On a recent United flight, I noticed that after connecting to the UnitedWifi hotspot I was able to send and receive iMessages on my iPhone/Mac (but not SMS) and Gmail.
According to this FlyerTalk thread, this has been happening for a while.
Google services in general seemed to work, including news.google.com, although I'd hit a dead end with any articles I clicked on.
Here's a way to surf articles on the web using the Gmail loophole. There are several free services where you can email a URL to a special address and receive the webpage back as an email.
http://www.ukeeper.com - note that they ask that you register for free if you plan to use it a good amount
https://pdfconvert.me
According to this FlyerTalk thread, this has been happening for a while.
Code:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1820367-occasional-inflight-imessages-revieved-but-didn-t-pay-access.htmlHere's a way to surf articles on the web using the Gmail loophole. There are several free services where you can email a URL to a special address and receive the webpage back as an email.
- drops@ukeeper.com - this email address will take a link and return a clean, optimized version of the first article it detects as an email, like Readability
- drops.full@ukeeper.com - this will take a link and return the full webpage by email instead of just the first article
- webconvert@pdfconvert.me - this email address will take the first URL in the body of your email and return the linked webpage as a PDF
http://www.ukeeper.com - note that they ask that you register for free if you plan to use it a good amount
https://pdfconvert.me