free wifi, finally

And the signal gap every Alaska flyer dreads is finally going away.

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian have now put free, fast wifi on around a hundred and fifty planes, and they're running ahead of schedule.

If you've flown in or out of Alaska, you know the drill. Somewhere over Canada the signal just drops, and you're staring at a frozen screen for a chunk of the flight. The new setup runs on satellites, so it keeps working north and south over Canada and all across Alaska.

The whole regional fleet already has it, plus the first fifty of the bigger mainline jets. They're aiming to finish the rest by next year.

Here's the catch, and it's a small one. The wifi is free, but you have to be in the airline's rewards program to use it. Signing up is free too, and it only takes a minute, so it's worth doing before your next trip.

There's a new onboard portal rolling out this month, and the airline says it'll be standard across flights by the middle of July.

For a state where so many of us are flying somewhere just to see family or get to work, having real working internet the whole way is a genuine upgrade. So next time you board, log in and enjoy the view and the signal.