Southwest Airlines Community

Quick little revival, conclusion and final hail mary of a proposal First - last flight I was on with SWA I was able to get certain wireguard-based connections to work- BARELY, just unusable unless the flight is empty. IPTV boggs down the GEO-SAT based internet SWA switched to slowly around 2016. Given how much BETTER other airlines wifi is (i.e. using ground station 5G based comms instead of GEO (I believe SWA is now all GEO-based comms specifically provided by Viasat).   Before all this mess started happening, SWA was using a similar system that providers like American Airlines uses (4/5G direct to ground receivers eliminating the huge GEO (geostationary earth orbit satellite) latency. Before SWA offered free TV, speeds were great (given the era and the medium), it would die over bodies of water and as much direct testing I could and experienced when SWA started flying to Puerto Vallarta - a route taken by AA usually only, I was able to compare and contrast for a while, AA would cut out just as SWA would as we got into Mexico from DFW if AA and sadly only via connecting flight if SWA (boy I would love if LUV got an international terminal, I will do everything in my power to avoid layovers, which is why I say limited testing).    Then, SWA switch from Business to ‘free TV’ which is when this all started happening. Basically, I figure what happened is ViaSAT sold SWA on a contract of some sort and it wrecked business users so they could advertise free live junk TV without needing DISH.     SWA started having connectivity over Mexico but still very poor AA still doesn’t, but it’s gotten a lot better as 4/5G get’s deployed in Mexico (heck, I get 5G in Puerto vallarta with speeds around 200Mbps / 10Mbps up which is huge compared to just 4 years ago - note ON LAND via mobile not via the airplane’s wifi). To this day I will happily pay AA wifi because I can actually use VPN with RDP reliably. As long as we’re flying over land in the US. Mexico has gotten better so much so that I will buy it now when going down to PVR. (I still hate DFW though, not as bad as connecting in Houston, though).   AA doesn’t have free TV (from what I can recall). I may be mistaken, I think I recall seeing Dish being a provider for a bit. Separate systems.  So SWA being the cost-cutters they are, were likely sold a great deal with ViaCrap who I assume basically told SWA they could provide both wifi and ‘dish-style’ TV without the extra cost and hardware/maintenance of managing 2 systems. What they DIDN’T say was that it would completely bog down the bandwidth because IPTV isn’t the same thing as Dish. SWA may or may not have known the ramifications of this ‘cost saving’ measure, I will assume someone knew but they thought who cares about wifi when you have MOVIES AND TV FOR FREE (marketing department).  I hope ViaCrap contract ends with SWA soon, I’ve honestly been travelling less on SWA just because they used to be tech-focused (was one of the first airlines to provide decent wifi from what I recall as most orginally started with SAT and very expensive at that. But internet connectivity on a 2-5 hour flight is critical. If I want to watch a movie, I will preload it from Plex.  People are going to get sick of the 7 channels on SWA and the sub-dial-up speeds. And as a manner to ‘keep kids quiet’, In my opinion, I think kids these days would prefer the internet over archaic-style cable tv.  Which brings me to my final proposal: SWA, you would change the game for business, wait, everyone, flying SWA if you signed on with Starlink. My team has been installing Starlink for multi-home/business backhauls in very rural areas in Texas in which they previously paid $300+ a month for ViaCrap at each location - now through some nifty WISP-ing 1 business class dish backhaul supplies 10x the speeds, 1/20th the latency and shared saving thousands of dollars. Results were far far far better service from the prior mix of ViaSat and HughesNet. StarLink is a game-changer and I believe the airlines that sign on first will benefit best. I dare you, SWA - DO IT!  https://www.starlink.com/business/aviation     ... View more

What VPN do you have that works? I've been having this issue as noted in this thread which I started in 2016 In-Flight Wifi - VPN Issue (southwest.com)   Various types from even PPTP to IPSec/LT2P to application based VPN apps fail.    Curious to know what VPN works.  ... View more

I guess this thread puts the nail in the coffin on this issue. Officially not supported. What a shame   VPN? (southwest.com) ... View more

@DancingDavidE wrote: @ridgeway wrote: Update/ post Edit: 4/10/2018 because for some reason posts aren’t visibly time stamped.    This makes me pretty disappointed on how this thread and how much I really even trust this forum in general. Hope southwest takes note. I see timestamps in the header for each post, you don't?   Anyway, the community here is not a customer support channel, there is some involvement by a team from Southwest but it isn't a place that directly goes back to the IT department. So you should trust the board for "here's a workaround" or "we suggest you do this, I've done this before, etc." but it isn't a place to submit a work order.   Speaking as a user - I don't know if Southwest will support VPN in the near future, and I certainly don't rely on using it myself as that has proven fruitless, I bring a thumb drive.   I was on mobile, so that's definitely my bad about the time stamps, but I do see them now. However I definitely do not recall the 3 posts before lindsey commented, maybe I'm just going a lil crazy over here. And I do understand this is not direct support, but it is a forum... I've tried direct support but I can never get past level 1 base support. Also, @LindseyD did state that they've forwarded this to their IT dept and would have it resolved or an answer by the end of 2017.    To their credit, I think they did try to resolve this... they specifically reached out to me even, but since providing them contact info "they decided to go a different route"... and I haven't heard back. Convo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yduwrpbt648401k/Screenshot%202018-04-11%2017.38.24.png?dl=0    I believe this probably a much bigger issue with software/hardware firewalls, and their IPTV Dish service (I'm making assumptions that it's IPTV, could be something I don't even know about I mean I have never networked an aircraft with streaming dish TV so yea...). But none of this happened before that was launched. And from my experience with IPTV and unique or enterprise network setups, it's a networking PITA.  ... View more

