Why Wi-Fi On Airplanes Is So Bad
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- Опубліковано 31 тра 2024
- Airplane Wi-Fi has been around for decades but its reliability and speeds can vary widely depending on the airline, the route and the type and age of the aircraft.
American Airlines, United and other U.S. airlines have been updating their fleets to provide better wifi. Delta has spent over $1 billion retrofitting its planes to bring free wifi to its customers.
The airline is using Viasat, one of the leading providers of satellite internet, to deliver Wi-Fi on board.Viasat recently launched a new satellite with faster speeds and more capacity, which the company says will help keep up with the growing demand for the airline industry.
CNBC got an inside look at how Delta is working to upgrade over 1,200 planes by 2024.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - How it works
04:07 - Big players
07:44 - Airlines
10:45 - The future
Produced, Shot and Edited by Erin Black
Animation by Jason Reginato
Supervising Producer Jeniece Pettitt
Additional Camera by Shawn Baldwin, Andrew Evers
Production Support Tala Hadavi, Leslie Josephs
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Why Wi-Fi On Airplanes Is So Bad
Recently I’ve been researching inflight wifi, it’s incredible how quick it has gotten over the years. We must remember at one point not too long ago, we didn’t even have wifi on the ground.
Not too long ago? What the hell are you talking about, idiot we've had wifi for over half a century.
I was on a long flight out of country. The airline said they had wifi. I tried to buy the darn package. It just kept rejecting me. I tried to over and over. Then just gave up. I was truly bummed because I wanted to watch my Netflix and surf the web as well. If airlines are afraid of costs will be a problem, they will probably be sneaky in getting customers to pay for it by trying to increase the plane seat ticket. Instead of just prompting you to buy it on the screen of your device.
@@boohere2 Did you cry?
yeah, remember those times not so long ago we were using sticks to start a fire.
@@justicedemocrat9357 wanted to, but I was more upset than anything
Bro the fact you even have wifi is a miracle.
yeah the power of Education
@@davidck1 lol I mean, everything starts with education.
The fact we can fly through the sky in a metal tube powered by combustion like it’s no big deal is a miracle
CNBC is a woo-man!
It is fantastic. However, if people are paying for a service, they should receive a refund if it doesn't work.
On my last international flight to Europe from the U.S. with American Airlines, I had a pretty decent Wi-Fi connection, all things considered. I mean, I was too fascinated with being able to text people from a metal tube 42,000 in the air to care that it wasn't gigabit speed.
Planes don’t fly at 42,000 Feet. Only 41-43,000 I don’t find you credible because of that.
Imagine one day flying to Mars and your wifi gets slower and slower as you leave Earth because the signal can only travel at the speed of light. You'll probably have better luck trying to communicate with people on other spacecraft who are closer by.
@@FastGuy1 "Planes only fly at this specific altitude and you got it wrong so I don't find you credible 🤓🤓🤓🤓"
@@lollol-lu8ktI’m in aviation and ironically that guy is wrong, they occasionally do fly at 42,000 feet.
Some providers even offer full streaming! However most will let you scroll through Instagram and Twitter.
Man. I enjoy going on 2-4 hour flight knowing that there is no internet connection and have some of that ‘what did people do before smartphones’ feeling
You can always switch off your phone. Reality is that I think having internet in planes will reduce stress and anxiety of flying for many people which is good for everyone.
That's weird because people just watch films, read, or play games. Wi fi just broadens your options. You're not doing anything different.
To be surrounded by people who don't have access to the internet is a different type of feeling.
I travel a lot for work and more often than most regular people. Often I just preload downloaded streaming content via Netflix, HBO, Amazon etc and just watch them in flight. However, just imagining everyone in flight having Wi-Fi and there are non stop calls, conversations, talking going on and on the entire flight will drive some -expletive crazy. Some people don’t know how to talk on a phone and not involve the entire aircraft. Some people will become agitated I’m sure when the person next to them or around them in involve in nonstop conversation and they can’t get any peace from their conversation when Wi-Fi is fully onboard.
