The Top 10 Tech-Friendly U.S. Airlines - zanderspronful1972

In December, PCWorld posted a major story about the tech amenities available to travelers in America's airports ("20 Incomparable U.S. Airports for Technical school Travelers"). In it we focused connected the airports themselves, but often airlines are responsible for driving the installation of other tech amenities in logic gate areas. The airlines have intercourse that electrical outlets, work desks, and zippy Wi-Fi can influence passengers' decisions to fly with Airline A or with Airline B.

As a result, some airlines have get over deeply involved in making their gate areas a much welcoming place for laptop computer and smartphone users. Others have focused on developing apps and mobile websites, and oblation in-flight Wi-Fi service in their planes. Not surprisingly, about airlines are more progressive than others when it comes to techy stuff. Here's how the U.S. airlines whole sle up. (See a ranked chart of the top 10 U.S. airlines, comparing their features.)

1. Delta

Delta has upgraded most 20 of the airports where it operates with Delta-branded charging stations. Those Stations have made a huge difference in the number of available outlets and USB ports at the gates. And Delta's iPad installations at New York's President Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, and (soon) at Minneapolis-St. Paul International are sincerely impressive.

Delta's tech focus doesn't stoppag at the logic gate. All of its large domestic aircraft forthwith offer Gogo WI-Fi on board. The carrier is looking for for a way to outfit its 250 International aircraft with WI-Fi, besides, since Gogo's priming coat-based service can't reach on the far side 100 miles offshore.

Aside from the usual array of features (flight updates, mobile boarding passes, seat maps, and so on), Delta's Fly ball Delta floating app offers capabilities that most other airline apps father't–such as the ability to track your curbed bag by scanning your bag tag with your smartphone. User reviews of Fly Delta in app stores are broadly speaking positive, though the app does lose a a couple of points for non letting the exploiter Quran new flights; you tin can use information technology simply to change existing reservations.

Delta also has the strongest presence of any airline on both Twitter and Facebook. The company allows customers to book travel directly from Facebook, and it offers the @deltaassist hashtag connected Twitter for people who encounter support issues. Delta's "societal media laboratory" is inhabited by stock customer service reps who watch for Delta customers tweeting about problems or annoyances, and then ply support in real time over Chirrup or other channels if necessary.

Delta says that its friendly networking efforts remuneration turned both financially and in customer loyalty. "We want to occupy with our customers with our whole number channels as more as possible," says Delta's vice president of e-commerce Bobsleigh Kupbens. "We feel it's a great way to improve customer servicing. It's a way for us to get masses out of demarcation and off the phone, which is dependable for the customer and well-behaved for Delta."

2. Alaska

Though Alaska itself doesn't have any branded tech amenities in its terminals, the airline operates in airdrome terminals that have a high density of outlets and Net kiosks. The fact that the airline shares umteen terminals and concourses with Delta (an airline that invests in charging stations at the gates information technology serves) helps Alaska out a lot. But the airway is tech-conscious itself, as evidenced by its well-preserved and interactive Facebook and Chitter pages. Last Frontier much reaches intent on customers via Twitter; but it also posts bran-new content, which makes pursuit the airline happening Twitter worthwhile.

Surprisingly, Alaska Broadcast has a fairly operational app, titled the Go by App, that lets you change your seat assignment, add notes about your hotel and car rental, and confirmation into your flight. The app also supports mobile embarkation passes at select airports. One drawback is that you hind end't use the same reservation to check in multiple travelers, then it's not perfect for sept use.

Alaska has been the to the highest degree progressive U.S. airline at making onboard Wi-Fi available. Today, close to 92 pct of the planes in Alaska's fleet have WI-Fi service installed.

3. Virgin America

Virgin America is a diminutive airline that trounce largerr rivals in our rankings by keeping its passengers connected spell they wait for a flight, and while in-flight.

In close to half of the terminals that Virgin services, the release densities are higher than the modal for the drome as a whole.

Every New planes stimulate aboard Wi-Fi, and the company is transitioning from Gogo (ground-based) to a satellite-based Robert William Service. The size of the company's fleet will reach 57 aircraft in 2022, and all planes will glucinium equipped with this technology. Virgin recently partnered with Google to lend Google Chromebooks to passengers 10 minutes before embarkment, so they can take advantage of free Wi-Fi during the flight.

Conversation along New America's Facebook is a bit of a one-style street, as the air hose doesn't seem to respond to user's comments in this meeting place; just overall it scored very well for apply of social media.

4. American Airlines

American has a high tightness of outlets in its terminals, but it doesn't declare oneself much in the way of Internet kiosks, work desks, or other proprietary amenities. The carrier does, yet, reply to Chitter following who have complaints, so American earned high rankings in our social media wads.

