Southwest Airlines to launch free in-flight Wi-Fi in October

Another major airline in the United States is to jump on the free Wi-Fi trend. Southwest Airlines announced Thursday that it will make its on-board internet available to customers for free starting next month.

The only requirement? You need to be a loyal member with quick rewards.

Southwest will end the fees for its onboard connection starting October 24.

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The Dallas-based airline rolled out its free internet transfer as part of its partnership with T-Mobile (although Flyers doesn’t need to be a T-Mobile Wireless customer to access the service for free).

Southwest Airlines has joined the growing list of American airlines that have moved to free on-board connectivity, or have announced plans to do so.

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In fact, with Southwest Airlines’ announcement, each of the six largest airlines in the United States has now begun deploying free Wi-Fi services in its fleet, or free internet is coming soon.

“This is part of our ongoing commitment to continue to improve the cabin experience, and free wireless wifi is just one of the many enhancements customers will see in the coming months,” Tony Roach, executive vice president and chief customer and brand officer of Southwest, said in a statement to announce the announcement.

Southwest’s transition to free Wi-Fi was not entirely unexpected. Last month, the carrier tried a free service to test whether its on-board bandwidth could support more customers connecting to their devices.

The airline currently offers Wi-Fi for a flat (quite affordable) $8 per flight. Still, for the frequent Southwest pilots, get free news for free – especially after airlines ended their free check bags earlier this year.

Southwest’s Wi-Fi announced the same day as rival Jetblue revealed plans to upgrade its long-term free service by creating a new partnership with Amazon project Kuiper.

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