How common is wifi Internet on long-distance international flights?

[drrich2]

Hi. From a U.S.-based perspective, trips to highly praised far flung great dive destinations such as the Philippines, Raja Ampat, Komodo and others (I'm guessing Fiji would qualify?) have one major #1 barrier in place; those horrible-sounding very long flights, sometimes before or after (or both) other flights. I'm talking 12+ hours on one non-stop flight. Coupled with the high up-charge one may see with business or first class, it sounds like torment in economy class is just part of the price paid.

One thing that might help ameliorate that a bit is in-flight wifi Internet service. I get that some modern aircraft have a selection of movies and other things which is fine, but many of us are used to engagement with online activities rather than hours of passive viewing (note: if you want to access their content on some planes, you need the airline app. on your phone; consider downloading it in advance). But in Jan. 2020 on my Galapagos trip, once we left the U.S. on an international flight, I encountered a rude surprise...in-flight wifi was not an option.

So, those of you who fly American Airlines (or whichever other airlines take you for the long international flights to/from Indonesia, the Philippines, etc...), how common is it to have the option of in-flight wifi Internet service, and roughly what does it cost? Note: I did some online searching seeking an answer myself, but I'd like to hear from those who've traveled recent what your real world experience was, and maybe this thread can help other people considering a trip, too.

I did a little Googling for American Airlines and found "International Wi-Fi is available on all Boeing 777-300ER flights. Wi-Fi can be purchased once on board; currently there is not a pre-purchase option for international Wi-Fi." But are all the AA long-distance international flights in that class? A couple of American Airlines trans-Pacific flights I looked at were for Boeing 777-200 planes, not 300 or 300ER. Wonder what they have?

Airwayswifi.com has an article, Complete Guide to American Airlines WiFi 2022 | AA WiFi. It says they use 3 providers, Gogo, Panasonic and ViaSat, and Panasonic is the provider for international flights.

Panasonic In-flight WiFi For American Airlines Plans and Price​

The plans for aircrafts using Panasonic as providers are,

Duration	Price
2 Hours	$12
4 Hours	$17
Entire Flight	$19

Also did a little searching on Delta. It's my understanding which provider is used (e.g.: Gogo, ViaSat) may change over time, so I'm not sure how relevant a 2017 article is, for example.

Airwayswifi.com has an article, Complete Guide to Delta WiFi 2022 | DL WiFi. It says "If you’re traveling internationally, you can buy the $28, 24-hour global day pass. If you fly frequently you can choose the domestic monthly or domestic annual pass ($49.95 and $599.99 respectively)." Also "The Wi-Fi is provided by much-admired Wi-Fi provider Gogo. Almost all the flights of Delta Air Lines are now equipped with Wi-Fi facilities."

Further, is the availability of wifi Internet service something that varies strongly across airlines for major trans-oceanic international flights?

Richard.

 

[tursiops]

Hi. From a U.S.-based perspective, trips to highly praised far flung great dive destinations such as the Philippines, Raja Ampat, Komodo and others (I'm guessing Fiji would qualify?) have one major #1 barrier in place; those horrible-sounding very long flights, sometimes before or after (or both) other flights. I'm talking 12+ hours on one non-stop flight. Coupled with the high up-charge one may see with business or first class, it sounds like torment in economy class is just part of the price paid.

One thing that might help ameliorate that a bit is in-flight wifi Internet service. I get that some modern aircraft have a selection of movies and other things which is fine, but many of us are used to engagement with online activities rather than hours of passive viewing (note: if you want to access their content on some planes, you need the airline app. on your phone; consider downloading it in advance). But in Jan. 2020 on my Galapagos trip, once we left the U.S. on an international flight, I encountered a rude surprise...in-flight wifi was not an option.

So, those of you who fly American Airlines (or whichever other airlines take you for the long international flights to/from Indonesia, the Philippines, etc...), how common is it to have the option of in-flight wifi Internet service, and roughly what does it cost? Note: I did some online searching seeking an answer myself, but I'd like to hear from those who've traveled recent what your real world experience was, and maybe this thread can help other people considering a trip, too.