It’s really not.
It's cool to have wifi in-flight but this is the very definition of first-world problems.
First-world problems are still problems.
we should have more trains full stop and use them when not traveling across oceans
@@qwite9309 US population density not high enough to make it economically viable at this time.
@@victorchen5663not true. HSR can be deployed along dense corridors like Texas 3 cities and North East corridor. The rest of the main routes can be expanded with more tracks and better timetable. Connections bring more economic benefits than mere passenger tickets. Much like highways, if you build them, demand will come. The more developed the network, the more goods, services and passenger will use them since they become better, exactly the same as how road works. Not to mention, longer distance trains can turn into night services if the network is dense enough for them to operate effectively. Instead of flying you would have the choice to travel 2 hours to the hub, sleep for 15 hours and wake up near your destination, travel another 2 hours to reach it. Instead of waking up early, drive to airport, check in, wait fly then travel again. You just leave the previous day and arrive the next. As for direct money benefits, Japanese then Chinese model essentially use profitable route to make up for the money losing sections. It can work, but there’s 0 political drive to make it work.
Highways are not economically viable as well, but tax payer subsidise them because it’s benefits go beyond monetary.
@@lc9245US population is not dense enough for a vast majority of America to support high speed rail. The few areas that are dense enough like northeast, Chicago, Florida all have failed and delayed high speed rail projects. They end up hardly reaching high speed, costing more than flights, and never connect directly to the city. For example, Illinois high speed rail was supposed to be completed in 2016 and is still being built and when complete may save 30 mins. Florida's brightline was supposed to be high speed and failed to do so. It's Miami to Orlando route ends at Orlando international and not downtown or Disney. This completely wiped out any time savings and cost savings. Our systems are broken.
I flew delta recently, and it was the best flight experience I've ever had. Even though 3/4 planes, I got stuck in the middle seat.
You know you can pick your seat right…
@FastGuy1 Yeah for some reason the site didn't give me the option. I also booked the day before. So that might of been part of the reason.
@@CompComp I'm not trying to be that way but it's "might have" not "might of".
@@CompComp If you book basic economy that would be the only way you're stuck in the middle seat and/or can't choose your seat. Main and above are allowed for choosing seats. It's a higher cost to book a main seat however, so for short flights it may not be worth the expense of standard main at that point.
@professorhineschoice Honesty, I wasn't looking to closely. I was in a rush, and my work paid for it.
starlink in conveniently brushed aside, but seems to have the greatest potential. a better explanation on why viasat is chosen over starlink would have been appreciated
Wont be long before it is class based bandwidth. Hotels already do this. Props to Delta for deploying a pretty reliable system, I use it weekly.
What do you mean by hotels already have it? Is it like 4 star hotels have faster wifi?
@@yout0be1person agree, lmao. Also ISPs already have trouble convincing most users to buy higher internet speeds. As long as it’s reliable and can load websites and videos, no one really cares. Good luck convincing people to go business class just because you can watch videos at 4K instead of 1080p
@@yout0be1personmore expensive room = more bandwidth
@@puglifeyoshi292I don’t think it’s that simple to do that. You’d have to have 300+ different WiFi’s in a hotel to do that. The way my hotel does it is that there’s free wifi, and paid faster WiFi.
@@Hoodooboiiii most hotel wifis have a login system nowadays. I bet that is how it is handled, last hotel I went to I had to login with room number.
Last month, I flew with Air New Zealand. They offer free WiFi, and the connection was surprisingly steady and fast throughout the journey. However, my experience with Singapore Airlines was a disaster. My devices didn't even connect to the networks on both their medium and long-haul flights, although they advertise that all the passengers get complimentary WiFi.
I flew from New Zealand to New York and back without wifi issue I was so surprised! I assumed it was because it’s an 18 hour flight so everyone was asleep meaning less internet traffic lol 😂
one guy enjoying UA-cam would simply ruin the experience of everyone else)
I think Startlink is a way to go. When Startship takes flight, Starlink deployment will be much faster and cheaper. Go! Go! SpaceX!
