Which flights will have wifi?
Not all airlines provide wifi service on board. Usually, aircraft lines such as Airbus A330, A380 or Boeing 777, 747, 787 will have wifi, because these are wide-body aircraft lines serving long international flights lasting 6 hours or more. Domestic flights, short duration or smaller aircraft bodies such as Airbus A310, Boeing 737 will be less likely to provide wifi service. However, even if the plane and airline support wifi service, when flying over areas without signal, you will still lose internet connection.
To know if your flight supports wifi or not, you can observe when booking tickets, the wifi icon, if available, will appear right next to your flight. You can also ask through the agent (if booking through an agent) or call the airline's support center.
How to pay for in-flight wifi service?
All airlines require you to pay in advance for wifi usage using an international payment card (Visa, MasterCard, Amex, JCB...). There are the following main ways to charge:
- Pay by access time, unlimited usage
- Limited capacity, unlimited time
- Limit both capacity and access time
In-flight wifi brings more convenience to passengers
How much does airline wifi cost?
Due to the high usage fee, in-flight wifi may not be available on some flights or only in business class. Specifically as follows:
- Aer Lingus: $9.95/hour, free wifi for business class passengers
- American Airlines: $16/day and $49.95/month for domestic flights, $12/2 hours, $17/4 hours and $19/flight for international flights
- Delta Air Lines: $19.95/hour if using a laptop or tablet, $14.95/hour if using a phone to access
- JetBlue: basic service free; premium service $9/hour
- Emirates: 10MB free data, additional 500MB for $0.01 (applicable for Airbus A380 aircraft)
- Southwest Airlines: $8/day
- United Airlines: $3.99 - $15.99/domestic flight, depending on flight time
- Virgin Atlantic: $22.30/flight
- Finnair: 5.50 USD/hour or 16.50 USD/flight (applicable to Airbus A350 aircraft), free wifi for business class passengers
- Qatar Airways: Free for the first 15 minutes, then $5/hour or $10/3 hours. On longer flights, passengers can access wifi for the entire flight for a flat $20 fee
Additionally, there are a number of airlines that offer free in-flight wifi:
- Air China: provides free wifi, but can only connect with laptops/tablets, cannot connect with smartphones
- Nok Air: offers free wifi on all its flights
- Hongkong Airlines: providing free wifi on all Airbus A330-220 aircraft flying the London - Hong Kong route
- Norwegian Air Shuttle: offers free wifi on flights within Europe and flights from the US to the Caribbean; flights across the Atlantic do not offer wifi service
Thanks to the wifi service on the plane, passengers have relaxing moments throughout the flight.
In Vietnam, currently, only Vietnam Airlines has wifi for passengers on Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft. Passengers who need to use wifi on the plane when booking Vietnam Airlines tickets need to register for the package they need to use and pay the fee. A representative of Vietnam Airlines said that when checking in, at the boarding gate there will be a symbol identifying the flight using wifi so that passengers know the flight has wifi service. When boarding the plane, the flight attendant will also inform passengers about this service.
Some other notes
- The wifi speed on the plane is not fast, so passengers can only use basic internet needs such as surfing the web; checking and sending emails; texting...
- Do not use wifi on the plane to make phone calls, video calls and watch videos because it will affect other passengers. Many airlines prohibit phone calls and video calls over the Internet.
- You’ll be limited to one device using the in-flight wifi at a time, but most airlines make it relatively easy to disconnect and switch to another. Ask a flight attendant for help if you need to switch devices.
