Looking for Southwest Wifi? One of the many benefits of traveling with Southwest Airlines is access to WiFi on ALL of their flights. I fly Southwest at least six times a year (FREE!) and I often like to utilize the WiFi to check in on work or even some personal emails. Here’s my personal advice from using Southwest’s WiFi firsthand to help you operate it smoothly on your next flight…
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About WiFi Southwest
While the airline does not have completely free WiFi for computer usage or playing video games, you can purchase it for a reasonable cost.
You can, however, access Southwest’s in-flight entertainment network via your personal device that you bring on board for FREE.
Their free entertainment network allows you to access live TV for many networks, as well as certain TV shows via your smartphone, iPad, etc. (see full list of supported devices) and FREE movies, including TOP NEW releases!
Southwest has made some changes to their inflight entertainment options, which has always included access to movies, TV and music. You can stream this media directly to your smartphone, laptop or tablet instead of downloading the app for access, which was the only way to access entertainment prior to these changes.
These options always help entertain our kids, and now we don’t have to worry about remembering to download and update the app prior to boarding.
Plus, I always like to work while flying Southwest (I consider it my flying office :)), so I enjoy access to Southwest WiFi for surfing the Web and email which does still require paying the $8 daily fee for WiFi access.
Top Tip: WiFi Southwest is just $8 per day for the full WiFi offering, including computer usage for email and browsing.
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It's helped hundreds of families and thousands of people be able to travel MORE while spending less -- all while making priceless memories with their families. Don't put off traveling with your family any longer...
What Activities Can You Do on Southwest WiFi?
- Surf the web on your computer or personal device. Note: The airline does attempt to filter indecent content.
- Access your email
Please note you CANNOT stream media like YouTube or other video content direct from the Internet. It must be previously downloaded to your device or used via Southwest’s inflight entertainment portal.
What Is the Cost?
For $8 per flight, you can get connected to the Internet for email, browsing, work, etc. Note: It used to be $8 per day, but they have changed it so it is now PER FLIGHT. So if you have connecting flights, it will be $8 for each connection.
NetFlix and HBO Go are NOT available due to high bandwidth required.
If you pay for Internet access with your Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, you will earn MORE points per $1, depending on which card you have.
A-List Preferred elite status members get FREE WiFi on Southwest Airlines!
If you hold the card_name, which has the highest bonus offer of ANY Southwest card, you can charge the WiFi fee to your card 365 days a year and get a statement credit for it, so it’s FREE!
What You Get With the Free Entertainment Portal
In Southwest’s entertainment portal, you can…
- Access numerous live TV channels and episodes from popular TV series.
- Watch a movie.
- Many movie options, including new releases. Visit Southwest.com/Wifi to see the current offerings.
- Enjoy free instant messaging via WhatsApp or iMessage.
- Stream music via iHeartRadio.
- Play a game.
- Track your flight’s location.
- Watch live or on-demand TV.
- Southwest also has ESPN in their line-up of television options. Travelers can catch ESPN sports nearly from take-off to touchdown.
- That’s great news for sports fans who may be missing a key game when flying. I remember personally watching the World Cup games on network TV on a Southwest plane and have watched many a basketball game in flight!
How to Connect to the FREE Entertainment Portal Step by Step
Recent Changes Allow You to Access Inflight Entertainment Without the App
After improvements to the in-flight entertainment portal, passengers still need to complete the following steps but don’t need an app to do so.
- Go into settings and switch to airplane mode, then turn on WiFi.
- Choose Southwest WiFi from your network list.
- If the portal doesn’t load automatically, type www.southwestwifi.com into the address bar of your web browser.
- You may now enjoy your FREE entertainment by accessing it on this web page
Southwest also gives you destination guides for your arrival city.
Top WiFi Southwest Tips
- If you want to take advantage of free texting, be sure to download WhatsApp before the flight.
- It also works for iMessage (between 2 iPhones both connected to WiFi).
- You will need to agree to the terms on the messaging page in the portal in order to receive access.
- Additionally, the person you are texting must also have iMessage (ie an iPhone; you will know this because the bubble will be blue) in order to text one another.
- Make sure all devices are updated to the latest software (oh, and charged up, too!).
- Southwest does now have outlets on board SOME planes for charging devices. I have been on some planes with them. It’s pretty awesome!
- If the WiFi is not working, neither is the inflight entertainment.
- Make sure kids have movies downloaded from services like Netflix, Amazon Prime or iTunes (all will let you download select movies), a book or other activities in case the inflight entertainment is not working.
What’s Coming for Southwest Airlines WiFi?
Southwest’s entire fleet is now WiFi enabled.
They continue to work on improving the speed by increasing bandwidth. Hooray!
I’ve noticed the quality of the WiFi on Southwest does seem to be improving.
Have more Southwest WiFi questions?
Here are Southwest’s FAQs on the topic.
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Read More
- Southwest Early Bird Check In FAQs
- Tips for Smooth, Stress-Free Southwest Check In
- 9 Things to Know Before Boarding a Southwest Plane
- What is Southwest Business Select?
- 13 Reasons You Need to Have the Southwest App