Unlike other airline apps, the AA Mobile app lets you Koran flights through it. Information technology as wel supports changeable boarding passes, parking reminders, agitate notifications, and details of your future flights (including terminal maps). Unfortunately, mixed user feedback prevents the app from being a winner; apparently, IT loses boarding passes, and certain pages return error messages.

Onboard Wi-Fi is limited to 30 percent of American Airlines flights. Nonetheless, customers can stream content (such as onboard movies, TV, and euphony) to their receiving set devices while in flight–an especially welcome option granted that many American flights don't take in seatback monitors.

5. Southwest

Southwest attained high marks for the number of outlets, USB ports, and work surfaces at its gates; but its overall superior suffered from the keep company's relatively low level of available onboard Wi-Fi and its kooky app.

At Southwest gates around the country shrimpy reload Stations situated between two comfortable chairs are commonplace, as are high worktables with outlets and stools.

Though alone 19 percent (105 dead of 550) of Southwest's planes now accept WI-Fi service, the airline plans to outfit its entire dart with Wi-Fi aside early 2022.

The Dallas-based airline has discharged its own mobile app for passengers, which it says its customers widely use for booking flights checking in. But the app has drawn substance abuser criticism in the app stores for organism slow and batty, and for having a clumsy substance abuser interface.

Nevertheless, Southwest seems to have a grip on its social media channels. The airline's Facebook and Twitter accounts are content-rich, and its client service of process personnel department reportedly monitor the networks for complaints and questions.

6. Unsegmented/Continent-wide

United had no gate-side tech creature comforts to speak of, but the airline did have a higher-than-medium electric outlet count in the terminals IT serviced at the airports we evaluated. If you're looking to complete some work as you wait for your flight, however, you might want to afterthought engagement United: It had a much lower-than-modal count of work desks at its gates (we formed a work desk As a table with a chair and an outlet).

The United Airlines app has numerous features. You pot account book flights, gain access to airport maps, and get information, and the app offers Mobile Boarding Passes, to a fault. The app's rating would be high if the user feedback it has elicited were a bit higher. Users possess noted occasional problems with push notifications, logging upcoming flights (for Mileage Plus members), and out-of-date gate data.

Unpartitioned's Facebook foliate wasn't very impressive either–allowing customers to post on its wall, but offering no responses and providing no new information for passengers.

Worse still, Wi-Fi is gettable on only 2 percent of United's flights–the last percentage in our test chemical group aside from JetBlue, which has atomic number 102 Wi-Fi at all. United has a large fleet to upgrade, but the company plans to extend Wi-Fi to all planes away 2022.

7. US Airways

US Airways hierarchical poorly in our grading of tech at airport gates, because it offered below-common numbers of outlets, do work desks, and Internet kiosks.

US Airways doesn't have a standalone app, but the carrier does tolerate mobile embarkation passes in select airports. In addition, US Airways maintains an active Facebook and Twitter mien, so information technology scored well in social media activity.

The airway offers Wi-Fi on solitary 17 per centum of its planes, but it plans to dilate those offerings.

8. Frontier Airlines

Frontier ranked under average in number of outlets, work desks, and Internet kiosks for its passengers. Then again, it does a great job of staying on upside of ethnic media–and not just because of the cute animals IT features as its Facebook and Twitter profile pictures. Frontier regularly updates trajectory deal offers, it keeps passengers updated connected services through its sociable outlets, and its offers links for customers to use in submitting complaints if they feel for that they've had poor service.

Frontier Airlines has no app and no designated ambulatory site, only 35 percent of its planes put up Wi-Fi service.

9. AirTran

At its gates in the 40 busiest airports, where we did our inquiry, AirTran offered few amenities for technical school-conscious travelers. It besides has almost no social media presence to speak of. The airline usually offers real punk fares, so passengers should weigh the trade-off. Nonpareil significant plus: The airline offers aboard WI-Fi on wholly of its planes.

10. JetBlue

JetBlue's spokespeople say that the air hose has been conducting research into outfitting its passengers with more tech amenities; but American Samoa of fall 2011, our playing field research indicated that it had not made significant improvements to the gates IT services. The air hose was more or less average therein area, compared to else airlines.

JetBlue did earn a very high social media nock. It doesn't do a great job of responding to user complaints via the social networks, but it does billet regularly and tolerate user comments both sure and disadvantageous.

JetBlue currently lacks a separate app and onboard Wi-Fi, but the airline has partnered with ViaSat to provide WI-Fi on all 160 aircraft in its fleet. The parvenue Wi-Fi service will start appearing in 2012, according to the airline.