Singapore Airlines has begun offering complimentary in-flight wifi to premium travellers as well as PPS Club members when flying on-board select aircraft.
Under the airline’s new policy, Suites, first and business class passengers as well as PPS Club members can now get one free wifi session per sector when travelling on board the carrier’s Airbus A350, A380 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Travellers can connect to the wifi via the “Complimentary Access” section of the onboard portal when connecting to the network.
However, these sessions are not unlimited when it comes to the amount of data available. While Suites and first class passengers get 100MB of complimentary wifi (also available to PPS Supplementary cardholders), business class passengers and PPS Club members get just 30MB. As a rough guide, 10MB of wifi data will likely get you through about 30 minutes of general web browsing and email.
The change is good news for regular passengers on the Singaporean carrier, whose wifi plans are typically more expensive than comparable offerings from other Asia-Pacific airlines.
Singapore Airlines offers wifi by volume on its A380s and certain B777-300ERs, and by volume on its A350s and other select B777-300ERs. Its highest-volume 50MB package costs US$19.99, which would typically get you closer to 100MB of data on other carriers in the region.
Business Traveller has published a detailed guide to many Asia-Pacific airlines’ in-flight wifi pricing plans.
[embed]https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2017/04/26/asia-pacific-airlines-inflight-wifi-need-know/[/embed]Singapore Airlines’ wifi pricing is as follows:
Volume-based (all A380 and select B777-300ER)
US$6.99 – 15MB
US$12.99 – 30MB
US$19.99 – 50MB
Time-based (All A350 and select B777-300ER)
US$11.95 – one hour
US$16.95 – three hours
US$21.95 – 24 hours
The new wifi is particularly good for Suites and first class passengers, who now get twice as much data as they previously would for purchasing the highest-volume US$19.99 package. A data package of 100MB is also closer to the data limit offered by other Asia-Pacific airlines for their full-flight packages (see All Nippon Airways or Garuda Indonesia).
Meanwhile, the free 30MB offered to business class and PPS Club members is equivalent to Singapore Airlines’ middle volume-based package, which usually costs US$12.99.
This can vary depending on the type of aircraft flown, however, and passengers can check how much data they can get by accessing the onboard portal upon successfully connecting to the wifi network.
A number of airlines have been ramping up their in-flight wifi offerings recently. Cathay Pacific plans to begin outfitting its entire wide-body fleet with in-flight wifi connectivity later this year, with completion slated for 2020.
Meanwhile, carriers such as All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have begun offering fully free wifi on domestic flights.
Back in January, Singapore Airlines unveiled its new Digital Innovation Blueprint as part of its goal to become the world’s “leading digital airline”.