I did a little Googling for American Airlines and found "International Wi-Fi is available on all Boeing 777-300ER flights. Wi-Fi can be purchased once on board; currently there is not a pre-purchase option for international Wi-Fi." But are all the AA long-distance international flights in that class? A couple of American Airlines trans-Pacific flights I looked at were for Boeing 777-200 planes, not 300 or 300ER. Wonder what they have?

Airwayswifi.com has an article, Complete Guide to American Airlines WiFi 2022 | AA WiFi. It says they use 3 providers, Gogo, Panasonic and ViaSat, and Panasonic is the provider for international flights.

Panasonic In-flight WiFi For American Airlines Plans and Price​

The plans for aircrafts using Panasonic as providers are,

Duration	Price
2 Hours	$12
4 Hours	$17
Entire Flight	$19

Also did a little searching on Delta. It's my understanding which provider is used (e.g.: Gogo, ViaSat) may change over time, so I'm not sure how relevant a 2017 article is, for example.

Airwayswifi.com has an article, Complete Guide to Delta WiFi 2022 | DL WiFi. It says "If you’re traveling internationally, you can buy the $28, 24-hour global day pass. If you fly frequently you can choose the domestic monthly or domestic annual pass ($49.95 and $599.99 respectively)." Also "The Wi-Fi is provided by much-admired Wi-Fi provider Gogo. Almost all the flights of Delta Air Lines are now equipped with Wi-Fi facilities."

Further, is the availability of wifi Internet service something that varies strongly across airlines for major trans-oceanic international flights?

Richard.

 

[breals]

International Wi-fi isn't very common and when it is available, its barely usable other than maybe instant message, email and maybe light web browsing. It's satellite based, so latency is an issue and bandwidth is limited. It's also not reliable since planes are moving at 500mph and satellite connections are influenced by clouds/weather and I've been a few flights where the onboard equipment simply was working.

 

[drrich2]

It's satellite based, so latency is an issue and bandwidth is limited. It's also not reliable since planes are moving at 500mph and satellite connections are influenced by clouds/weather

Yet aren't those some factors in play on domestic flights in the U.S.? Is the international service, when available, often much worse?

You make a good point about bandwidth being limited (whatever those limits are). My main interest is general web browsing and e-mail, but someone else may want to stream Netflix or watch YouTube videos.

 

[Damselfish]

My experiences with wifi, domestic or international (generally worse), are that it's a complete crapshoot what if anything they will have and whether it will be working that day or cooperate with your device. Even if you think you'll be on an airline/plane where you think you should have it. In any event it's better for email and basic stuff but usually too tedious for much web surfing, and I certainly wouldn't count on streaming video, that might be just outright blocked. I suppose the situation will continue to progress over time, but in fits and starts.

On the bright side, you can kill a good chunk of time trying to make it work.

Fortunately, watching movies on planes usually puts me to sleep.

 

[Centrals]

Good wifi connection on international flight would be a nightmare for the crew and passenger! How would they stop someone speaking non stop on the phone during any/certain time of the flight?
Listening to someone else conversation is really irritating.

 

[tbone1004]

it is also about where the satellites are positioned, most of the flights going over to Asia are going up and over the great white north so there are not a lot of satellites positioned over that part of the world due to low demand.

KoreanAir doesn't even have the technology outfitted on their planes because they feel it would be a disservice to their customers to give them bad wifi.

I bring a loaded up kindle, loaded up iPad, and good headphones and off I go.

 

[Kinglake]

Delta's wifi is excellent on pretty much all international flights now with the exception being the few domestic flights that have yet to upgrade to viasat. The entire international fleet is upgraded I'm pretty sure.

 

[tursiops]

not a lot of satellites positioned over that part of the world due to low demand.

Not to mention physics.

 

[Kinglake]

Not to mention physics.

Delta uses Gogo (now Intelsat) for their global coverage. They are moving to Viasat-3 once the system is ready.

Gogo Coverage Map