For years, passengers — and at least one major U.S. airline CEO — have complained about unreliable Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi connections. On Friday, they learned they have an ally in new Gogo CEO and long-time board member Oakleigh Thorne, who admitted he has sometimes felt similarly. “I’m sure everyone on this call has a frustrating Gogo story, either a hard time connecting to the network or an arduous log-on process or just slow performance,” Thorne said.

The Skift Airline Innovation Report is our weekly newsletter on the business of airline innovation. We look closely at the technological, financial, and design trends at airlines and airports. Brian Sumers writes and curates the newsletter, and we send it on Wednesdays. You can find previous issues of the newsletter here. During nearly five decades, Southwest Airlines has built a reputation as a lovable airline passengers can trust.

Another major global airline is planning to retire its Boeing 747s, betting its future on a new generation of fuel efficient twin-engined jets. This time it’s Qantas, the Australian airline, which announced Wednesday it will retire its last Boeing 747-400s by 2020, almost 50 years after it began flying an early version of the iconic jet.

The Skift New Luxury newsletter is our weekly newsletter focused on the business of selling luxury travel, the people and companies creating and selling experiences, emerging trends, and the changing consumer habits around the sector. Before buying the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel brands in 2016, AccorHotels wasn’t really known as a high-end operator. Granted, it had the likes of Sofitel and Pullman but it was lacking in options. The $2.

Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines aviation. For all of our weekend roundups,go here. >>Last week’s engine failure was scary, and Southwest is seeing fewer bookings than usual. But you can be sure of one thing: The passengers will return.

Ryanair does not want to add long-haul service partly because it expects more opportunities will open in Europe and the Middle East as some of its competitors falter and perhaps go out of business amid higherfuel prices,Ryanair chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said April 26 at the Skift Forum Europe in Berlin. “The backdrop for the next three years is that more European airlines are going to go out of business,” he said.

Hundreds of the travel industry’s most-forward-thinking executives will gather for our second annualSkift Forum Europe in Berlin on April 26.In just a few years, Skift's Forums — the largest creative business gatherings in the global travel industry — have become what media, speakers, and attendees have called the “TED Talks of travel.” After last year's European tourism comeback, Skift Forum Europe 2018 will take place at Cafe Moskau in Berlin.

Editor's note: This series, called Airline Insiders, introduces readers to behind-the-scenes decision-makers for airlines. Unlike our ongoing airline CEO series, Future of the Passenger Experience, we will not question the highest-ranking executives here. Instead, we will speak with insiders who guide decisions on airline operations, networks, marketing, and the passenger experience. You can read all the stories in the series here.

It’s still light years away before hotels offer voice-controlled guest rooms, but Hilton Worldwide has taken a step toward that happy future by adding a feature to its mobile app that lets your smartphone act like a remote control for key room functions. At select properties, users of the Hilton Honors app can control the TV, lighting, and temperature of their guest room. But chances are small that your next stay at a Hilton this year will encounter the Jetsons-like functionality.

Alaska Airlines will introduce basic economy fares later this year to leverage its increased capacity and better compete against U.S. airlines that have segmented airfares in a race to the bottom. “We plan to roll out a fare segmentation platform in the late fall, which is essentially Alaska’s response to the industry’s basic economy fares, which are now prevalent,” said Alaska Air Group CEO Brad Tilden on the company’s first quarter 2018 earnings call Monday.