After many months of making customers mad, Southwest Airlines is finally doing something that flyers might actually like.
Beginning Friday, October 24, the airline will offer free unlimited Wi-Fi on every flight.
The new perk is made possible via a partnership with T-Mobile, but passengers do not need to be T-Mobile customers to access the Wi-Fi on Southwest planes.
Passengers will, however, need to enroll in the carrier’s Rapid Rewards loyalty program. Fortunately, doing that costs nothing, and you can enroll either prior to your flight or during in order to get the free Wi-Fi for your midair internet browsing, scrolling, posting, and streaming needs.
Provided there’s decent connectivity, of course.
According to a press release, Southwest recently tested the Wi-Fi system fleetwide and received high marks in customer satisfaction. The release asserts as well that the airline will continue to invest in the technology to make sure it’s “reliable and well-performing.”
A little customer satisfaction would be a welcome change for Southwest, which has faced a good deal of customer rage in recent months.
In response to financial woes, the Dallas-based airline has implemented sweeping changes to the passenger experience, ending its open-seating policy (effective January 2026), introducing fare classes on flights, and, most painful of all, dropping its beloved two-free-checked-bags luggage allowance.
Those changes have not been popular, to say the least, with Southwest’s customer base, which had previously been notably devoted.
Free In-Flight Wi-Fi Becoming the Norm on U.S. Airlines
With the Wi-Fi launch across Southwest’s more than 800 aircraft, the carrier will be one of the largest U.S. airlines offering free wireless internet on every flight this year.
But most major U.S. airlines are getting there.
JetBlue, which has had free Wi-Fi at every seat for years, announced a plan this week to upgrade its service.
Delta Air Lines now has free Wi-Fi on most domestic flights and is rolling out the service internationally.
United Airlines and American Airlines are both in the process of rolling out free in-flight Wi-Fi, too.
So it’s true that Southwest is becoming like any other airline, but at least in this case that’s an improvement.
