I am currently en route to Boston from MSP on Delta right now and decided to test out the free Wi-Fi they are now offering to access Amazon and other sponsored sites. Luckily, I got one of my favorite seats which is the first row behind first class. Lots of legroom and space to stretch out.
Anyway, here is a look at what you will see when you connect to Gogo inflight:
Right away you can see your flight, arrival time, weather, Amazon access, and other news and info tabs.
I always like knowing how many minutes away I am from my destination and if you click on “Flight Tracker” or launch the “flight updates” you will be up to date on where you are and how far you still have to travel.
The first thing I checked out was the free Amazon access. The load times weren’t bad and are typical of the paid Gogo access. You can freely browse all of Amazon. Now, since I am a Prime member and the Video on Demand is not blocked I tried to play a TV episode. Of course it launched and just continued loading for over 10 minutes until I gave up. This doesn’t surprise me at all. Those videos eat up bandwidth. I have tried streaming netflix on flights with paid Gogo Wi-Fi and it was painfully slow and almost unwatchable. I guess that can vary based on how many people are browsing the web and what they are doing on it but no matter what it is not going to be fast.
There are more free services offered but nothing too special.
Under the “Destinations” tab you will find access to StubHub and OpenTable. Useful for booking restaurants and getting tickets for the city you are flying into.
Under the “Shopping” tab you will find free access to Amazon, Groupon, Gilt, and Delta Sky Shopping. I wish eBay was included on this list personally but it’s free so no complaints.
The “Flight Tracker” does the exact same thing as the homepage just in bigger form and includes a map. Details on arrival time, geographical location, altitude, and speed are all displayed for you to see.
Lastly, you have access to “News and Entertainment.” The latest “news” is hard to call news since it is headlines from People magazine. It will take you to a special People page specifically for Gogo at people.gogoair.com. Not that much news there. I would love CNN or ESPN to be included in news somehow. Any news site and sports site would be a great addition.
And of course you have access to Delta.com for managing your account and booking flights.
Overall Impressions
No complaints for free Wi-Fi but the Amazon access was the most useful for me. I was able to browse the inside of some books I wanted to order and have them waiting for me when I get home Monday. If you are a big People or Groupon fan you will enjoy the free access but there is still only so much time you can spend on these sties.
I am still wondering if you can purchase and download a Kindle book with your Prime account while inflight and actually read it on your Kindle. I will have to check this out next time when I have access to a Kindle. I am disappointed Amazon video on demand doesn’t work at all but that is what I expected anyway.
Overall, not bad but they could add a few more sites. These freebies can only occupy my time for so long.
