Today’s post is biased and I say that with unabashed pride. I love being connected as a blogger. Many of my fellow bloggers have also said how much onboard WiFi has changed how they get stuff done. Delta has been aggressively expanding the implementation of almost fleet wide WiFi service from GoGo and you can even track progress on the Delta.com web site.
Pricing for the service, to me, for long haul flights seems right and it also appears GoGo is tinkering with discounts for single time use, short flights etc. I have even seen discounts pop up for the “remainder of the flight” for me to give it a try. It is fun to be able to work, blog or chat while up in the air and can save you time on the ground you would otherwise have needed to use without connectivity. If you fly often, for under $40 the 1 month unlimited use option is reasonable and should be considered if you are going to use it for 3 days or more during the month. If you fly all year long you can get a 12 month unlimited use for under $400 as you can see here at Delta.com! What I would love to see, (Delta are you listening) is this as a choice benefit for Platinum and / or Diamond Medallion flyers. If you want to see this too e-mail them as ASK FOR IT! Please!
Delta has also been expanding the “free” offerings via the service. Being able to look at your current flight status as well as your next is very useful. Other revenue generating options like Amazon.com shopping could be useful to some, but does not excite me all that much. I have also been informed that some heavy bandwidth using features at Amazon will not be available and other items will be cached on GoGo servers to improve speed for everyone using GoGo.
The GoGo service is a new ground based technology as you can see here on their site. Compare this to the old satellite based technology that United & Lufthansa have chosen to go with as my fellow BA blogger Lufthansa Flyer talked about and at the LT web site here. I have been told that in the not so distant future, GoGo will offer the new “Ka” band Satellite service that will be comparable to ground based broad band speed and you will be able to have GoGo all over the planet!
Will there be more “free” days as in the past? Since GoGo is in a “quiet period” before their IPO not much can be said, but don’t be surprised to see more free 30 min runs from different advertisers moving forward. I doubt we will see more unlimited free days like the Google one last year!
This is technology that is here to stay and will soon be expected onboard just like everywhere else we go nowadays! Will we pay to use it or not is the question. There has been a bunch of money put in so let’s hope so – I sure do!
The GoGo rep reached out to me and kindly offered some GoGo swag for me to give away this month on the blog. I love giving stuff away so why not! Today I want to give away [edit: 1 each to 5 readers] 5 one time use passes for GoGo! To enter I would like to know if you have ever paid for GoGo service before and do you think the pricing is reasonable? Yes or No. Neither answer will increase your chance to win. – Rene
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yes i’ve paid for go go, and price is reasonable
No
Yes. I’ve paid on long hauls.
no only used it free
Yes — every delta flight
I’ve paid for it on long hauls, and also used it for free. When you really need it to work, the price is reasonable, but maybe not so much for casual use.
No.
I just used it this week on a short flight. I had some work to do – it was worth every penny.
Yes, I use it quite often
I have paid for it only when i had a coupon & only when it was new and felt like a novelty. Would not pay the regular price out of pocket. Only if my company was footing the bill.
I have not paid but price is reasonable.
only when i have a coupon oe on a trans-con flight…. too expensive otherwise
Being a US flyer, right now it’s just on 321’s and I’ve paid on probably 90% of my flights, since they have generally been longer flights. Pricing is completely reasonable.
When it’s on the regional jets, I’ll have to wait and see what the pricing is like. Not sure how badly I need to get on the internet on a 2 hour flight, but I see myself paying for it regularly anyway.
Yes, I have paid and felt the price reasonable on long flights – I’ve also used the free 30 minutes offered.
Sure
I have used daily,monthly and now the annual pass. On most of my flights over 2hrs it is worth the price for me.
Never paid for it but I would on longer flights
Yes. Love Internet on flights. Reasonably priced for flights more than 1-2 hours.
I’ve always found the pricing has been a bit high for my tastes, but then I’ve never flown on a truly long-haul flight that had GoGo and that wasn’t a red-eye.
I will buy Internet on long flights past then I think it is worth the price .
I use it almost every time I fly and I think the pricing is reasonable. My only issue with the service is the speed, it can be painfully slow depending on how many people are using it.
I’ve paid for the service many times. I’m ok with the cost for longer flights but always think twice before hitting the “go” button for two hour flights.
never pay but use it when its free. or else i just watch a movie
I have not used Gogo, but think it is reasonably priced for longer flights.
A little too expensive for short haul flights
Yes. I use it all the time, monthly subscription approach, and find it extremely useful.
I have used it many times. Usually on my longer flights, but if there is no other entertainment option I am more likely to purchase it. I think each price level should be about 1-2 dollars less and hopefully as their investments get paid off they will do that.
@Josh and ALL – txs very much for taking the time for the feedback on this. – Rene
Yes I have, especially on longer flights or long hours stuck at the airport or wherever. It’s reasonably price especially when you need a last minute source of Internet to book a hotel really fast or find your way into the city 😛
A few times for work, I can expense it. I would not buy on my own dime though…
I’ve paid for it once, on a longer flight (I think it was MSP-MCO). Most of my trips are short enough (mainly through ATL to various SE and Mid-Atlantic destinations) that I don’t find it useful, though I will admit that I used it a TON in December 2009 when it was being offered free for the holidays. Most of the time, I actually enjoy being disconnected for an hour or two when I fly!
