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American Airlines suing Gogo over slow Wi-Fi
Monday, 17 Feb, 2016
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American Airlines plans to ditch in-flight Internet provider Gogo due to poor Wi-Fi speeds on its planes, and has filed a lawsuit seeking to free itself from its current contract.
American claims a clause in its 2012 contract with Gogo allows it to switch providers without penalty before the expiry date if a rival provider offers product that ‘materially improves’ on the service.
"We continually evaluate the in-flight connectivity service we provide customers to ensure it is meeting their needs and wants," said American spokesman Casey Norton.
"We’ve notified Gogo of a competitor’s offering and we will evaluate all our options."
Gogo is not going down without a fight and has the right to offer a counter proposal to match any competing service.
"American is a valued customer of ours. We look forward to resolving the disagreement regarding contract interpretation that led to this declaratory judgment action." A Gogo statement said.
Gogo, the country’s largest provider of commercial airline Internet connectivity uses ground-to-air technology which has now been eclipsed by faster satellite-based tech.
American says it plans to switch to the satellite-based ViaSat system, which is used by United Airlines, JetBlue and Virgin America.
American’s current contract with Gogo is due to expire in 2018.
The news of the lawsuit sparked mixed fortunes for the two rivals.
Gogo shares plunged by 28% while ViaSat was up by more than 10%.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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