American Airlines has just put out a press release about how it’s enhancing inflight entertainment, and will soon allow AAdvantage members to redeem miles for inflight Wi-Fi. The press release talks about how American is offering free sponsored Wi-Fi to passengers.
For whatever reason, I see many people online reporting that American is following Delta in introducing free Wi-Fi. However, that’s not the case — I’ve checked with American, and nothing has actually changed. This is simply the same opportunity that has been around for around two years.
American’s free Wi-Fi on Viasat equipped planes
Since the spring of 2022, American Airlines has been offering passengers limited free Wi-Fi, as part of the oneworld carrier’s overall Wi-Fi offering. Here’s how American’s complimentary Wi-Fi works:
- Free Wi-Fi is available on Viasat-equipped aircraft, which includes a vast majority of the narrow body mainline fleet
- Customers have to watch a sponsored 15-30 second ad, and then can be connected to the full Wi-Fi offering for a limited time session; this session is typically 20 minutes
- This is being done to drive awareness for American’s inflight Wi-Fi offering, and to “help American better understand what inflight experiences are most meaningful to customers”
Just to show the process of accessing the free American Airlines Wi-Fi, connect your browser to American’s inflight Wi-Fi portal, at aainflight.com. Then click on “Get online.”
You’ll see the paid Wi-Fi pass options ($19 for an hour, seriously?!), but if you scroll down a bit further, you should see the “Complimentary Wi-Fi” section.
You’ll then be redirected to the ad, which is typically quite short, and is often just intended to promote the American AAdvantage loyalty program.
Then you’ll receive confirmation of how much time you have to enjoy the free Wi-Fi.
Since American doesn’t have seat back entertainment on most narrow body planes, this is a nice way to pass time on American, in addition to the carrier’s streaming library of movies and TV shows. However, it’s probably not all that exciting for those of us who pay for a monthly Wi-Fi pass on American.
Will American ever offer unlimited free Wi-Fi?
For years, JetBlue has offered passengers free Wi-Fi — it’s one of the only airlines in the world that offers this without any sort of caps on usage, and it’s a fantastic point of differentiation. We’ve now seen Delta follow JetBlue’s lead, as the airline offers free Wi-Fi to all SkyMiles members on most flights, and plans to offer it on all flights by 2025.
For years, there have been rumors of American eventually matching Delta. However, it seems to me like this is nowhere close to becoming a reality:
- American has made it clear that it’s not trying to be a premium airline, and that the carrier’s network is its product, and nothing else
- The airline has just announced that AAdvantage members will soon be able to redeem miles for free Wi-Fi, so that suggests even more that free Wi-Fi isn’t part of American’s plans
I imagine that eventually American will offer free Wi-Fi, as I think that will become an industry standard perk, especially as technology continues to improve. But I can’t imagine it will happen anytime soon.
At least American offering some free Wi-Fi sessions on Viasat jets is better than nothing. However, in reality I think very few people realize this is even offered, as it’s not at all promoted.
Bottom line
American Airlines is continuing to offer passengers free Wi-Fi on all Viasat-equipped mainline narrow body aircraft. Customers just have to watch a short 15-30 second ad, and can then enjoy 20 minutes of complimentary Wi-Fi.
While American has just announced this as a perk, nothing has actually changed, as this is the same benefit that has been around for a couple of years. If you are flying with American and don’t want to pay for Wi-Fi, then this is a great option, so be sure you look out for this.
What do you make of American Airlines offering free sponsored inflight Wi-Fi?
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