Too expensive. I pay for it but costs too much. Would love to see a 20-25 bucks a month subscription that you can use not only on delta but on other airlines as well as on the ground… Like a partership with Boingo for example
No, though I would consider it for longer flights if I had work to do. I don’t think the pricing is a good value for short flights; I can wait an hour to check my email. I have used the free services to check flight data, but mostly just out of curiosity to see how it works. I am impressed by how easy it works.
love it and price is right. Use it all the time.
Yes, I buy it every time I fly for work and at least 50 percent of the time I fly for personal travel. The pricing is reasonable, so long as you’re on a long enough flight. I won’t buy it if I’m flying, say, MSP-ORD, but anything more than an hour and it’s worthwhile.
I have used wifi on planes only twice or so. Once I paid for it using a discount.
I do no business travel so I don’t see a need (for me) to use internet on a flight. Usually, I only use it in airport lounges or hotel rooms (when it’s free).
If it costs money then I pass on it and instead enjoy being on vacation.
I haven’t paid for GoGo myself before, but my wife has for a day pass on and off. I’m generally put off by the price since most of my flights are under 2hrs and I can live without being online for that long.
I pay the discounted ios rate but not the full price.
Yes, I’ve used it often. I especially like the 15 min option on mobile devices. I usually select that option so I can facetime with my wife on our iPhones.
No, but it sounds useful if I flew more often.
No for short flights, yes for ling flights
I have used the free trials. Have payed for it for my wife in longer trips. Well worth it.
Yes I have paid. But I have been able to expense it due to business travel. Personally, I think the price is a bit too high for me to pay if it were not for business.
I have not paid before, I feel the price is too high for one time use, and I don’t fly enough to purchase a monthly/yearly pass. If the cost was to be reimbursed by my employer, then YES, I would totally do it. 🙂
Yes, the monthly pass is very worth it for my 3-4 flights per week so that I can actually get some work done while in the air.
I paid on my last flight but only on the way home because my wife had some important emails to send off. If I flew more often I would definitely consider this.
Yes – have paid for occasions when I need the access – or when there was a live sporting event I particularly wanted to follow.
I have not yet used it
i have not used it yyet, but pricing seems a bit steep to me
Paid for it once. Totally worth it!
Since I’m not a business traveler, I’ve used GoGo on some flights but opted for music or a book on the iPad on others. Overall though if the flight is over three hours, I’m probably using GoGo
Yeah, it is great as long as it can be put on expense account. Too pricey otherwise.
I think it’s too expensive given the flight durations and don’t use it nor do I schedule my flights around it. I’m someone who is heavily connected usually but at those prices, it’s not worth it unless I could expense it.
I look at it this way, even the most frequent fliers I’ve seen might be traveling 60-80 hours a month. Would you pay $40 a month for DSL service that only allowed you access for the same period of time?
Yes but only when it was free. The price seems reasonable.
Yes I’ve used it and will continue to in the future. I think it could be a little less expensive for short flights. Or possibly allow 1 day passes that transfer between flights.
I was researching this past Christmas and was about to purchase a 24 hour pass, but it wouldn’t have worked on CO metal. I would only get it if it was on sale.
Yep, reasonable imho.
I have paid for GoGo, but I prefer not to. I can go a few hours without being connected. All depends, but it doesn’t usually change how I fly. Frontier lets you pay for some DirecTV channels, now that can be worthwhile if you need to watch a sporting event.
I don’t remember the last Delta flight I took that I didn’t pay for it. The price point on DCA-ATL runs is $4.95 and I don’t mind paying that at all. I think I paid $12.95 on my last transcon on US Airways and that seems semi-reasonable. I don’t even think twice about it if the inflight time is 1 hour or more.
I was set to pay for it once but then found out it was free that day. Nice!
prices I have seen were too much for the time being able to use
Yes, I’ve paid and it seems pretty reasonable for long flights or for two flights over 24 hours. I have pre-paid at a discount on Delta’s website before, but I haven’t seen this offer lately.
Yes and it’s reasonable!
No, mainly because I find it too expensive.
Just used the GoGo month plan last month while travelling to/from a conference. Access over 3-4 days on flights made the month plan valuable, and of course, it was cool to send emails from 38000ft! This is a real benefit of Delta over other airlines IMO (also Alaska IMO)
Stephan
No never paid for the service
No, I’ve not paid for the service
paid for it a handful of times – but it’s usually not worth it unless a transcend flight
Personally I think the pricing is still a little too steep for the service and I’m looking forward for it to be more widespread and cheaper.
used when free, never paid.
No, I read books on all flights. What a respite!
Purchased it but immediately cancelled it when we found out it couldn’t be used where we were going internationally. (We were going to use in hotel.)
Per day pricing is too high.
Only used for free, not convenient on short domestic connection routing. Cant wait until mroe airlines continue to launch on intl routes though.
I’ve never paid for the service…though I’ve used the free trials. Price needs to come down.