I’ve found JetBlue has the best WiFi. Always free and great connection speed!
Jet Blue is my favorite airline ! They have the best service 😊
I just booked with them yesterday lol and yeah their wifi is pretty good tbh😭
They have the same system as some UAL 737s.
@@ladymonacoofthebluepacific2571 JetBlue is the GOAT of airlines
Came here to say this. JetBlue is by far the best
I wish they would’ve addressed Starlinks approach to this. Starlink broke the satellite Internet market for consumers because it was actually usable Internet. Starlink reinvented satellite Internet for the better with less lag and better performance. I’m curious if they will do the same with their service on planes and be even better than Viasat 3. What makes Star ink unique is that their satellites aren’t as far from the surface.
You obviously know little about satellite communication.. Starlink did not break it. They obtained a differnt method to for people to stay connected. The current Geosynchronous communications satellite system run by Intelsat was designed for low bandwidth functions like phone and television among other services. They were not designed for satellite phone users.
😂 starlink is stupidest company
I did briefly mention Starlink as an up-and-coming participant in the industry. And it absolutely is having an impact on the market overall. But it is still unclear if the lower latency of LEO will be the game-changer SpaceX claims. Most traffic today does not really benefit from that shift. If the promise of abundance of bandwidth comes true things could also change, but right now the company is still in its infancy for airline services, working through the certification and installation challenges, as well as getting the necessary newer satellites into orbit to support service over water. The original Starlink constellation cannot support that.
@@thomasburke7995 While the older generations of GEO satellites were more focused on TV distribution and cellular backhaul, modern versions are built to deliver relatively high speed services to moving platforms (e.g. airplanes, cruise ships, etc.). And there are several providers doing that, including Intelsat, but also Viasat, Inmarsat, Eutelsat, Hughes, and more.
Yeah I can't wait for the opportunity to play competitive games with the lower latency! Starlink will be a gamechanger for the better. And in the grander picture it helps fund humanities expansions to Mars and beyond. It really should've had a bigger spot in this video
As an ex-fan of Southwest Airlines I can attest to their usual crummy WiFi on short flights to Denver. LUV is no longer their mission statement! My best WiFi experience was on JetBlue to London Heathrow from New York JFK. Nothing beats fast WiFi while crossing The Pond.
How nice where the days where the flight (or the train ride) were the options to NOT need to read work emails, or bother with "important" calls... That was real freedom.
I couldn't agree more! I miss the days where we couldn't be reached after hours/weekends and on vacation.
My flight from LAX to Kuala Lumpur in 2018, I mistakenly sign in for WiFi on my vacation. In the middle of the Pacific ocean, a work call via WeChat, I didn't want to hang up but I also don't want my student to know I'm on vacation. But it keeps ringing, I just ignored it. Looking back, I should have turned off the south, but I was too exhausted to figured it out, I usually just go to sleep on all flights. During meals, I watched free new movies, time to catch up on new Hollywood release, which doesn't require WiFi.
When I reach my destination overseas, I have time to buy local Sim cards to connect. If the flight offers free wifi, it's good to check hotel confirmation or pickup when approaching my destination. I don't need to watch UA-cam on flight, sleep is more important.
You still have that option
"Ok, gotta go, we are about to takeoff, I'll call you when we land..." *peacefully disconnect*
@@johnmills2629 once I got a call from a former colleague from China leaving LAX, I was at Costco register about to pay, so I said, I'm driving, can't talk, I have to go. 😁 People at the checkout line can hear me lying 😅 but I didn't want to keep chatting
I think Hawaiian airlines started using Starlink which is pretty decent so hopefully more airlines will adopt newer constellation network systems.
Since Starlink sats are in low earth orbit the latency is much better
It would be awesome to be able to play Diablo 4 on such a flight 😅
@@ketfoen Lol, yeah. That would be pretty cool. Maybe on the Steam Deck or ASUS ROG Ally. It would be awesome if they could host the first “Mile High” LAN party of like Halo or CS Go or something (If it hasn’t already been done) with every passenger connected, playing together.
