Southwest Airlines offers WiFi on its domestic and international flights and lets you access it from your personal device. Their inflight entertainment portal has a plethora of content, and the exciting part is most of them are free.
How do you connect to Southwest WiFi? The procedure is pretty easy. You just need to open your device’s settings, choose Southwest WiFi, access the Southwest portal, and enjoy your desired content. Southwest blocks high-bandwidth platforms to streamline your WiFi usage.
The following article will discuss Southwest’s WiFi service in detail. Let’s keep reading.
A Step-By-Step Guide To Connecting To Southwest WiFi
Southwest Airlines offers Wi-Fi access on most popular devices, including smartphones, laptops, and tablets. Their inflight portal is compatible with all of these devices.
You can watch movies, listen to music via iHeartRadio, watch live TV, text through WhatsApp, and many more. And you don’t need any additional app to enjoy those features.
The process of connecting to Southwest’s WiFi server may vary depending on your device. But generally, you need to follow the following steps to access Southwest inflight WiFi.
Step 1
Open your device’s settings.
Step 2
Turn On your device’s Airplane mode.
Step 3
Turn on WiFi.
Step 4
Look for “Southwest WiFi” on your device’s WiFi list.
Step 5
The official WiFi link of the Southwest will appear on the screen. Tap it. If you can’t see the link, launch your device’s browser and manually type in the address.
Step 6
Select your desired entertainment type and enjoy.
If you encounter any trouble when accessing the portal, you can always contact the officials or Southwest. For that, you have to visit the Southwest official website and then click on Contact Us.
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Things You Can Do With Southwest Wifi
The plethora of content you can enjoy on the Southwest-offered portal includes
- Movies
- TV series
- Live TV channels
- Live radio and podcasts
- games
- social media.
Southwest has added popular channels like ESPN and Disney to their TV channel list.
You can send texts via iMessage or WhatsApp. Not to mention, you have to keep those apps on your phone before the flight.
What You Can’t Do With Southwest Wifi
For uninterrupted and smooth usage, Southwest restricts certain high-bandwidth websites and applications.
Popular OTT platforms like Netflix or HBO Max are not available on their flights. You can’t use video conferencing services like Zoom or Microsoft Teams either.
However, apart from the free content on the portal, if you want to get access to the internet, you have to pay $8 for a day on one device.
Free Content List On Southwest Wifi
There are 19 free live TV channels and more than 70 popular TV series you can watch on Southwest flights.
Some of the free TV channels you can stream include:
- CNBC
- MSNBC
- Fox News
- ESPN
- ESPN 2
- NBC
- Discovery
- CNN
- Disney
- Bravo
- HGTV
- NFL
Southwest offers a wide list of movies and TV episodes, and all of them are arranged based on newly-released content and customer choices. You can watch all of them from your device’s browser and you don’t need to download any extra apps for that.
Issues You May Face While Using Southwest Wifi
It’s hard to get a flawless WiFi connection when the plane is in the air. The Southwest is no different. A load of complaints seems to exist on the community discussion forum of Southwest, and sadly, most of them are regarding the WiFi service they provide.
Although the technical team at Southwest keeps upgrading their service and rapidly opting to solve the customer’s issues. Still, some of them frequently pop up. Some of the interruptions the travelers face are:
- Slow connection
- Wifi frequently disconnects or drops.
- It takes time to connect to the WiFi.
- The movie server cannot be accessed.
- Video and Audio content buffering issue
These complaints are made frequently by both free service and paid internet users. In the case of certain aircraft models, these issues seem intense.
Can You Demand A Refund For Poor WiFi Performance?
One of the most pleasing parts of Southwest’s services is that they allow refunds for poor services.
According to the transportation law of the U.S. Department, if any passenger is unable to use any optional service that they paid for, the service providers are bound to give the money back. To ease the process, Southwest has a Refund Department. You can always notify them via phone or send them a request letter.
So, Connect To The Wifi And Enjoy The Flight
Southwest’s WiFi services give you access to hundreds of content, including live TV, movies, music, podcasts, games, and more. You can text your friends and family from the flight and use social media platforms. This article has discussed how to connect to Southwest WiFi along with some relevant information in detail that you need in terms of using the service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Southwest Wi-Fi work on laptops?
The Wi-Fi service on Southwest supports all the popular devices, including phones, laptops, tablets, and iOs. All you have to do is to connect your device to the WiFi.
Does Southwest Wi-Fi support Netflix?
Southwest restricts certain digital platforms that come with high bandwidth, including Netflix, HBO Max, Microsoft Team, and Zoom.
How do you text for free on Southwest?
The Wi-Fi service on the Southwest lets you text for free through its iMessage app. You can also send texts using Whatsapp for free.