Update/ post Edit: 4/10/2018 because for some reason posts aren’t visibly time stamped.    Honestly, I’ve been following this thread for a while, and now “first page” posts are mostly positive deflecting Solutions to the actual problem? Thumb drives? You have kids so just watch the (working) “in flight Wi-Fi tv on your iPad” instead of “troubleshooting the work issue” are kinda silly arguments on why this is still a problem, and why there has, despite direct interaction in this thread from southwest employees, been no action towards fixing this issue. This makes me pretty disappointed on how this thread and how much I really even trust this forum in general. Hope southwest takes note. ... View more

Hi @LindseyD - just checking in as it's nearly the end of 2017. Any updates??    Thanks!     ... View more

Still no option to add LUV vouchers, past funds on cancelled 'Wanna-get-away' trips, etc etc. BUT it's a LOT faster, more stable, and actually hung onto a reserveration for over 2 hours with the app closed. Nice work. But, it would be nice to add the other payment options!   Thanks!   ----- ... View more

Thanks for clarifying - I basically got companion by a mix of the card use, and trying to use every outlet like the car rental/hotel bookings to get there. I guess the car/hotel points were more impacting than the card use though. Though I really want to say the card didn't have a 15,000 cap, but I'd have to go back in my records of RR points etc etc.    Cheers, Ridge   ------ ... View more

@LindseyD Great to hear that y'all at Southwest are putting some time into this, including replying to a community post here on the forums as well!   Regarding the other replies, here are my thoughts: I used to be able to connect to my VPN in the earliest days of the in-air wifi program; sometimes it wasn't the quickest but I sure didn't have any issue connecting and remaining connected throughout the flight (given it was over land the entirety of the flight My VPN is not some third-party VPN service, it's simply a VPN server located on a fiber connection at my company's main office - connection via OpenVPN, L2TP, or (not preferred, obviously) PPTP. Never used any third-party VPN software like those that are needed for some of those 'Private Browsing' VPN's All 3 methods now fail to connect, despite them working great at hotels, and various other public wifi hotspots Now, my next step in troubleshooting was to make sure to pause/shut off all connections to high-bandwidth apps such as Dropbox (Business, nonetheless), Adobe CC, iCloud, G-Drive... etc (if you can't tell, I'm a power used) - No luck, still lack of connection I use a nifty tool that I have been using for years called "Little Snitch" and I specifically have an 'In-Flight' profile made that will auto-disable connections to whatever apps and ports I'd like.  Not only can I not connect anymore, but the speeds (tested by general direct download via SSH or using a tool like speedtest.net or speedof.me) - Speeds wen't from reasonable 2 years ago (5mbps down, 2mbps up were, I believe, the best I recorded) - now I have to switch to kbps to even measure it.  Despite the lack of connection, I can still get some basic functionality to discuss things with my team via Slack, though it does 'lag' sometimes. I do recall when in-air wifi was first rolling out, having the ability to video chat (obviously just tried as a test, wouldn't do this on the reg)  but my point is, there is absolutely not enough stable bandwidth for this now.  Overall, I figure this is an attempt to prevent people who use VPN's to circumvent the blocks put fourth by the on-board (I assume it's onboard, ha) firewall. No matter how nice the speed is today, there is still no connecting to my VPN via any usual protocol.  Possible solutions? First and foremost, have a clear and non-guesswork network policy that can be read For the abusing VPN users? Blacklist VPN providers that are dedicated to circumvent firewalls.  Throttle bandwidth? (Though this is likely used heavily already) Let company's or premium/A-Lister's circumvent some of the firewall rules Let corporations and businesses submit whitelist IP/domain approvals for private VPN's Charge a premium for non-A-list business class, or similar systems Add more on-board resources? I'm sure I'm stating the obvious but clearly the BYOD southwest wifi and TV has become much more popular and much more people know about it compared to when it was just on a few aircraft a few years ago.  Best of luck to the future of on-board wifi connectivity and the future of LUV at SWA!   See ya onboard (Flying out from LUV Field here in a few hours)   Cheers, Ridge   ... View more

up / bump ... View more

Bump ... View more

Ok so the survey thing I signed up for and did what it seems like almost $200 in surveys but barely have even reflected or have yet to reflect, haven't done one in a month or so because I deemed it a waste of time. If it isn't someone sell me on it... And I don't mind taking surveys usually they are great for whatever research they are trying to accomplish... But if Amazon will pay out more why not use them? (Besides the fact that these go directly toward CP).   Also, if I get CP without A-list, will I not get any a-list benefits? And do I get double points if I purchase flights for others "qualifying" (with SWA CC)?   Thanks and much LUV  -Ridge ... View more

Yep the fine print is where I've been looking, and been using my SWA RR Card as designated business expense card as we expanded this year so that's probably a big reason why my CC points are overshadowing my flights, also always check rapidrewardsshopping.southwest.com to see if any great 4/pt deal for electonics at a store that will price match anyway! Win win! Also, I have been using points to fly, but not anymore so I don't miss out on the Non-A-List-companion-pass; I'm actually going to try and make it my goal to get companion pass without A-List as it seems it would be an odd situation and I'm curious... ha.    Wish me luck.  ... View more