Delta Airlines Wi-Fi

I remembered seeing that Delta Airlines had begun offering Wi-Fi on their aircraft. I decided to try it on my 2 flights going to Miami, Florida for my recent back-to-back cruises on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas and, my 2 flight coming back.

I found out I could pay for the service on Delta's website when I checked in or even before that. They offer services you can add such as priority boarding and Wi-Fi. If you buy the service on the website, you only have 1 option you can sign up for. That's the 24 hour pass for $14. When you fly on the aircraft they give you 4 options. You can buy a 30 minute pass for $4.95 (I think), a flight segment pass i.e. for your particular flight for $7.95, a 24 hour pass like the one you can buy on their website for $16 and an unlimited 1 month pass. I don't remember what the price was for that pass. It was something like $40 or $50. (Note: When I fly again in April, I will make sure I get the in-flight prices and post them here.) After my trip, I found out you can purchase the Internet packages from Gogo who run the service on their webpage (http://www.gogoair.com). Their prices are: 24 hour pass - $14, monthly unlimited on 1 airline - $39.95 and monthly unlimited on all airlines that carry their service - $49.95.

The Wi-Fi service is available on 3,000 of Delta's flights every day. Only the following aircraft don't offer it at this time though Delta plans to offer it on them as - Boeing 747, 757, 767-300ER and 400ER, 777 and the Airbus 300. The service is available on select aircraft of these types - DC9-50 and Boeing 757-800. (Note: I know there is a discrepancy here concerning the Boeing 757 aircraft. I'm taking this information from the Gogo website.)

In regards to the service itself, I found it worked great. Once the aircraft reaches an altitude of 10,000 feet, it can connect to the Gogo Wi-Fi network. According to the Gogo website, it can deliver 5 Mbps of connection speed. I was able to use both my laptop and my Nook e-reader (considered an Android 4 device) on the service though not at the same time. There are some limitations on the service. You can't use Skype, live video or audio streaming.

Overall, I was very pleased with the Wi-Fi service. I definitely plan to use it again when I fly. I would definitely recommend it. It was awesome being able to email, post stuff on Facebook and check stuff on the web while flying. It definitely helped make the time go by. Happy travels all!