The fastest wifi onboard my Air France flight from Houston to Paris was €30… Messaging was free, but didn’t feel like splurging for the wifi
What I learned from my in-flight wifi experience for AA & Delta in 2022 is to not use it and to just download an appropriate amount of content to watch beforehand. I also probably won't use those airlines again for another decade for other reasons relating to flight delays & such. Maybe then I'll use in-flight wifi.
At 6:00 the Viasat-3 performance is 1 terabit per second (Tbps), not 1 terabyte per second (TBps). What's the difference? A factor of 8, with 8 bits in a byte.
Under most conditions, network bandwidth is measured in bits per second, not bytes per second, with an appropriate prefix prepended to scale the unit to be more humanly readable.
I really wish content publishers big and small could get this right.
Ikr, imagine messing up by almost an order of magnitude lol. Kilobyte megabyte gigabyte terabyte, they're all really the same thing right? Lol
@@drabberfrog yeah. It's a pet peeve of mine. I was trying to keep my original post brief, but the example I thought of to illustrate how big a deal the difference is:
I accidentally hit the box in the road with my car at 10mph.
vs
I accidentally hit the box in the road with my car at 80mph.
I think that's an example just about everyone can identify with.
@@MrCommunistGen or the difference between groceries costing $100 vs groceries costing $800 per person per week. That's the difference between budgeting for food vs societal collapse.
Even worse, that's the total capacity of the satellite once all the ground stations are online. The individual spot beams offer only a fraction of the capacity each. That is, indeed, an unfortunate error in the story.
@@SethMillerI’m with you man. Takes a bit of effort to explain to someone without an RF background.
That $5 wifi on delta is nice fr
Great story - I always did wonder about this. Thanks!
I used to only fly airlines that offered GoGo WiFi (Virgin America, United). I now only fly on JetBlue because they have the most reliable and FREE WiFi in my experience. Being a T-Mobile customer also means we get free wifi on partner airlines, United being one of them. So having WiFi and it being FREE and usable is enough to get me to be a loyal customer on any route I can find.
Stop being so easily manipulated by the word FREE. 🤣🤣🤣
No such thing as FREE Wi-Fi on airplanes.
YOU are PAYING for it one way or another.
You're paying for GoGo Wi-Fi, etc because you pay for T-Mobile. It's NOT free.
Even if you're not on T-Mobile, any "free" Wi-Fi comes from you paying for it through the ticket price.
I wish people would stop saying "wifi" to meant internet, especially tech journalists. Wifi just means a wireless connection to a ROUTER. That's it. It's just a connection method, just like "fiber optic" or "copper wire" or "ethernet".
"We are chasing the at home experience in the sky" I think this quote sums it up 😂😅😊
Best airline in the US
I still download all my stuff for flights
Definitely. Much better to do that. Takes all the worry out of it. Then, for now, the wifi can be there if you need it for low data stuff, like texts, etc.
Very nice report.
Currently watching this on a Delta flight for free… thanks Delta!
I never use WiFi on airplanes. That's my self-care time to listen to music and movies and play video games. People may as well use the very large offline storage that phones have these days.
I used to fly American exclusively but just switched to Delta once they offered free WiFi in February. I fly weekly!
I work with this in the cruise space - satellite internet providers have been upping their game significantly since 2021. There's a lot more capacity available now.
I think we have all, as a society, expected everything to be served quickly, fast, and now. The whole now now now concept we have developed really bothers me.
For real. People really can't survive with JUST slow or no internet for a few hours? Take a nap or something or read a book.
I have flown many times and I expect that the internet will be garbage on a plane so I am not upset since I don't get my hopes up. My problem is when they try to charge for it, or they try to get you to spend your member points on it. I wouldn't care if they simply gave it for free.
In the UK, the most popular flight route is London to Dublin. That is probably also the most popular flight route in Ireland, but I don't have the numbers for that.
