usually less than a half hour from takeoff to landing.
Both of our domestic flights had Wifi. I could access aainflight.com, but no T-Mobile link for free wifi. Both airplanes used Panasonic.
I connect to the in-flight WiFi, the page comes up automatically, and the T-Mobile option is about half way down.
syaoran wrote:
I sometimes fly through Philly, Terminal F. The Tony Luke's in there and everywhere I fly usually goes from the same terminal. The only flights from American that usually don't have WiFi, is when I am flying into very small regional airports, like Roanoke or NewPort News. Those smaller planes do not have WiFi but those flights are also usually less than a half hour from takeoff to landing.
Both of our domestic flights had Wifi. I could access aainflight.com, but no T-Mobile link for free wifi. Both airplanes used Panasonic.
I sometimes fly through Philly, Terminal F. The Tony Luke's in there and everywhere I fly usually goes from the same terminal. The only flights from American that usually don't have WiFi, is when I am flying into very small regional airports, like Roanoke or NewPort News. Those smaller planes do not have WiFi but those flights are also usually less than a half hour from takeoff to landing.
gramps28 wrote:
Use this link to check the FAQ's. A lot depends on the flight.
See below. 100% domestic? I don't think so. In the last two weeks we were 0 for 2 on domestic flights (IND-ORD, PHL-IND) w/ American. American uses Panasonic (see T-Mobile claim below). As I explained in the first post, American told me that Panasonic is NOT partnered with T-Mobile in three separate emails.
"As part of In-Flight Connection, eligible customers get free connectivity with streaming, where available, all flight long on nearly 100% of domestic flights on partner airlines: Alaska, American, Delta and United. We partner with Intelsat, Viasat, Thales and Panasonic to give free in-flight Wi-Fi on Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and select Delta Air Lines flights. T-Mobile is also a proud partner of Delta, giving SkyMiles Members fast, free in-flight Wi-Fi on Delta and on us on most Viasat flights within the U.S."
Use this link to check the FAQ's. A lot depends on the flight.
jwclack52 wrote:
syaoran wrote:
I regularly fly between Charlotte and Toronto on American. Those flights have always had WiFi with the option to select T-Mobile.
But on what airline? What service? Go-go? Panasonic is obviously not supporting T-Mobile.
I only fly American Airlines. Sometimes coach, sometimes business. When the WiFi page comes up, there is an option down below for T-Mobile customers.
syaoran wrote:
I regularly fly between Charlotte and Toronto on American. Those flights have always had WiFi with the option to select T-Mobile.
But on what airline? What service? Go-go? Panasonic is obviously not supporting T-Mobile.
