American, Delta, and United Airlines Customers Get Surprise Gift

Airlines rarely give passengers more than they expect. You might get a better-than-hoped-for snack on some Southwest Airlines flights, but getting a surprise Belvita Breakfast Biscuit barely counts as a positive surprise,

Usually, airline passengers get surprised in the wrong way by learning that they have to pay for something that was once free. It's a relatively new thing that major airlines will sell "economy" fares where everything from bringing a carry-on bag to a seat assignment costs extra.

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People flying on low-cost carriers expect those charges but might get surprised when they learn that getting a soda while onboard costs extra. In most cases, people would be less surprised if airlines started charging to use the onboard bathrooms (they haven't) than if they actually got something for free.

T-Mobile (TMUS) - Get Free Report, however, has made a major move to change that. The wireless carrier has partnered with Alaska Airlines (ALK) - Get Free Report, American Airlines (AAL) - Get Free Report, Delta Air Lines (DAL) - Get Free Report, and United Airlines  (UAL) - Get Free Report to give qualified customers of the wireless carrier free WiFi (with some qualifications) on domestic flights from the four airlines.

T-Mobile Offers Free In-Air WiFi

T-Mobile's offer does come with some qualifications. First, to be eligible, the wireless carrier's customers must opt-in to the company's newer "Go5G" plans, although the T-Mobile website shows that Magenta Max customers (the company's most common plan) also get the benefit. Magenta members get the WiFi benefits, but only on four flights each year.

If you have an eligible T-Mobile plane, you can access unlimited texting and streaming on flights where it's offered. T-Mobile described the offer on its website:

"Get free in-flight Wi-Fi with streaming where available all flight long on Alaska Airlines and select American, Delta and United flights, with even more flights coming soon."

Actually accessing the benefits requires a few steps that are perhaps not fully intuitive. Passengers have to place their phone in "airplane" mode, select the airline's WiFi service, open an internet browser (which should direct you to a landing page), and then look for the T-Mobile logo to input your phone number to verify eligibility.

The free WiFi only works on phones. It can't be used on laptops or tablets and your phone can't be used as a hotspot.

Southwest Airlines Is Not Included   

Southwest Airlines (LUV) - Get Free Report is, at least for now, not part of T-Mobile's offer. That's likely disappointing to its customers which recently saw the airline make a negative change to its WiFi pricing.

Previously, Southwest charged $8 per day for its WiFi service. That meant that if you had multiple flights in the same day, you only paid one time for internet access.

In February, however, the airline changed its policy to charge $8 for each specific flight. That means that passengers who have to make a connection must pay $8 multiple times if they want to stay connected.

Southwest explained its justification for the change in an email to TheStreet.

Last May, Southwest announced a commitment to transform our Customer experience, including work to bring vastly improved WiFi connectivity and greater bandwidth onboard through latest-generation upgraded routers and modems. We currently have more than 350 aircraft upgraded and expect the full fleet to be completed by third quarter of this year.

In addition to upgrading our current fleet equipped with our legacy provider, Anuvu, we’re introducing an additional internet provider, Viasat, which will provide WiFi hardware on new aircraft in early March. With two vendors providing connectivity in our fleet, we’re introducing a new pricing model for onboard internet."

The airline does continue to offer free texting on all of its WiFi-equipped flights.