In-flight Wi-Fi turbulence Travellers reluctant to pay

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In-flight Wi-Fi turbulence: Travellers reluctant to pay - WLANs / Wi-Fi, wireless, wi-fi, starbucks, software, Panera, networking, McDonald's, In-Stat research, In-Stat, inflight, hotspot, Gogo, free, connectivity, applications - ARN

In 2008, the number of commercial aircraft that offered in-flight Wi-Fi service totaled just 25, according to market researcher In-Stat. By the end of 2010, however, In-Stat predicts that number should reach 2,000 planes.


Based on these numbers, it's clear the airline industry sees in-flight broadband services as another critical offering for its customers-and also a way to make more money off travelers.


The top 10 U.S. airlines have all started deploying in-flight Wi-Fi systems, according to In-Stat, and by 2013, airlines around the globe will likely have invested nearly $500 million in on-board broadband equipment and services.


Here's the rub, though: Passengers aren't swiping their credit cards to pay for the service.

No surprises really.

 

[k_sheep]

I really enjoy the few "uncontactable" times I get, when I don't have a home phone, mobile, email, pager, whatever going off. So I certainly wouldn't pay

 

[oz_mark]

I don't think many people swipe their cards to pay for the phones that are in some aircraft either.

The issue the airlines have is that providing in-flight wifi is somewhat more expensive than providing wifi on the ground.

 

[markis10]

Business Plan basics - Step 1, check if you are travelling down a familiar path and find out what happened to those before you.

In this case, Connexion, allbeit with Satellite backhaul.

 

[BAM1748]

I really enjoy the few "uncontactable" times I get, when I don't have a home phone, mobile, email, pager, whatever going off. So I certainly wouldn't pay

I agree. What happened to a magazine or a book.

 

[samh004]

There’s the other view of this too that inflight wifi, as with most places you can get it in the US, should be complimentary. If you’ve paid for a ticket, you should have it included (unless you’re flying LCC). At the very least, premium classes should have free access, but when most Americans have unlimited data rates at home or on the go, charging them in the air, after they’ve paid for a ticket might seem too much to them. I know I wouldn’t pay.

 

[MatF]

I really enjoy the few "uncontactable" times I get, when I don't have a home phone, mobile, email, pager, whatever going off. So I certainly wouldn't pay

Totally agree. I normally either read a book or listen to some music. I enjoy "turning off" for a while.

But then I still don't consider internet access on a phone to be particularly useful either, so I'm probably not the targeted demographic.

 

[Sprucegoose]

In all my many years of travel I have never seen anyone 'on the phone'

Does anyone recall seeing someone using an inflight phone?

 

[drewbles]

I've used gogo (one of the main providers here in the USA) on AA flights many times. It's fast, reliable and works great. It's not expensive (They have monthly all-you-can-eat type plans available for frequent travellers) and constantly have promos.

For a 5 hour flight, it's not bad at all if you need something to do (pull out the iDevice and away you go, in fact, they charge less for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch type devices, including other non-iDevices).

There is plenty of free wifi on the ground, but when you're at 32000' and need to check email, $5 or so isn't going to break the bank.

I think pax need to take some concrete tablets and get over it to be honest. Want the service? Pay for it. It's never been available before and it's a service provided to those who want it (IFE is a different situation, but even DJ and other airlines charge for that, and you don't here people whinging).

 

[markis10]

There is plenty of free wifi on the ground, but when you're at 32000' and need to check email, $5 or so isn't going to break the bank.

I think pax need to take some concrete tablets and get over it to be honest. Want the service? Pay for it. It's never been available before and it's a service provided to those who want it (IFE is a different situation, but even DJ and other airlines charge for that, and you don't here people whinging).

People in the tech industry feel a need to check email at all costs and are happy to use it, general public less so. Then there is the other issue, if the boss knows you are on a connected plane during work hours is he/she expecting you to use it as well.....?

 

[MatF]

There is plenty of free wifi on the ground, but when you're at 32000' and need to check email, $5 or so isn't going to break the bank.

Haven't felt the need to check email that regularly. Indeed, a time management course I attended a while back suggested only checking your email twice a day even when at your desk, to avoid the distraction. I tend to agree with this, but I'm not part of the instant generation. I know my wife struggles with this concept.

I've taken that time management advice to heart. I'll be leaving for the airport at 1pm today, and I won't check my work email from then until Monday morning

 

[drewbles]

People in the tech industry feel a need to check email at all costs and are happy to use it, general public less so. Then there is the other issue, if the boss knows you are on a connected plane during work hours is he/she expecting you to use it as well.....?

Well you're right yes. I'm biased working in the IT world so I'm quite prepared to pay sub-$10 for access on a longer flight (considering this is usually less than 5% of the cost of the fare here, and would be substantially less on a MEL-PER segment if it were available).

Often though a flight may be a perfect place to get some work done when you've just run out from meetings, or need to send something to a customer you've just left. From what I can see, it's not aimed at the leisure traveller, with all the advertising being in Admirals Clubs, and i've seen them pushing gogo in other industry rags.

Then again, I work whenever I need to. It's a curse/luxury afforded in my line of work (fortunately callouts are pretty much non-existant but if i'm connected to some form of internet, I don't mind responding to an email, that is, unless i'm on holidays then they can go jump ).

If it were aimed at Von and Nev who travel once a year to OOL, then perhaps the charge is wrong, although one could argue that's a holiday and they should go away and relax.