Wi-Fi Report Card: Which Airlines Keep You Connected the Best?

Good news, business travelers: More airlines are keeping you connected. (Virgin America)

For Internet-addicted business travelers, an in-flight announcement that “Wi-Fi is down at the moment” is enough to induce the shakes. And getting booked on a flight that doesn’t offer Wi-Fi at all is enough to send them into fits of rage.

Fortunately, a new study finds plugged-in road warriors had less reason to panic over their in-flight connectivity last year. And 2015 looks even better.

Related: The Wi-Fi Race: What Are the Best-Connected U.S. Airlines?

A new report by travel website Routehappy finds U.S. flyers now have at least “some chance” of finding Wi-Fi on 66 percent of domestic flights. In contrast, Routehappy’s last report, in June 2013, found Wi-Fi connectivity on less than half of domestic flights. And the story is getting brighter internationally too.

So what’s the Wi-Fi state of the union? Here are the main highlights of Routehappy’s “ Global State of In-Flight Wi-Fi“ report.

Wi-Fi is growing like a weed on U.S. air carriers.

Virgin America is out in front on percentage of flights with Wi-Fi. But when you look at the total number of Wi-Fi-connected flights, it’s another story.(Photo: Routehappy)

Overall, Virgin America leads Routehappy’s list, with the highest percentage of total flights and flight miles with Wi-Fi (that’s not surprising; unlike many other carriers, all of Virgin America’s planes offer Wi-Fi). Southwest is in second place.

But when you’re talking the raw total number of flights that offer Wi-Fi, Delta Air Lines — which runs many more flights than Virgin — is number one by far. It’s followed by the newly combined American Airlines/ US Airways.

WATCH: No More In-Flight Wi-Fi for AT&T

Because of its size and aggressive upgrades, Delta has more Wi-Fi connected flights than anyone. (Photo: Delta)

United Airlines did top one domestic category: Wi-Fi growth. In Routehappy’s last survey, United offered at least “some chance” of Wi-Fi on 518 U.S. domestic flights. Today, that number is 1,445 flights — a 179 percent increase. American/US was in a distant second with a 23 percent increase, followed by Delta with 15 percent.

"Domestically, Wi-Fi is being offered on more flights than ever before,” Jason Rabinowitz, d ata research manager for Routehappy, tells Yahoo Travel. “All mainline airlines have either finished or are nearly finished rolling out Wi-FI to their entire domestic fleets.”

It’s not just what airline you fly — it’s where you go.

Routehappy finds that all the busiest U.S. domestic routes (20 daily flights or more in each direction) have Wi-Fi availability on all flights. That includes: New York’s JFK to Los Angeles; New York’s LaGuardia to Boston; LaGuardia to Washington-Dulles; New York’s JFK to San Francisco; and Charlotte to Atlanta.

Wi-Fi and power don’t always go together (but they should).

What’s the point of offering passengers Wi-Fi if their computers, tablets and phones run out of juice while they’re using it? “That drives people crazy,” Rabinowitz says. Offering Wi-Fi without power is like offering mac without cheese: Yeah, you can do it, but what’s the point?

In-flight Wi-Fi is like vodka: It’s much tastier with juice. (Photo: Johnny Vulkan/Flickr)

Fortunately, some airlines have gotten that message. In Routehappy’s report, Virgin America leads the way with 100 percent of flight miles with Wi-Fi and in-seat power in Economy class. Alaska Airlines is second, and United is third. But if you’re flying JetBlue or Southwest, you’d better bring a book: Those airlines were found to offer the greatest majority of flights with that unfortunate Wi-Fi/no power combination.

Two extremes: Virgin America has 100 percent of flights with both Wi-Fi and power. Southwest has 100 percent of flights with Wi-Fi and no power. (Photo: Routehappy)

Slowly but surely, Wi-Fi is spreading worldwide.

Wi-Fi on international flights is getting much more common, especially on Icelandair. (Photo: Routehappy)

International airlines have been slower to offer Wi-Fi than U.S.-based airlines, but they’re getting better. In Routehappy’s latest report, non-U.S. airlines offered at least “some” chance of Wi-Fi on 15 percent of their international flights. That may not seem like much, but it’s still a slight improvement. “ “As of our last report 18 months ago, very few airlines outside of the United States offered the service, with only a handful of flights each day,” Rabinowitz says. But now, “some airlines have nearly completed the rollout of in-flight Wi-Fi on their entire widebody fleet.”

In all, Routehappy finds n ine non-U.S. airlines now offer a “very good” chance of having Wi-Fi on 20 percent or more of their international flight miles: Japan, Emirates, Aeroflot, Iberia, Lufthansa, Singapore and Etihad. On the remaining two airlines — Norwegian and Icelandair — that number tops 80 percent.

Overall, the airline with the most international planes with Wi-Fi was United.

As far as Wi-Fi on international airlines goes, Icelandair is icing the competition. (Photo: Icelandair)

The future is bright for Wi-Fi on planes.

Rabinowitz thinks we’re not far from seeing in-flight Wi-Fi that resembles the speedy connections you have at home and the office. “In-flight Wi-Fi will be faster, less expensive and available on airlines you probably wouldn’t have guessed today,” he says. With the launch of newer satellites — which offer better connectivity than the more common land-based Wi-Fi systems — he expects the Wi-Fi experience to greatly improve.

Don’t worry: There’s a lot more Wi-Fi in your future. (Photo: Thinkstock)

In addition to getting faster, Rabinowitz predicts Wi-Fi will get even more commonplace, with U.S. airlines expanding it to more international routes and to their smaller regional planes as well. “Passengers are not only aware that in-flight Wi-Fi exists, but they actually expect it to be available,” he says.

So it looks like “What do you mean this flight doesn’t have Wi-Fi?” will be a question workaholic business travelers will have to ask less and less.

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