T-Mobile has announced a deal with United Airlines which will bring free inflight WiFi to the phone company’s passengers on United’s flights. So far, the plan includes United’s planes that use Viasat or Thalys WiFi, but the announcement says that “starting this fall you’ll get free inflight Wi-Fi on all United domestic and international flights.” That would include the fleets now using GoGo or Panasonic.
T-Mobile, which has long been popular with international travelers because it offers free international data roaming and reasonable price international call services, has been partnering with airlines for service for a while, starting with those operating GoGo on American and Delta. JetBlue offers its own free WiFi.
On those flights, the deal has been one hour free for standard phone plans and whole-flight service for its premium Magenta Max level. On United, regular customers will have full-flight service on four flights per year, and Max customers will get full-flight on all flights.
The move is likely to increase the number of users onboard, along with United’s price changes for per-flight purchased service, now set at $8 per flight for domestic hops. International service runs significantly higher.
