Today I’m eager to share some great news from our friends at Aircell, the provider of Gogo In-Flight Internet service. Drum roll, please! On Saturday, they completed their 1,000th Wi-Fi installation! The lucky plane was a Delta DC9-50, which made its first flight with Wi-Fi Tuesday from Detroit. Passengers on board the flight were greeted by the folks at Gogo and treated to complimentary Internet access on board!
It was a great day for Delta as well. The Gogo service was installed on Ship 9877 Saturday evening in Detroit, marking the 524th Wi-Fi installation for us!
In fact, as of today, Sept. 1, nearly all of Delta’s domestic mainline fleet, 529 of 549 aircraft, have been equipped with Wi-Fi service.
The remaining aircraft include (1) A320, (2) DC9-50s and (8) 757-200s. There are (2) 737-800s and (7) MD90s that have not yet joined the fleet but don’t worry, they’ll be outfitted with Wi-Fi prior to entry into service. For more info, check out the official Aircell news release.
I hope you’ve been enjoying our Gogo In-Flight Internet service and would love to hear what you think!
P.S. Don’t forget to download our free Delta iPhone app today! It’s great for checking in to your flight, seeing your flight status, getting airport info and a lot more. Plus, you can use the app for free on any Gogo Wi-Fi-enabled flight!
Chris B.
Customer Experience Planning & Development
September 1st, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Congratulations yor your commitment to having wifi on all planes!! I’ll be flying on DL365 next sunday, is there a way to know if my fligt will be on a non-wi-fi equipped 757?? is gogo available once the flight is over Mexico?
I am also glad that you finally launched your iphone app, but a little dissapointed that I need iOS 4 to run it, since I don’t plan to upgrade my iphone 3G and will not be able to install it until I change phones next year when my contract expires…
September 1st, 2010 at 5:36 pm
This is great new!
can you let us know what your planes are for the iPhone app regarding 3G and iPads?
September 1st, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Just curious why International flights aren’t getting WiFi.
bert
September 1st, 2010 at 9:25 pm
HCL…your flight will have Wi-Fi and you’ll have access for most of your flight to MEX. The signal reaches about 100 miles into Mexico. When I flew to BOG, I had service until we were over the south coast of Cuba.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Chris: Great job. I love the Wifi. Any news on:
A319 (the few “VIP” plane without Wifi). I got two of these last month.
CR9: Any plans to add Wifi to these planes?
Thank you
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Great to see the launch of iPhone app. Please give it at least the same features provided by your mobile web site. The app is attractive but very limited in functionality right now. It appears that most users will be better off just using a bookmark to access the Delta mobile site instead of using the app because the app is so limited in capability. This is clear through a comparison of features to your mobile web site or comparison to the American app or the Lufthansa app.
Please give us an app for the iPad. I am using the iPad during travel on and off the plane! Having a well-featured iPad app would be wonderful. Thanks.
September 3rd, 2010 at 11:53 am
Thanks Chris, that is great news, I have already pre-paid my gogo 24 hr. pass.
@bertsirkin, It is because the internet signal gets to the plane from ground based antennas, and at the moment, these antennas are on US territory only.
Best,
HCL
September 4th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
What about an app for other phones? I have the Verizon HTC Increadable.
September 5th, 2010 at 12:18 am
@happydad100… As an employee of Delta, I can tell you that there are currently no definitive plans to install Wi-Fi on Delta Connection aircraft like the CR9. Chris might know more about future plans regarding Wi-Fi installation on Delta Connection aircraft. I personally think it would be great to install Wi-Fi on the CR7/9′s as these will be in the fleet for years to come. Considering we are phasing out numerous CR2′s, I wouldn’t see that fleet getting Wi-Fi anytime soon. Hope this helps!
September 9th, 2010 at 9:28 am
happydad100…thanks for the compliment…I’m a huge fan of Gogo myself! As for the VIP A319s and RJs…stay tuned to this page for the latest news as it develops.
Badger_Prof & rcvideo…I totally agree…an app for the iPad, Blackberry and Android would be great. I don’t have definitive info on the development status for those platforms but I’ve asked our lead in the eCommerce group for an update. More info to follow…
September 10th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Badger_Prof & rcvideo…here’s an update on the app development from our e-Commerce group…
The BlackBerry version will be launching in late fall, followed by the Android version in the winter.
September 11th, 2010 at 7:36 am
Loving in-flight WIFI!
However, I was disappointed to find out that my LAX-ATL flight yesterday [9/10] on DL2454 did not have WIFI on-board… It was on a domestic ETOPS 767-300. Sorry I did not get the aircraft registration #.
When we were at around 20,000 ft I powered on my laptop and when looking for available wireless networks the “Gogo Inflight” SSID did not even show up on the list and I tried refreshing constantly for several minutes until I gave up and went to sleep.
Keep up the good work!
September 21st, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Am very interested in in-flight WIFI! What better way to spend those long hours than being productive and getting work done. I am a web administrator so having WIFI is crucial to getting my work done.
I noticed that your 757-400′s are not on the list to have WIFI. Why is this? I have a flight scheduled from NY to Greece in October. This is @10 hr flight and I would REALLY love to have the WIFI!
September 22nd, 2010 at 4:41 am
@ssoule: There are no 757-400s in Delta’s fleet … but I assume that was just a typo (I don’t know which plane flies your route, a 767-400?)
Anyway, on a flight as long as yours it would be nice to have wifi, however, right now wifi is available only domestically. That has technical reasons, the internet connection is provided by land-based antennas not by satellites.
As I understand it one cannot say today when wifi may be available on international routes across the ocean(s).
September 25th, 2010 at 4:01 am
Of course, I had to fly on the only A320 that didn’t have wifi, on a 3hr flight from SLC to MSY yesterday. Very disappointing. I had even pre-purchased a wifi pass for the flight.
Not having much luck with wifi, as my flight last week from ATL-DEN had wifi disabled due to a technical issue.
September 30th, 2010 at 9:39 am
Ralfinho,
Yes I did mean to say 767-400 but I couldn’t change it once I posted it.
I do hope that they are able to expand the WiFi technology for overseas flights. I think this would be a huge market, and truly make Delta the carrier of choice for overseas flights.
I can handle not being productive or connected to my online social life on the shorter domestic flights, but the overseas ones are simply intolerable. It is just the way of our culture now. We are used to having online technologies at our fingertips all the time. I think a lot of people would be willing to pay extra for this convenience.
October 21st, 2010 at 4:24 am
Using my iPad and WIFI on domestic flights has been working well for some 3 months now. The instant on feature of the iPad makes it much easier for short flights to stay connected versus taking the laptop out.
Certainly would like to see this available on Delta partners, especially on routes more then 500 miles in CRJs that will be here for a long time.
October 21st, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Chris, for something like ATL-PLS, would I be able to get wifi? If so, how long in time do you estimate?
November 27th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Do you have any status updates on the roll out of WiFi? I heard about having it on some of the long haul CR7 and CR9 aircraft. Any progress on that/when is the time frame?
Also, you may want to have an updated blog letting people know about the Free WiFi for the holidays promotion:
http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/inflight_services/products/google_chrome.jsp
March 28th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
same question: how best to determine if there is wi-fi on Delta Connection planes. Have had several mis-representations: the monitors in the gate area indicated there would be wi-fi on a Connection flight. There was not. Delta to Add Inflight Wi-Fi to 223 Delta Connection Jets – a news post 29 November 2010. To be complete by the end of 2011.