The actual flying time on that route is about 40 minutes, the rest of the flight time is take off, landing, embarkation, and disembarkation. For a flight of that length, Wifi isn't something I would be willing to pay for. For longer journeys, then maybe I might consider it.
Having said that, if there wasn't the Irish Sea in the way, that would be a high speed rail route rather than a flight route, much like London to Paris is. The trains on that route have Wifi, but you can also get an excellent 4G signal which tends to be faster than the Wifi, so if the Wifi wasn't free, I wouldn't use it.
Who made the decision to put horrendous high pitch whistles as background music at 7:40?? A great video with a headache inducing audio decision.
I actually frlew Turkish today from Ethiopia to LA and it was $34 US. It didn't work well. Only got good service for like 3 hours of the 20ish hours in the air
Crazy how all that wiring has to have a zip tie every 4 inches 😂
I had free 30mins wifi on AA, just watch 2 ads. It was great to been able to message app to friends and family 12km in the air.
I love being able to watch the in-flight free movies. Especially, un-interrupted.😊
Was on a southwest flight two weeks ago from Stl to Florida. They had a free wifi connection throuf their site but if you wanted anything more it was $8. Didnt bother. I was able to listen to music and I downloaded some shows and music before boarding.
The wifi on etihad Earlier this month was amzing. Im surprised how much it has improved in 3 years
I've flown with Porter in Canada and they include complementary wifi on board. It was surprisingly fast.
Except on 9/11 2001 around Philly headed to DC, some cells and wifi went 300+ miles
I learn so much from CNBC bits
It's almost unbelievable how far the technology has come.
I’ve flown a handful of times in the past few years, mainly with American and United. I’ve never had full access to free Wi-Fi without having to pay for it. Hoping this changes soon!
Consumers should have been provided Wi-Fi and more leg room when we bailed them out in 2020.
No such thing as Free Wi-Fi on airplanes.
The fee is simply included in the ticket price.
Stop being delusional. 🤣🤣🤣
Boomer here, I remember when calling from the air cost like 8 bucks a minute... you could hear the slurping sound from the bank account...
I give UA-cam $12/month and download videos for flights. It's basically the same price for a single flight. About 30 cents per day.
8:15 "we started WAY BACK from 2019" 😂😂😂😂
Wi-Fi isn't the Internet, and the Internet isn't Wi-Fi.
It's funny how we complain about not being able to stream YT or netflix when we are literally flying 900 kmph at 35-40,000 ft in the air.
Then again, I support the idea of good wifi onboard. It will keep the Karens busy in their phones
I used to love being on a plane for a long haul flight because there no as no way my office can contact me and for 10 hours plus, I could just relax. Not anymore as you don't have the excuse of having no wifi on a plane. :)
Just back after traveling for more than 36hrs and this was literally on my mind
My flight from sydney to melbourne using Qantas was incredible, I could stream for F1 live qualify and the most important thing, the wifi is free 😊
The in-flight Wi-Fi is NOT free.
YOU are PAYING for it.
It's included in your ticket price.
Stop being so easily manipulated by the word FREE. 🤣🤣🤣
I avoid airlines that don't have wifi if the flight is over 2 hours but, but it's hit or miss with the ones that do offer it. I don't even need video streaming or anything fancy. All I'm doing is reading articles, emails, and forums. It's incredibly frustrating when a large chunk of the plane is streaming videos and making my low intensity browsing very slow. Here's to better flight wifi in the future.
Wifi on airplanes? Last time I flew anywhere, it was airplane mode only. No internet.
National Radio on the Steam Train was once the latest technology that didn’t always work too 😂
The food quality on plane is my biggest complaint
Thanks CNBC for covering this story. Much appreciated 🎉
The new Delta Wi-Fi systems have been pretty good in my experience
I mean, its literally a moving tube in the sky. I can’t even get good reception on the ground. So, are we even surprised at this point?
Wi-Fi on airplanes. Seems like a luxury to me. Never had it on a flight.
the correct terminology is TerraBITS (Tb) and GigaBITS (Gb) per second, not TerraBytes (TB) or GigaBytes (GB) per sec
@praystation
It depends. Singapore airline business cabin wifi was great. I could even play counterstrike on my laptop, with around 400-600ms ping.
