Delta Air Lines has launched new free inflight Wi-Fi options with a dual purpose: to make money from the activities people engage in once they are connected and to encourage more people to sign up for the pay-for-access content.
Delta, which offers Wi-Fi on all of its mainline aircraft and will finish installing it on most of its two-class regional jets by the end of this year, will not disclose what percentage of passengers pay for Wi-Fi access now. But it does disclose that some passengers are telling the airline they are reluctant to commit their money until they know how the inflight connection compares to the connection they get on the ground.
The new Delta Connect portal is designed to give them that experience—and provide some additional revenue to Delta in the process—by expanding the free Wi-Fi content the airline provides. Delta had a “soft launch” of the new content on selected aircraft types on Sept. 30, but did the full rollout on Oct. 4.
Delta already offered free Wi-Fi access for Delta website content, some Wall Street Journal content and shopping site Gilt.com. The expanded free content includes features, such as OpenTable, which will enable passengers to make restaurant reservations in the city they are flying to, and Zappos.com for shoe shopping. It also includes StubHub and Eventful for finding events and buying tickets.
Featured partners have paid for their positioning on the free access site, a Delta spokesman said. He would not provide details on revenue-sharing aspects of the arrangement, if any.
Ultimately, whether Delta obtains more revenue from what passengers pay for Wi-Fi access or from what they do once they are connected will depend on how each traveler makes use of it, the spokesman says.
Also this week, Delta launched entertainment on demand via Wi-Fi on all 16 of its Boeing 757-300 aircraft, which do not have seatback inflight entertainment systems. Choices will include an introductory price for television programming starting at 99 cents and movies available for $3.99, and the TV show and movies the person “rents” will remain accessible on the customer’s personal device for viewing after landing for at least 24 hours after the flight.
The Wi-Fi entertainment on demand will be available for laptops initially and expanded to tablet and mobile devices by early 2012. There are no plans yet to expand the option to other aircraft that already offer more options via their seatback IFE, but Delta does plan to keep an eye on how much customers make use of the 757-300 offer.
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