American Airlines just ended the era of awful Gogo Wi-Fi

The public spat between American Airlines Group and Gogo, which provides the bulk of the carrier's domestic inflight Wi-Fi, could be considered the final blow to ground-based Internet access that has become another irritating part of the air-travel experience. It will take years for Gogo to install its backlog of orders for faster Internet service, but at least the beginning of the end of a sluggish era of in-flight Wi-Fi is finally near. The fight started when American petitioned a Texas district court Feb 12 to enforce a contract term allowing it to ditch Gogo for a faster service from rival ViaSat Inc. Ten days later—once Gogo shares had tanked by more than a third—American withdrew its request for a declaratory judgment after Gogo agreed with American’s interpretation of that contract provision. <br/>