The lowdown on Wi-Fi in the sky
Who has it and for how much?
Joseph Fung’s phone is an electronic umbilical cord keeping him connected to work and family on the road. So when Wi- Fi wasn’t available on a recent flight from Vancouver to Toronto, Fung found it “very frustrating.” Before he was even off the plane, the first thing the Kitchener, Ont.based entrepreneur did was “get on my phone to tell everyone we’d landed,” he said.
Fung, who sold his startup Tribe HR to NetSuite in 2014 and is now vicepresident of human capital management, admits he has come to count on the availability of Wi- Fi on flights. “It’s one of the factors I look at when choosing airlines,” he said. “It costs me $ 20 give or take, and I can keep in touch with the office and with home.”
He’s not alone. “Airlines definitely know Wi- Fi is an i mportant amenity,” said Jason Rabinowitz, data analysis manager with RouteHappy, a website that provides comprehensive flight amenities data for consumers. “We’re just so connected at every stage of our life that being disconnected in the air for up to 15 or 20 hours can seem i ntolerable for some people.”
And business travellers, he said, “don’t just want to stay connected, they need to stay connected for work purposes.”
Rabinowitz f oresees a time when Wi- Fi on planes will be ubiquitous and free. Until then, you’ ll have to check out in advance whether you can stay in touch at 40,000 feet; and airlines don’t always make it easy to find that information.
Fortunately, RouteHappy has done much of the leg work. Kayak, Google Flights and Expedia, as well as airlines such as Qantas, Cathay Pacific, United and Delta include some or all of RouteHappy’s data when you book. Or you can plug your flight details into the demo at routehappy. com to find out if you’ll likely have Wi- Fi and whether there’s a fee.
Most airlines use some kind of metered system, charging for hours of usage or, more rarely, for gigabytes used. “Depending on how heavily you use the system, that could prove to be quite expensive,” Rabinowitz said.
“Know what t he rules are before you sign on,” he warns. In a widely reported 2014 incident, Toronto businessman Jeremy Gutsche, founder and chief executive of Trendhunter. com, racked up a $ 1,200 bill for Wi- Fi usage on a flight from London to Singapore. He signed up for a $ 30 package, but quickly exceeded the limit, mostly while napping.
“Canada was a little late getting into the Wi- Fi game, but they’ve made significant strides in the past year,” Rabinowitz said, adding that both Air Canada and WestJet offer some Wi- Fi connectivity for a fee. ❚ Porter Airli nes off er s free Wi- Fi access in all of its lounges, but none of its fl i ghts have Wi- Fi, communications director Brad Cicero said. ❚ U. S. airlines still lead the pack when it comes to connectivity, but other regions are catching up.
In terms of speed, no single airline stands out. “A lot of airlines share the same connectivity systems,” Rabinowitz said.
“Panasonic Avionics is on hundreds and hundreds of aircraft and it may not be the fastest system, but it’s reliable in terms of global coverage.”