Qantas to install Wifi on their aircraft?

[Mattg]

I got one of those surveys from QF yesterday that caught my interest. It took me about half an hour to complete and there was a very strong emphasis on two things;
1. Travel to New Zealand, and
2. In-flight wifi.

There were a LOT of questions about in-flight wifi, from how my perception of various airlines would change if they started offering wifi on-board, to how I would expect to pay for it and all sorts of other things.

In one part of the survey, they compared Virgin, Air NZ, Qantas, Jetstar and Emirates and got me to pick which airline I would book with considering a range of scenarios where the only variables were price, IFE and on-board wifi.

Reading between the lines, does this suggest Qantas is seriously thinking about installing wifi on their aircraft?

Based on this survey, my bet would be that Jetconnect aircraft would be the first to get it due to the strong focus on NZ in the survey. But it seems that there has been a general push of late on being more competitive in NZ too, e.g. with the QF status match for NZ residents. Perhaps they see this as another way to differentiate themselves in the highly competitive trans-Tasman market.

 

[samh004]

I got (presumably) the same email, but haven't yet found time to complete it. It said 25 minutes would be required, so perhaps a little later. If it is the same survey, it will be interesting as I don't think I need to browse AFF while flying... however having recently flown VA for the first time in years ADL-OOL I very much enjoyed the BYOD streaming service for movies. I believe QF is installing the hardware in their 737 fleet, but hasn't turned it on yet, or so I have read.

I thought the reason they stopped offering wifi (internet connectivity) was because they weren't making money on it. I'd hate to see them go down a loss-making path again just to compete with carriers who presumably also make a loss on it, but can make a loss and not worry about these things. In the US it's possible because of ground stations, so perhaps they're thinking about setting up towers under popular flight paths to enable this. I'd love to see VA and QF work together on this.

 

[Mattg]

I got (presumably) the same email, but haven't yet found time to complete it. It said 25 minutes would be required, so perhaps a little later. If it is the same survey, it will be interesting as I don't think I need to browse AFF while flying... however having recently flown VA for the first time in years ADL-OOL I very much enjoyed the BYOD streaming service for movies. I believe QF is installing the hardware in their 737 fleet, but hasn't turned it on yet, or so I have read.

I thought the reason they stopped offering wifi (internet connectivity) was because they weren't making money on it. I'd hate to see them go down a loss-making path again just to compete with carriers who presumably also make a loss on it, but can make a loss and not worry about these things. In the US it's possible because of ground stations, so perhaps they're thinking about setting up towers under popular flight paths to enable this. I'd love to see VA and QF work together on this.

It was probably the same survey. Considering the geographic isolation of Australia and the routes Qantas fly (internationally anyway) I imagine that any wifi system would have to be installed on the aircraft rather than ground-based like in the US. It would be pretty hard to install towers throughout the ocean.

 

[RooFlyer]

Surprised to hear about the wi-fi. They experimented with it TPAC several years ago (I think it cost abt $30) but soon abandoned it, saying there wasn't the interest from passengers.

I suspect the cost might have had something to do with the lack of interest by pax. I was travelling on business, but still didn't want to fork out $30, rather enjoyed the break from technology.

 

[moa999]

More likely to get WiFi on domestic routes where they can use ground stations (easiest on golden triangle).
NZ would have to be satellite based which means much more expensive and harder to recover cost

 

[samh004]

I was travelling on business, but still didn't want to fork out $30, rather enjoyed the break from technology.

Not to derail the thread, but I'd prefer a Live2Air feature of bringing some of the news channels to the plane than the internet. That way I'm 'connected' but not to the fullest extent that the internet provides, which I think isn't that important, though haven't had the experience yet myself.

 

[clazman]

Sat connections are inherently slow, but the new low orbit sats are becoming a viable option and offer broadband like response time.

A standard sat service cost $10-$15K to setup, the low orbit ones have a setup of about $250K... downside is currently you have to have a spend of 1 mil for data per year

 

[michaele]

Wasn't there some discussion of someone sharing the cost of a new satellite network with virgin and qantas providing in flight internet a few months ago?

 

[lovestotravel]

When Qantas install EK J/F type seats on their 737's flying to/from NZ I'll worry about WiFi

 

[eric2011]

On a recent flight to NZ on EK I used the free wifi just to check my emails etc, pretty slow so not real good for general browsing. One thing I did use it for was to watch our plane on flightradar, found that better than on board equipment

 

[UP4014]

QF spending $1m to create a point of difference on the NZ routes, it could work for them.

But I wouldn't pay extra for wifi on a plane or anywhere.

Matt

 

[zainman]

Maybe they'll take inspiration from EK and do $1 Wi-Fi.. at least on the A380s!

 

[lovestotravel]

Maybe they'll take inspiration from EK and do $1 Wi-Fi.. at least on the A380s!

The last thing Qantas did with WiFi on their A380's in 2012 was cancel the trial that was happening on 6 or so of their aircraft

 

[cmon0005]

My wife got the same survey however it was SYD-LHR as the route not NZ. Must change the route based on the flight time of your last international flight selected..

Only thing annoying is the survey took more than 25-30 of time to complete with lots of question and there was NO reward or even competition to enter for the effort! Had we known this we wouldn't have bothered putting so much time in.

Don't mind doing surveys to help out with opinions.etc. where they are short and sweet <5-10mins, but 30mins is a lot of time to ask for free!

 

[Mattg]

Only thing annoying is the survey took more than 25-30 of time to complete with lots of question and there was NO reward or even competition to enter for the effort! Had we known this we wouldn't have bothered putting so much time in.

Don't mind doing surveys to help out with opinions.etc. where they are short and sweet <5-10mins, but 30mins is a lot of time to ask for free!

Agreed. I suspect many people wouldn't have bothered doing the survey at all, and the ones who did probably aren't too happy about this.

 

[lovestotravel]

My wife got the same survey however it was SYD-LHR as the route not NZ. Must change the route based on the flight time of your last international flight selected..

Only thing annoying is the survey took more than 25-30 of time to complete with lots of question and there was NO reward or even competition to enter for the effort! Had we known this we wouldn't have bothered putting so much time in.

Don't mind doing surveys to help out with opinions.etc. where they are short and sweet <5-10mins, but 30mins is a lot of time to ask for free!

Guess you missed the 1st screen where it said that it would take 25-30mins and no mention of a reward.................

 

[slc767338]

The last thing Qantas did with WiFi on their A380's in 2012 was cancel the trial that was happening on 6 or so of their aircraft

Although now they're in bed with EK the two companies could use the same tech and split the bill! Just a thought...

 

[opusman]

Although now they're in bed with EK the two companies could use the same tech and split the bill! Just a thought...

At most Qantas is sleeping at the foot of the bed!

 

[Himeno]

Although now they're in bed with EK the two companies could use the same tech and split the bill! Just a thought...

Then what happens if/when the ACCC reviews the deal and doesn't allow it to be renewed? It's only got 3.5 years left before review.

 

[samh004]

I knew there was no reward and the length of time it would take. All this information was in the email.

Having finally completed it, there was a strong emphasis on the wifi product, but a small blurb at the end about something I've heard mentioned before but still hasn't come to fruition: being able to continue watching a movie after you leave the plane... I hope this comes along soon, I think it would be of great use.

Having experienced the VA offering in January, I ran out of time to watch my movie and had to download it at home myself to see the end... a solution Qantas has come up with, but not implemented.