[Tom Otley]

We had a few screen grabs from a reader who has recently flown back from Singapore.

There are lots of options, with different speeds as well as number of hours….

The opening screen is

Then you go through to the following.

As you can see from the tabs, the options relate to both duration and speed….

And then if you want to stream (Netflix having been heavily promoted), the price options are…

[canucklad]

My concern with this, as BA plummets towards its transition to a LCC model, is someone at Waterside having a light bulb moment , albeit a 40 watt moment.
And realizing you can cut spending on the current IFE offering and create yet another blackmailing ancillary revenue stream by forcing entrapped passengers , out of sheer boredom to pay to watch Netflix etc.

[FaroFlyer]

To fly to surf

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Carajillo2Sugar

[mkcol74]

Compared to pricing I recall on American, it seems fairly fair.
I’d be properly grumpy if the speeds didn’t hold true though.

[capetonianm]

Why can’t people live without this constant need for electronic entertainment on tap through the internet? What happened to books, magazines, newspapers, recorded music, conversation, dozing, enjoying a meal and a drink? Those are the things I do on a long flight, and even if internet were available free, as it sometimes is, I would be unlikely to do more than possibly send the odd email or log into BT Forum!

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LuganoPirate, GivingupBA, Jacob, stevescoots, Carajillo2Sugar

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=896956]Why can’t people live without this constant need for electronic entertainment on tap through the internet? [/quote]

You are just like me. I have never and would never use my phone or laptop on a flight, especially long haul – that’s me I guess – I just relax, doze, enjoy a meal, watch a movie or two, have a good sleep. Great downtime (in J!)

[openfly]

How awful…incessant loud phone calls on FaceTime, in a foreign language, having paid for a nights sleep in Business/First. Constant pings of inbound “I’m so important” text messages. On quiet aircraft such as the A380/350 the noise will be even more intrusive. The only quiet escape is the toilet. Imagine SIN-JFK, 19 hours. Time to give up long haul flying…..

[Tom Otley]

The speed militates against that at the moment, but doubtless it will come if airlines allow voice calls on board.

It’s like that in lounges now. You relax back, start to read a newspaper, book or magazine, or even do some work, and next thing someone is face-timing or calling on video without using headphones so you hear both sides of a shouted conversation.

Happened in American Airlines International First Lounge T3, the Premium Lounge at Dallas, the Centurion Lounge at Dallas, the First Lounge at T5 and then the Plaza Premium Lounge last night – and that’s just in the last 10 days.

I just put on noise cancelling headphones and keep an eye on the boards to make sure I don’t miss my flight.

[capetonianm]

I know a couple of people who really are important. They wouldn’t be caught dead using social media, let alone in public, nor making voice calls within earshot of strangers.

As for those who who think they are important, that’s a different story!

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=896956]Why can’t people live without this constant need for electronic entertainment on tap through the internet?[/quote]

Because very simply, communicating 2018 & onwards is mostly based on the internet (and not specifically VOICE communications). If I choose to work on a longhaul, the one file or document I need, bet your bottom dollar I didn’t download to my local drive (from the cloud where everything is kept) before take off. My office and clients are connected through secure IM – generally easier and quicker to get queries answered than formal emails or voice calls.

I don’t think its about being ‘important’ its more about being efficient. Books / newspapers are all available on line. Airlines with internet connections can stream onward connection information – as another thread suggests, train tickets can be bought on line – the world works online. However, if a passenger chooses to sleep, I respect that as much as they need to accept other passengers do want to remain connected.

I think the issue is not so much those that want to stay connected, its more about the noise the internet brings. Constant pings, bells, rings, bleeps and key board taps. The airlines really need to be tough on sound and insist on no voice calls and the Captain should announce his cabin crew have the authority to insist all phone notifications should be on silent. All voice calls should be barred. Tablets are more user friendly lap tops inside a cabin.

I don’t buy the brightness caused buy screens will disturb passengers trying to sleep. That’s what eye shades are for – but in the long term – I think the airlines will need to arrange quiet zones and online zones…

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mkcol74

[LuganoPirate]

I just returned to South Africa with Emirates, and as a Gold card holder high (relatively speaking) speed internet was free and on multiple devices. My daughter who has no status could also surf for free.

Like others I rarely watch movies during the flight but I do read, and rather than carry a pile of books, I use Scribd or Kindle. What I do enjoy though is using FlightRadar24 and seeing where I am and which other aircraft are near to me. Schoolboy stuff I know but I love it. I do then use WhatsApp to send a screenshot to my boys who then click on Life360 to see exactly where I am, though they tell me despite my picture showing me moving at 950kpm over Somalia, in reality I am static somewhere in London!!!

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mkcol74

[Author]

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