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SW In-Flight Phones To Disappear From Planes
Question:
>> WN’s primary customer base are not business travelers. >I don’t believe that’s correct. Who is attracted by 7 flights-per-day and >low walk-up fares? Business customers.
Business customers are often price-insensitive, since they are spending someone else’s (the company’s) money instead of their own money. — Timothy J. Lee Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome. No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.
Response:
> Business customers are often price-insensitive, since they are spending > someone else’s (the company’s) money instead of their own money.
But plenty of people are self-employed, and others have travel offices that find tremendous appeal in the comparatively unrestricted discount fares. miguel — Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Response:
I beleive that over the united states AT&T uses cellular technology, however over water they use satellite service. The over-water satellite service that almost nobody uses is $15 to connect and $10-$12/min. It’s a shame however, because I would use the over water technology, instead I only use the phone over land. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Is it > using marginal unused bandwidth on AT&T owned satellites? Is there a > dedicated satellite for > the service?
Response:
> > WN’s primary customer base are not business travelers. > I don’t believe that’s correct. Who is attracted by 7 flights-per-day and > low walk-up fares? Business customers. They may use the folksy bit for > marketing, but the three-week-advance Saturday-night-stay non-refundable > tickets are usually cheapest bought from their competitors. It is the > bread-and-butter business customers that make Southwest profitable (well, > usually).
I finally flew WN the other day 
because the alternative was spending all day in LAX waiting for an open flight. $93 for a last-minute walkup to LAS wasn’t all that bad. –Dan
Response:
Why am I not surprised that usage is low. I have always wanted to meet the group that did pricing for this service at AT&T or GTE. It is simply too expensive. Too bad we will never know the statistics about service usage. Does anyone have more details about the business model for these phone systems? Is it using marginal unused bandwidth on AT&T owned satellites? Is there a dedicated satellite for the service?
In-Flight Phones To Disappear From Southwest Planes By Keith L. Alexander Wednesday, August 8, 2001; Page E01 Southwest Airlines will begin removing in-flight phones from all of its planes during the next year, the latest cost-cutting effort in the airline industry.
Response:
> But I did comment (to an FA who had noticed all this activity) that I’d > rather have an Internet connection than a phone. In fact, I’d rather have > an Internet connection than a power jack: I can carry extra batteries; I > can’t carry my own Internet connection. Similarly, if I have an Internet > connection I can make a pretty clear voice over IP phone call; while a > phone, unreliable as the AT&T inflight system is, doesn’t usually give me > a good Internet connection.
If they can’t manage a straight-up phone call, I doubt they’ll be able to come up with an IP connection that will support a VOIP call of any quality, given the extra complexity and delays involved. miguel — Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Response:
> WN’s primary customer base are not business travelers.
I don’t believe that’s correct. Who is attracted by 7 flights-per-day and low walk-up fares? Business customers. They may use the folksy bit for marketing, but the three-week-advance Saturday-night-stay non-refundable tickets are usually cheapest bought from their competitors. It is the bread-and-butter business customers that make Southwest profitable (well, usually). —
Response:
In-Flight Phones To Disappear From Southwest Planes By Keith L. Alexander Wednesday, August 8, 2001; Page E01 Several other airlines — including United, Delta, Northwest and American — say they have noticed a decline in the use of their phones now that travelers can use their own cell phones on planes until the cabin doors are closed. Southwest’s move coincides with AT&T’s decision to abandon its in-flight phone business. That means AT&T’s airline customers, which include American, Delta and Northwest, would have to find another provider and go through the costly process of installing new phones. Passengers using AT&T are charged a $2.99 connection fee and $3.28 a minute. After 10 years and 20 airline customers, AT&T is selling the Little wonder that AT&T is bailing out– that comes out to only 2 customers each year! ;-) Kenneth Lin
Response:
quoted from the Washington Post: >[...] >Southwest says its in-flight phones are not heavily used. One reason is >that many customers have cellular phones. In addition, most of >Southwest’s flights take about an hour or less, and passengers tend not >to use in-flight phones on short flights, Rutherford said.
Maybe another reason is that WN’s primary customer base are not business travelers. >Southwest’s move coincides with AT&T’s decision to abandon its in-flight >phone business. That means AT&T’s airline customers, which include >American, Delta and Northwest, would have to find another provider and >go through the costly process of installing new phones.
Nonsense. "Abandon the business" does not mean "shut down operations". Look here: >Passengers using AT&T are charged a $2.99 connection fee and $3.28 a >minute. After 10 years and 20 airline customers, AT&T is selling the
>unit.
