SINGAPORE AIRLINES: Ups WiFi game – free for more passengers

You now get, on a trial basis, unlimited free WiFi if you are travelling in Suites, First Class, Business Class or a member of PPS Club travelling in premium economy or economy.

These benefits now cover most of Singapore Airlines’ fleet, which includes Airbus A380s and A350s; Boeing B777s, 787s and B737MAXs, but not B737-800s, which don’t have WiFi.

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This is an improvement on SIA’s previous free WiFi offering, which used just to cover Suites and First Class, and was limited to 100mb (= almost nothing) for PPS Club members and those in Business Class.

How long is the trial?

There is currently no end date for the trial. All Singapore Airlines has said is that they will:

“monitor and assess the needs and preferences of our customers during the trial, and evaluate the commercial, operational and technical aspects of providing complimentary in-flight Wi-Fi to our customers.”

So look forward to your fast Panasonic WiFi while you can!

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

This is a great improvement for Singapore Airlines, and I think follows the current trend. Although in the recent past, free WiFi has only been offered on international flights to First Class passengers, the trend line is to make this once ‘special’ feature available free to all with even fewer restrictions like data caps. I think we can soon expect the free service to be extended to Business and maybe even Premium Economy passengers across all airlines. It’s going to take longer for it to be a free benefit of Economy, or for data caps to be removed.

Qantas International – which doesn’t have WiFi on long-haul at all, needs to lift its game pronto! Especially for the sky-high fares, they are currently charging.