(free) Inflight wifi no more - JAL/CX

[brett-au]

I was hoping to post a review on the Aust Post travel card, which should get you 3 months free inflight wifi with boingo for $0.

Just quickly, that bit was true up until a few weeks ago. As long as you sign up online and charge AUD100, you will get activated through the boingo MC portal and you can then withdraw the cash through purchases at coles, woolies, bunnings sausage sizzles, etc for no additional fees. However, their latest website has quietly removed the feature.

However, while my boingo account shows active, boingo support confirms no inflight wifi for debit mastercards.

With 28D gone and now this, are there any other options, than paying $25-$28 a flight for wifi? It's not even clear if paying for the 24 hours boingo pass will get you wifi.

Btw - again, it worked seamlessly on JL52, from Newcastle to off the coast in Japan, when they disabled it just before landing. Maybe the high cost is a good thing for high speed..

 

[henrus]

However, while my boingo account shows active, boingo support confirms no inflight wifi for debit mastercards.

This is a mastercard thing in Australia, they have replaced the boingo wifi with flexiroam data instead, mastercard holders get a free esim and 3GB data pack.

It's worth noting that from March 2023 (last year) Boingo inflight roaming for free was limited to 12x 90 minute sessions per year. This means if you take a flight from Sydney to Singapore you'd have to use 5 sessions to stay online (before this they had a cap of 7 sessions with no time limit or 2.1GB per month).

It's also worth noting that many airlines like Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand are going the way of free wifi instead. Hopefully JAL/CX also move that way.

 

[drron]

Or travel F on JAL and the wifi is free.