About 30 seconds after I paid the $8 fee for an hour of GoGo wi-fi yesterday on my American DCA-LAX flight, I saw that dreaded message on the screen — instead of the page I’d called up.
‘GoGo is temporarily unavailable.’
It made my heart sink. I sat there, feeling quite sorry for myself. But about a million refreshes later ( in reality, about 45 seconds), the wi-fi came back and I went about my normal business.
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The temporary glitch made me wonder what business travelers who use it more than me experience on a day to day basis. So I did some reaching out before turning to you…
- It turns out that on Friday night, BoardingArea’s Marshall Jackson on Travel noted in a post that GoGo’s speeds are becoming “increasingly unacceptable.”
- Road warrior Bob Yodice told me that he’s found GoGo “slow but reliable” on his Delta flights. He also identified a spot over West Virginia “where I know exactly where my signal will go out.” His experience with Southwest is less reliable. Southwest’s system, he told me, “seemed promising but it’s as if every third use I’m applying for a credit due to unacceptable download latency. There were times in its infancy where I could stream video with no troubles. Now, I don’t even bother paying, I just watch their TV stream.”
- Traveler Katie Coleman said “I never use it on domestic flights because I always have trouble and sending emails, etc. is dreadfully slow…Instead, I use the time to write, edit without the distraction of the Internet and social media.”
- Traveler Steve Bennett has a different experience, saying it’s “always reliable for me and (is) my #1 in-flight amenity, especially on Delta.”
Readers: How reliable have you found wi-fi on different airlines and/or routes?