Its free on Qantas in Australia. I'm always able to stream HD videos.
Starlink will be a game changer
I was on Qatar Airways recently, and the onboard wifi was free and super fast. It was so fast that I could easily scroll and watch social media videos and shorts along with browsing the internet and messaging my peers
Free Wi-Fi as has less complaints.
Paid Wi-Fi you expect websites and files to load quickly, but free wifi is can be slow as molasses. It's till better than no wifi.
also you nee to not advertize in advance.
no "wifi coming soon to flights" because that builds demand and everyone hits it and they run out of bandwidth.
aol did that and it nearly collapsed them in the 90s when aol offered unlimited internet via it's dialup lines.
Delta has the best Wifi experience hands down & its free w/my cell phone carrier…❤ The little perks matter 😜
If you’re flying Business/FC Wi-Fi should be complementary or at least a code for free 200mb of data
My word, we didn't even have Wi-Fi on board 10 years ago and now people are complaining about the speed of the connection? Honestly, get a grip. It's like people absolutely cannot be out of contact with anyone for any length of time.
Maybe it's because you are 30000 feet in the air moving 450 mph going through clouds etc. The fact they can even offer crappy wifi is damn amazing.
I’ve only recently been on American and Delta flights, but Delta’s was so much better AND free? Yeah, I’d stick to Delta if I wasn’t so cheap.
They need to make a deal with Starlink
I’m amazed this video does not mention OneWeb at all. Merging with Eutelsat to create a hybrid LEO and GEO and Aviation is one of their key markets
I believe some of my comments about OneWeb being in the market got cut in the edit process. Aero is a key service market for the company, but it also is a wholesale provider, not directly selling to airlines. Intelsat has secured a couple customers already with the inclusion of OneWeb's capacity as part of the contract. Panasonic Avionics is also a distribution partner for the tech. But because OneWeb isn't selling directly it is harder to explain how it will have a direct impact on the market.
The proposed Eutelsat deal is also interesting, of course, but more around how it may require the company to get into the direct airline sales/support business to deliver the best value when it does try to make those sales. Right now Eutelsat operates mostly as a wholesale provider in the aero market.
TBH - I'll be satisfied with a 120V power outlet that is conveniently located under my seat so that I can charge my electronic device. Wi-Fi is unnecessary in a plane and I think it's good to disconnect once in awhile. What the airline industry should be working on is fixing the control tower staff shortage!!
Being stuck in a tin can for 4 to 8 hours (or even longer) is the last place you want to disconnect.
@@JJs_playgroundunless you love flying 😂 some aircraft are actually very comfortable though
@@JJs_playgroundunless you love flying 😂 some aircraft are actually very comfortable though
@@maxsaviation9512 sure, but let's say you're on a 10 hour flight in economy after an hour or two then what do you do?
@@JJs_playground - to be more specific I was referring to disconnecting from social media. Whenever I have a long flight, I take a sleeping pill, but my music on shuffle, and be KTFO until either dinner/breakfast comes or we land lol
6:00 There's a difference between TeraBYTES vs TeraBITS.
Same difference goes for MegaBYTES vs MegaBITS.
LouisCK warned us about these people . . .
Flew Qatar from Bangalore to London via Doha. Both legs had great Internet (Inmarsat).
Flew United a couple of months ago, free "messaging" wifi doesnt even let you send/view media. Budget airline Porter just blows everyone out of the water.
if you are streaming UA-cam in flight, you are why the Internet is slow.
This why I would bring a book, a CD/Cassette player, a movie player, or just look out the window!!
If this ever becomes available on UK planes, I hope that earphones are made compulsory, or flying on a plane will drive you crazy.
09:58 Those QR codes work. 😊
Just download everything you need. God, it's just few hours.
I was on Delta from LAX to SYD, the WiFi was awesome. I could upload videos and send pics pretty quickly.
