Alaska Airlines Sees Sucess in Wi-Fi Trials

Alaska Airlines has published the initial results of its in-flight Wi-Fi service trial, which was launched in February. More than 2,100 passengers logged on and used Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi. Of those passengers who tried the service and completed a survey during or after their flight, more than 96 percent intend to use it again. Alaska Airlines says that it will begin evaluating pricing models for the service and will continue to gather feedback from customers.

Some of the most popular activities customers used the service for included checking e-mail, downloading and listening to music, watching streaming media and interacting on social networks.

Additional key findings of the survey include:

• More than 78 percent of those who tried the Inflight Wi-Fi service are either "extremely likely" or "very likely" to recommend it.
• More than 75 percent felt the service was either "excellent" or "very good."
• About 35 percent of passengers accessed the service with portable devices such as smart phones. Other passengers surfed the Web on devices such as notebook computers.

"Our most important consideration in determining the price of Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi is providing value to our passengers," said Steve Jarvis, Alaska's vice president of marketing, sales and customer experience. "The initial feedback we're getting is overwhelmingly positive. We will continue to optimize the service and listen closely to our customers to find the right price that is both competitive with other airlines and fits comfortably within our passengers' budgets."

The airline plans to set a final price for the service later this year.

Alaska Airlines Inflight Wi-Fi, provided by Row 44, is currently available onboard Alaska's one specially-equipped Boeing 737-700, with plans to install it on additional aircraft in the coming months.

Posted to the site on 15th April 2009