Yesterday we flew from Kansas City to Portland, Oregon nonstop on Southwest Airlines flight # 3053. The flight is scheduled for 3 hours and 35 minutes.
That flying time seemed to pass much faster than usual on this flight, thanks to the new “TV Flies Free” promotion between Southwest Airlines and Dish that allows airline passengers to use their iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, or most other Internet-ready personal devices to access free live TV and on-demand shows during their flights.
This limited time promotion just started on July 2, and is only available when flying on one of Southwest’s Wi-Fi-enabled aircraft.
To use the free programming, one simply pulls out their wi-fi enabled device –once cleared to do so by the flight attendants –and connects to the wi-fi on the plane. Wireless service becomes available generally 10 to 15 minutes into the flight.
Before you can watch the television shows, you have to watch a brief commercial about the Dish network. You also have the chance to earn 500 Rapid Rewards points by signing up for the promotion. Note: it’s not until you’ve entered all of your contact information that you see fine print saying that you are agreeing to have a Dish sales rep call you.
The selection of live television is terrific: you can catch up on the latest news, sports or reality TV. Or, you can catch up on multiple episodes of your favorite programs.
Multiple shows of Law and Order on our iPads made our flight seem shorter, despite an every-seat-full-packed plane.
Southwest is the first airline to offer programming that uses customers own devices.
Plus, it’s free. (For now.)
We give the promotion two thumbs up!
Have you used the new “TV Flies Free” promotion on a Southwest Airlines flight? What did you think?
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