We are an independent publisher. Our reporters create honest, accurate, and objective content to help you make decisions. To support our work, we are paid for providing advertising services. Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Next” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. The compensation we receive and other factors, such as your location, may impact what ads and links appear on our site, and how, where, and in what order ads and links appear. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, our site does not include information about every product or service that may be available to you. We strive to keep our information accurate and up-to-date, but some information may not be current. So, your actual offer terms from an advertiser may be different than the offer terms on this site. And the advertised offers may be subject to additional terms and conditions of the advertiser. All information is presented without any warranty or guarantee to you.

This page may include: credit card ads that we may be paid for (“advertiser listing”); and general information about credit card products (“editorial content”). Many, but not all, of the offers and clickable hyperlinks (such as a “Apply Now” button or “Learn More” button) that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. When you click on that hyperlink or button, you may be directed to the credit card issuer’s website where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer. Each advertiser is responsible for the accuracy and availability of its ad offer details, but we attempt to verify those offer details. We have partnerships with advertisers such as Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and Discover. We also include editorial content to educate consumers about financial products and services. Some of that content may also contain ads, including links to advertisers’ sites, and we may be paid on those ads or links.

For more information, please see How we make money.

How to get free inflight Wi-Fi

  • Joseph Hostetler

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Man working in airplane using cellphone and drinking coffee

    Inflight Wi-Fi rates are a knee-slapper. $13 per hour for a sluggish connection and little to no streaming capabilities when you can simply take 10 minutes before you jump on the plane to download all the 4k media you may need?

    This internet is priced for travelers gripped with fevered desperation. Only someone who can’t afford to disconnect for a few hours is willing to pay that. I’ve been one of them — frantically trying to work on the plane before a deadline hits.

    Fortunately, there are cheaper ways to achieve internet at 37,000 feet. Certain American Express cards used to come with free Gogo inflight Wi-Fi, but they’ve since discontinued that program.

    Enter T-Mobile, which offers its customers access to free Wi-Fi on select airlines. We’ll look at how T-Mobile’s free browsing and texting works — and a few tricks you can use to get it, even if you aren’t a T-Mobile customer.

    Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with the latest travel news and guides, delivered daily right to your inbox.

    How to log into T-Mobile inflight Wi-Fi

    When flying select domestic airlines, and the plane is equipped with Gogo inflight Wi-Fi, then you should be able to connect to the internet for free if you have T-Mobile phone number. Airlines that have Gogo Wi-Fi for T-Mobile users include:

    Step 1. Turn on your Wi-Fi

    When you switch your phone to airplane mode, it’ll turn off its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having your Wi-Fi on in the air — so turn it on.

    Step 2. Find your airline’s internet connection

    Your phone should begin searching for available internet connections. On my American Airlines flight a couple weeks ago, the connection was named “AA-Inflight.” Click it, and your browser should automatically open to an airline landing page where you can continue the sign-in process. Alternately, you may receive a popup asking you to copy and paste a URL into your browser.

    Step 3. Select Wi-Fi

    You’re now connected to Wi-Fi — you’re just unable to browse the internet or do normal internet-ey things. You’ll see a small list of activities that you can do while attached to the airline’s proprietary system — but choose the Wi-Fi option. For my AA flight, the button was labeled “Get online.”

    Step 4. Choose T-Mobile

    You now have options as to how you’ll unlock full internet access. You can pay by the hour (exorbitant), you can pay for the full flight (exorbitant), or you can select T-Mobile, which gives you free Wi-Fi.

    You should note that the duration of your free internet depends on your T-Mobile plan. The only plans that allow unlimited internet access are:

    Step 5. Assure the airline that you aren’t a robot

    You will now have to enter your phone number (if it’s not a T-Mobile number, you won’t get internet access).

    You may need to complete some CAPTCHA tasks as your final step. Then click “get Wi-Fi and texting.”

    That’s it! Go do stuff online.

    T-Mobile Wi-Fi tricks and FAQ

    Free Wi-Fi without T-Mobile

    Let’s be clear — you don’t actually need to be a T-Mobile customer to take advantage of free Wi-Fi. You just need to enter a T-Mobile number when logging in. Because I’ve got a T-Mobile number, I allow a handful of friends to use my number when traveling (as long as I’m not flying that day!). They probably wouldn’t have purchased inflight Wi-Fi anyway, but this saves them ~$17 per flight every time it’s used.

    If you don’t have T-Mobile, but know a friend or family member who does, you can ask to use their number when connecting on your next flight.

    Get Wi-Fi on incompatible devices

    Some devices, like laptops and tablets, won’t work with inflight Wi-Fi. It’s meant for your phone. However, if you simply log into the airline Wi-Fi on your phone and then turn your phone’s hotspot on, you can actually broadcast to any other devices. It’s not speedy, but it does work. In the rare cases when I had to work on the plane, I’ve done this.

    I tried it recently on my latest flight, and while it did work, my hotspot wouldn’t turn on unless airplane mode was turned off. With my older phone, I was able to keep airplane mode on while tethering. YMMV.

    Broadcast to friends

    In a similar vein, if you’ve got a friend or two on the plane with you, you can share your internet access with them by turning your phone into a hotspot. Depending on their activity, your access may be cripplingly slow. Only one device at a time can be associated with your T-Mobile phone number (not everyone on the plane can use your number), so this is the only way to spread the love.

    Bottom line

    T-Mobile customers can get free Wi-Fi on airlines that use Gogo inflight Wi-Fi — and they can also share their phone number with friends or family who should be able to enjoy the benefit too.

    Subscribe to our newsletter for more travel tips and tricks like this delivered to your inbox once per day.

    Featured image by FG Trade / Getty Images.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)