No-one will believe me. But by far the best internet experience ive had on a plane was with Spirit Airlines. Blazing fast and was only like $4. I think it was in demo phase at the time but it really impressed me at the time.
Ahahaha
That's because no one else on your flight wanted to pay extra for anything.
Latency, which will not go well with high orbiting satellites - Starlink/Spacex has the best chance in the long run.
I usually can’t even get to the screen to pay for the wifi
i fully do not expect internet on a flight, the fact that we even have it regularly now is a miracle
i have experience with Singapore Airlines with free 2 hours wifi on board from Singapore Singapore to Japan! super good very fast no complaint. i have extended 1 hour of pay USD3.99 / hour of wifi! Overall of 3 hours total time usage no any complaints!
Free TV and Free Wi-Fi are the main reasons I fly JetBlue religiously. Yeah they’re always late, but I enjoy those perks a lot. I like reading on the airplane and I cannot sleep on an airplane but it’s nice to watch a movie or tv show and text my friends. It’s nice to watch Netflix or other streaming services.
6:00 bits or bytes??
Spend 8$ for Wifi on southwest multiple times, and crossing over the southwest desert between Texas and Nevada there was zero internet at all, every time I've tried.. Maybe there just isn't coverage, I'm not sure
I think the issue is that companies do NOT specify how patchy the connection will be. They don't state it'll be based off the area you're flying (re: satellites), the age of the plane, the number of other people trying to connect & draw power. This info (specifically which flight routes have good wi-fi coverage) should be explained to the consumer, so people don't buy something that isn't fit for purpose (not high enough speeds) or simply doesn't work (which is against consumer law in Australia and most of Europe). Airlines get away with a fair bit (e.g. failing to provide refunds or making it time consuming and difficult), they really need to be held accountable when they're raking in billions.
Yeah consumer protection in the USA is really weak. In my country, paying for wifi and not getting the service you paid for can get the company in deep trouble. Even the act of making refunds difficult can get you in trouble.
Louis CK has the best take on airplane wifi and flying in general on "Everything is Amazing and nobody is happy" skit.
After a decade flying for the airlines I've learned people will literally complain about anything. People take for granted you're in a freaking chair in the sky, often at least 7 miles high, going 80% the speed of sound, doing a trip that a little over 100 years ago would've taken a month and likely killed you.
But people expect caviar and lobster, flawless gigabit internet, and complimentary lap dances from our flight attendants even from their deeply discounted tickets they got from a 3rd party vendor with zero frills.
Also, in my experience when I'm riding in the back, GoGo and Viasat are pretty lenient with refunds. They have no way of knowing I'm an employee so it's not like I get special treatment. Don't bother asking the airline directly use the providers themselves they always have a chat option that you can use in flight that usually almost always works if everything else is slow.
😂🤣😂 after my meals, I just want to sleep, I cannot function without sleep. I don't want to hear people texting.
"But people expect caviar and lobster, flawless gigabit internet, and complimentary lap dances from our flight attendants even from their deeply discounted tickets they got from a 3rd party vendor with zero frills."
I just don't want to see some spoiled Karen starting fights with flight attendants, no bare feet on my armrest, somebody in full recline with 2 inches of space between seat, hair flopped over the back of the seat blocking my monitor or laying on my tray, some ass-clown with a steamer trunk for a carry on taking up all the overhead space, and not be on a purposefully overbooked flight that they bump you from and then give you a meal voucher for your "troubles".
That's all. I'm from Maine. I'll get the lobster when I get home. 🦞
honestly this is probably a (generally uncommon) example of market competition (capitalism) actually working in the aviation space - from having a duopoly in manufacturers to the insane size of the airline lobby I think having airlines compete for having low cost high quality Internet onboard will be a net positive for customer experience
why viasat instead of starlink?
It's honestly a technological marvel that they are able to get _any_ of this stuff to work; it just blows my mind.
I just made the round trip from NY to Grenada in JetBlue. It was covered by Viasat. The wifi was "Free." But it worked for the last 30 minutes when we reached almost NY. Wifi was trash at best!