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Everything You Need to Know About Gogo Inflight Internet

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Spencer Howard

Spencer Howard

Former Content Contributor

Countries Visited: 21U.S. States Visited:

Always a fan of flying, Spencer wanted to find ways to upgrade his travel experience. Over the years, Spencer has been a guest speaker on multiple YouTube shows as well as podcasts on maximizing point...
Edited by: Keri Stooksbury

Keri Stooksbury

Editor-in-Chief

Countries Visited: 39U.S. States Visited: 28

With years of experience in corporate marketing and as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, Keri is now Editor-in-Chief at UP, overseeing daily content operations and r...

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Whether you travel in first, business, or economy class, having Wi-Fi access on your flight can make it more enjoyable. This can be particularly important on transcontinental flights and long international flights.

Some passengers just want to be able to talk with friends or browse the web, while others are traveling for work; either way, having Wi-Fi inflight could make their lives much easier.

Whether you’re looking for some entertainment or trying to finish a project, Gogo inflight Wi-Fi could be an important part of your flying experience.

What Is Gogo?

Gogo is an inflight broadband Wi-Fi provider that serves around 20 airlines and is installed on thousands of aircraft.

The Gogo inflight network allows travelers to access the internet to respond to send messages, email, browse, and stream.

What Airlines Use Gogo?

Airlines from around the world utilize Gogo to provide Wi-Fi access for their passengers.

  • Aeromexico
  • Air Canada (and Rouge)
  • Air France
  • Alaska Airlines
  • American Airlines
  • British Airways
  • Cathay Pacific
  • Delta Air Lines
  • GOL Airlines
  • Iberia
  • Japan Airlines
  • JTA
  • KLM
  • LATAM
  • Level
  • Qatar Airways
  • United Airlines
  • Virgin Atlantic
  • Virgin Australia

How Reliable Is Gogo Wi-Fi?

Gogo 2K satellite service. Image Credit: Gogo

The Gogo inflight network has improved significantly since it was first launched on commercial aircraft over a decade ago.

That being said, Wi-Fi speeds remain inconsistent since some planes are still outfitted with air-to-ground (ATG) systems. This is significantly slower than Gogo’s newer satellite system.

On planes using the older ATG systems, load speeds can become frustratingly slow if most people on your flight decide to use Wi-Fi. Since T-Mobile partners with Gogo to provide its Magenta plan customers with 1 hour of Wi-Fi for free, this can result in what amounts to a traffic jam on the inflight network.

As Gogo rolls out its newest product, a satellite system known as 2Ku, passengers should experience up to 20 times more bandwidth than the older ATG connection.

Gogo’s older system does not cover the entire globe, and when on a long-haul flight, there’s a good chance you’ll cross through a dead zone at some point and lose Wi-Fi.

With Gogo 2Ku satellite Wi-Fi, the network will be vastly improved, covering much of the world, as you can see from the map above.

Gogo 5G

Gogo announced that it will be launching its 5G network in 2021 for regional and mainline commercial jets flying within the contiguous U.S. and Canada. The 5G network will provide passengers with fast and uninterrupted connectivity when flying over urban and non-urban areas.

Can You Stream Video Inflight?

Unfortunately, if your flight is utilizing the ATG system, it is not possible to stream video. There is good news, though! The newer 2Ku satellite system does support video.

How Much Does Gogo Cost?

For participating airlines, Gogo allows you to purchase hourly and day internet passes and plans prior to flights. If you forget to do so before your flight, you can still purchase a pass inflight (although it may be more expensive).

Gogo Day passes. Image Credit: Gogo

Currently, 4 of Gogo’s airline partners participate in these passes: Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines.

Gogo PassesValid Airlines
1-Hour Pass$7Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines
All-Day Pass$19Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines
Delta Global Day Pass$28Delta Air Lines

If you travel regularly, you might be better off purchasing one of its 4 subscription plans.

Gogo subscription plans. Image Credit: Gogo

Gogo Subscription PlansValid Airlines
Monthly Airline Plan$49.95 per monthAlaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines
2-Device Plan$59.95 per monthDelta Air Lines
Global Delta Plan$69.95 per monthDelta Air Lines
Annual Airline Plan$599 per yearAlaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines

Make sure you read the details about each plan to ensure it covers your needs. If you have a lot of upcoming domestic travel, a global plan might not be necessary. If you will be traveling internationally, though, a global plan would be vital.

How Do I Get Free Wi-Fi When Flying?

As you can see from Gogo’s pricing plans above, inflight Wi-Fi is not cheap. Fortunately, there are a few credit cards that provide Gogo Wi-Fi passes as part of their perks, valid on domestic and international flights.

