Making the Most of In-flight Wi-Fi

As a travel enthusiast, we love visiting new places and learning all we can about different cultures.

Unfortunately, getting to these exotic, enthralling and exciting places involves spending a great deal of time on a long metal tube in the sky.

To keep entertained and help pass the time at 35,000 feet, we want to use technology like tablets and smartphones as much as possible.

We may also wish to be reachable to certain people back home, like a boss, house sitter or family.

Well, luckily for us, more and more airlines are allowing connections to in-flight Wi-fi.

To use the free Wi-Fi and other related services to your advantage, check out the following suggestions:

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Make Sure Your Cellular Plan Offers In-flight Wi-Fi

When it comes to in-flight texting and Wi-Fi, not all smartphone plans are created equal.

Before you leave for your next adventure, make sure that your plan includes unlimited texting as well as one hour of in-flight Wi-Fi.

Gogo In-Flight is a great option because most airlines are equipped with the Gogo service. In addition to the free Wi-Fi for one hour and all the texting, your thumbs can handle, the Gogo service also includes picture messaging and access to T-Mobile’s Visual Voicemail.

Once you have in-flight service, here are some fun ways to use it:

Make Last-minute Trip Plans

As you were busy packing for your vacation, one of your best friends called and said you simply have to visit a certain museum, café or other tourist attraction.

In order to make this travel goal a reality, use part of the free hour of Wi-Fi to make reservations at the restaurant, purchase admission tickets and/or look up the suggested locations to see if you want to visit them in the first place.

Text Your Ride

If a friend or family member is meeting you at the airport, either on your way to or from your vacation, you can use the free unlimited texting option to keep in touch with your transportation source.

This is especially helpful if you are running late and you know your friend is unlikely to check the flight status before leaving home — a quick “we left an hour late so please don’t leave until 3 p.m.” is definitely the polite thing to do.

Catch Up with Emails

In-flight Wi-Fi also allows you to send emails from your airline seat.

While you might want to ignore work email as much as possible while you are gone, you can use the time to catch up on important emails that need a quick reply.

Having access to all of your business and personal contacts can be very useful, especially if you realize mid-flight that you meant to send your co-worker an update on a project.

Download Media to Watch Later

If you are not really in the mood to compose emails, check Facebook or tweet about your in-flight bag of pretzels, you can always use your free Wi-Fi time to download movies and other content to watch later, when your hour is up and you still have plenty of time to pass.

As a backup, prior to leaving home, you may want to load up your tablet or phone with shows and movies from servers like Netflix — storing them offline will allow you to watch them when the hour of free Wi-Fi is up.

How do you use your in-flight Wi-FI?

Thanks to Freepik for the original version of the featured image.