Which Airlines Have the Best Wi-Fi?
Source: Angela Moscaritolo

Getting on an airplane no longer means losing touch with the outside world. These days, the friendly skies are more connected than ever before.

According to a new report from airline comparison service Routehappy, 2014 was a "banner year" for connectivity in the skies. Just a few years ago, in-flight Wi-Fi was a rarity, and where it was available, flyers complained about slow speeds and high prices.

"The landscape has since changed dramatically," Routehappy said. These days, in-flight Wi-Fi is widely available on mainline and regional connection flights within the U.S., and it's becoming more common on international flights as well.

Connected TravelerRoutehappy analyzed all commercial flights scheduled to depart on a "typical mid-week travel day," and found that passengers have at least "some chance" of getting Wi-Fi on almost one-quarter (24 percent) of airline miles flown worldwide. On U.S. domestic flights, flyers have some chance of getting service on two-thirds (or 66 percent) of airline miles ― up from 38 percent in 2013.

Wi-Fi performance varies by airline. In the U.S., 35 percent of connected planes had "good" Wi-Fi that would be equivalent to 3G speeds, 38 percent had "better" service that rivals 4G, while just 1 percent had the "best" quality, which would be adequate for streaming video.

Overall, 52 airlines around the world now offer in-flight Wi-Fi in most regions; in the U.S., Delta and Virgin America earn top honors (though not everyone is impressed).

Delta ― the largest U.S. airline ― offers "by far" the most flights and flight miles with Wi-Fi due to its sheer number of flights per day, Routehappy said. But Virgin America ― a much smaller airline ― earned bragging rights for offering Wi-Fi on nearly 100 percent of its flights. If you're traveling across the pond, however, you might be best off with United, which has the most international planes with Wi-Fi, and offers the "best" service.

For more, check out the infographic below.

But is your information safe in the sky? Earlier this month, Google engineer Adrienne Porter Felt released a report that said Gogo Inflight Internet was serving SSL certificates from Gogo instead of site providers―a big no-no in online security. The move could mean that passwords and other sensitive information entered while logged into the Gogo service could have been compromised. See more in the video below.