Credit CardNumber of Free Gogo PassesCredit Card Annual Fee
UBS Visa Infinite Credit Card12$495
Crystal® Visa Infinite® Credit Card12$400

Even if you will need more Gogo Wi-Fi passes, knocking out some of the cost is a great benefit from these cards!

Hot Tip: Want to learn more about how inflight Wi-Fi works? Check out our article: Airplane Wi-Fi — How It Works, Airline Availability, Fees, & More

Is Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi Worth It?

Whether purchasing Gogo’s inflight Wi-Fi is worth it to you will be determined by several factors.

Business travelers with tight deadlines might find internet access a must on all flights. However, leisure travelers on short flights might see the price and decide they’d be happy to read a book instead.

Final Thoughts

At this point, almost all travelers expect access to an inflight Wi-Fi network. Gogo continues to roll out a better product, but it’s not cheap.

However, staying connected to the world outside of their plane can be valuable to travelers of all sorts.

The information regarding the Crystal® Visa Infinite® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Gogo provides inflight Wi-Fi on thousands of planes across 20 commercial airlines. Depending on the type of Wi-Fi provided (air-to-ground or satellite), passengers can send and receive messages using messaging apps, read emails, browse the web, or stream video content (if the service supports this).

You can purchase a pass or a plan prior to or during your flight. You then simply log in to your Gogo account to redeem your day pass/plan.

Prices vary from a 1-hour pass for $7 to $599 for an annual subscription plan.

Currently, Gogo operates 2 different inflight Wi-Fi systems. One is an air-to-ground (ATG) system while the other is a satellite system. Gogo is in the process of rolling out the latest satellite system (2Ku) that will be the fastest inflight Wi-Fi available.

Gogo does not currently support inflight video streaming. However, its 2Ku satellite system has the necessary speeds to allow travelers to watch videos.

About Spencer Howard

Always a fan of flying, it was only natural that Spencer was drawn to finding a way to improve the travel experience.

Like many, he started this journey searching for cheap flights to take him around the world. This was fun for a while, but Spencer was intrigued by the idea of flying in business and first class!

Throwing himself into what became an extensive research project, Spencer spent 3-4 hours per night learning everything he could about frequent flyer miles over the course of several months (he thinks this is normal). He runs Straight to the Points, an award-seat alert platform.

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13 comments

Christopher DAngelo

March 28, 2019

Gogo Inflight has to be the worst service in any industry on the planet. Consistently and persistently slow or frozen, repeated dropped connections. If they were honest, they would shut it down or at least run banners that you are going to be wasting your money and time. Every penny spent on Gogo Inflight is $10 too much!

Alex Miller

March 28, 2019

Hey Christopher – thank you for sharing your experiences with GoGo Inflight…and sorry to hear that they cause you so many issues. Hopefully they will continue to improve as there’s definitely competition around.

ldplatt

May 08, 2019

With United Wifi my experience is that Gogo does not work on most of their planes when there is the United wifi. Has this changed? Is there a separate plan that covers both?

Stephen Au

May 22, 2019

Hey Idplatt,

The way it works is United has several Wi-Fi providers and it depends on the coverage network, airplane, and routes you’re flying on. Some that come to mind are Gogo, Panasonic, ViaSat, OnAir, and Thales. The only way to get coverage for all of United’s providers is to purchase a Wi-Fi subscription from United Airlines.

Find out more here:
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/subscription/wifi

Robert

August 19, 2019

I recently canceled my Business Platinum Amex card and it looks like they clawed back my gogo flight passes, very disappointing.

Irene

December 03, 2019

It would seem, from various sources, that this [unlimited] Gogo inflight Wifi is only a privilege for Apple users. Way to screw everyone else AA.

jeph36

July 07, 2020

I am unable to find where to look to see how many free Gogo passes I have on my account. I can login to the Gogo account, but it does not have a balance of free passes any more (from either my CNB Crystal Visa or my Altitude Reserve). Does anyone know how to check this balance?

Jarrod West

July 13, 2020

Hi Jeph36,

So you can log into your account but it no longer shows your balance of free passes? Have you tried contacting Gogo directly to see why this is?

Jeremy

February 14, 2021

Here recently the t-mobile banner has just disappeared on AA flights as well as DL and on DL the free DL banner has disappeared to and no one can tell me why. Is it a setting on my iPhone or what?

Jarrod West

February 17, 2021

Hi Jeremy,

I’m not sure what you mean exactly – what t-mobile banner are you referring to?

Sam

February 05, 2022

Can I purchase wifi for my husbands flight from my phone?

Jarrod West

February 08, 2022

Hi Sam,

I do not believe so. Ordinarily, purchases need to come from the device you’re purchasing for.

Sam

May 04, 2023

I recently flew on alaskaair. used the alaskair app, but the in-flight entertainment would not load. Is there some phone or internet settings I need to change. I hear there is livehelp at gogo, but can’t find that.

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