Air travel used to mean hours of complete peace from the outside world. No phones ringing, no urgent texts to respond to, no email emergencies to deal with. For better or for worse, it’s now fairly easy to be able to text and use Wi-Fi on airplanes. And these days, many airlines offer the ability to text for free.

Among the airlines that let you text for free, the list includes JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines. These carriers allow texting either through free inflight Wi-Fi or with the use of text messaging services.

Here’s your guide to send and receive text messages on a plane, broken down by the biggest airlines.

How it works

Standard SMS messaging typically won’t work in the air since you’ll need a cellular network connection. But as long as there’s Wi-Fi available on a flight, you’ll have some way to communicate with people on the ground.

To text while flying, you’ll need to use a messaging app like WhatsApp, Apple iMessage, WeChat or Facebook Messenger. These "Over The Top" applications don't require a cellular network connection and instead send messages through the internet. Of course, that means your phone may need to be connected to the internet (which may require you to pay for in-flight Wi-Fi).

On the bright side, many airlines now enable texting on certain apps, even without a paid Wi-Fi connection.