^^^^ Which means that the airlines currently using AT&T’s system will be able to continue to use it; they’ll just have to deal with whoever buys it from AT&T. >Now some airline analysts believe that Southwest’s move could lead other >airlines, especially AT&T customers, to reexamine their in-flight phone >services. >"The technology is still lousy, and they’re unreliable and very >expensive to use," said airline consultant Michael Boyd, president of >the Boyd Group. "This is the perfect time for them to look at their >systems."
AT&T’s inflight phone system also has a habit of pissing me off. For quite a while, EVERY time I placed a call, the damn AT&T inflight phone would play an ad at me before ringing through to my callee. "Now through June first! Save an extra…" Look, AT&T, I use those things, when I use them, because something needs immediate attention, and it does NOT please me to have to wait to listen to your ad! Those ads actually discouraged me from making further calls. If the phone were free that would be very different, but as it is, I feel about this the same way I feel about pop-up ads (usually for other programs) on commercial TV: I have already "paid" for those channels via the commercial time. It annoys me no end to see what amount to commercials within the programs too. On the other hand… while awaiting the departure of my flight from SAN to BOS for a conference, someone I was talking to on my regular mobile phone made me aware of a new requirement for my presentations. I got the necessary slides done in-flight, and then via a modem connection on the in-flight phone, got them uploaded (or, hmm, I guess considering the physical direction, that would be DOWNloaded) to the Kinko’s near the conference hotel. It took a couple of tries, but I did get the stuff sent! These changes were integrated into the bulk of the slides that I’d sent them previously, and everything was ready the next morning; it wouldn’t have been if I’d had to wait to give them the changes in person, an hour or more after landing. WOOHOO! This technology stuff is wonderful when it works. 
But I did comment (to an FA who had noticed all this activity) that I’d rather have an Internet connection than a phone. In fact, I’d rather have an Internet connection than a power jack: I can carry extra batteries; I can’t carry my own Internet connection. Similarly, if I have an Internet connection I can make a pretty clear voice over IP phone call; while a phone, unreliable as the AT&T inflight system is, doesn’t usually give me a good Internet connection. I lucked out on that flight to Boston. — jeh
Response:
In-Flight Phones To Disappear From Southwest Planes By Keith L. Alexander Wednesday, August 8, 2001; Page E01 Southwest Airlines will begin removing in-flight phones from all of its planes during the next year, the latest cost-cutting effort in the airline industry. Removing the phones will eliminate maintenance costs, Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford said. It will also reduce the weight of the planes, which will help lower fuel costs, she said. She declined to say how much money the airline will save. Southwest says its in-flight phones are not heavily used. One reason is that many customers have cellular phones. In addition, most of Southwest’s flights take about an hour or less, and passengers tend not to use in-flight phones on short flights, Rutherford said. Several other airlines — including United, Delta, Northwest and American — say they have noticed a decline in the use of their phones now that travelers can use their own cell phones on planes until the cabin doors are closed. Southwest’s move coincides with AT&T’s decision to abandon its in-flight phone business. That means AT&T’s airline customers, which include American, Delta and Northwest, would have to find another provider and go through the costly process of installing new phones. Passengers using AT&T are charged a $2.99 connection fee and $3.28 a minute. After 10 years and 20 airline customers, AT&T is selling the unit. Airlines are experiencing their worst financial period in nearly a decade because of higher labor and fuel costs and a significant drop in high-priced business travel. The Air Transport Association, the industry’s trade group, this month said it expects airlines to report losses this year totaling $1 billion to $1.5 billion. On Sept. 1 Northwest Airlines, which already announced that it was laying off 500 employees and implementing a hiring freeze, will eliminate most of its special-diet meals in coach cabins. Air Canada said it was eliminating 7,500 jobs. And most of the major airlines, including Delta, American, Northwest and US Airways, are eliminating unprofitable routes and retiring larger, fuel-guzzling planes. Now some airline analysts believe that Southwest’s move could lead other airlines, especially AT&T customers, to reexamine their in-flight phone services. "The technology is still lousy, and they’re unreliable and very expensive to use," said airline consultant Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group. "This is the perfect time for them to look at their systems." If airlines begin removing phones, industry analysts and airline executives say it would most likely be on flights that are less than an hour. Passengers tend to in-flight phones on longer flights. Northwest Airlines spokesman Kurt Ebenhock said the airline has noticed a decline in use of its in-flight phones and is "reviewing" the service. Most of Delta’s domestic flights are outfitted with GTE Airfone services, but Delta does use AT&T on its shuttles between Washington and New York. Delta spokesman Tom Donahue said the airline would decide whether to find another in-flight service or abandon its service, depending on what AT&T does. "We will determine then if there was sufficient customer demand for this service," he said.