Will You Pay $12.95 For WiFi On United Airlines?
United Airlines has announced that passengers on flights from New York City to Los Angeles and San Francisco will soon have access to WiFi... for $12.95.
If the in-air Internet connections work as billed, and if many passengers pony up as much as $12.95 per flight, then United will consider installing Wi-Fi service on other aircraft, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.
United Airlines to offer Wi-Fi on its premium flights [Chicago Tribune]
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Comments:
US Airways just launched their pay-for wi-fi today. And that idea sank.
too soon?
I'd pay $13 to not land in a river.
If I can't play Team Fortress with it, then what good is it?
I might do it now and again. It's a long boring flight, and I usually spend that much on a new book to read on the plane. On the other hand, it's only useful if I can plug my laptop in for the duration of the flight.
For those prices I'll buy it only if I have pressing business, which is what I think the intent was behind the chosen price.
$12.95 per flight or per year? at per flight, F-that. if I have $13, i'll buy a sandwich if i'm hungry, otherwise i'm not buying anything. i'd rather bring a book or a bunch of free magazines i get at work
Yes, I will buy it- though the last flight I was on with Delta had free satellite TV.
Also, people don't understand that airlines can charge for this because business travelers will expense it. Why do you think that cheap, vacation hotels have free buffets while upscale hotels can charge $14 for breakfast?
@Cocotte: Ditto. Really exactly what I was about to say. :) I'd spend that much for a book, so if I were anticipating being bored enough, I might do it sometimes. Especially if they get reasonable speeds.
That is a long flight, I would definatly do it. Well, as long as we had access to power, since a laptop on wireless would only go 2 hours at best.
last time I flew Jet Blue (over xmas) one of my planes was a beta test for free wifi.
@WBrink: That's exactly what people miss. American Airlines has this too on some flights. And if I'm flying for work, I might in the future have my employer pay it if I have work to do that requires internet access. But when I fly for myself -- like to DC next week -- I would never pay that much for @2 hours of internet. I'm addicted. But not that addicted. Now if it was $12.95 on a flight to Australia or something... that might be a whole other story...
They should at least keep it at like 9.99, to stay below that psychological $10 barrier...
I'd love to see an actual cost analysis on this service...
@Eyebrows McGee: If I am not mistaken, the flights they are trialing this on are their Premium Service flights from JFK to SFO/LAX; these use modified 757's with First/Business/EconPlus seating, and no normal economy seating; the planes have AC outlets (2 per 3 seats in EconPlus), so power isn't a problem. This is a business traveler flight, so I don't see the passengers paying for it themselves, they'll expense it. I'm a 1K with United, so I'm just hoping they'll roll out their p.s. 757's on the BOS->SFO route so that I can fly them ^_^
If my firm is paying for it, sure. They want me in contact 24/7 it's on their dime.
@kellyhelene: Something about flying Jet Blue and "beta test" in the same sentence doesn't sit well with me.
It is $9.99 on flights under 3 hours. As for the speed, you have about 3 mbit for the entire plane, so the more of you people that spend your money on a sandwich, the better. Means more speed for me.
It's free on The Bolt Bus. Get it together, United. You're getting your ass kicked by a freakin' bus.
@Cocotte:
That's what I was thinking. I don't want to use up my battery just to surf on the plane. I'd rather read with my iPod on or sleep.
But if I could plug 'er in, I'd do it.
I'd vote for "two beers" if that was on the list.
I don't know about United, but in October, I spent $9.95 to get wifi on American Airlines on my return flight from JFK to LAX...
I was able to watch streaming video from ABC.COM since I missed the premiere of Life on Mars, I got to watch it on my flight, with no glitches, so the speed was not bad at all!
Who is going to pay this if they just banned porn on flights??
It depends on the length of the flight. A quick 1-2 hour flight? No.
A 5-7 hour flight? YES. In a second.
@Cocotte: There's this place where you can get books for FREE if you just give them back when you are done.
Cross country flights? Hell yes I would, in a heartbeat. I'll drop the $3/hr. the bookstore around here charges too, so this isn't even an issue.
@FatLynn: It's more about carrying stuff around while travelling. I'm a fast reader and often go through a couple of books on one long flight; that means I need 2-3 for an average business trip each way or face boredom. Rather than carry that many books, I usually only bring one of my own books, then buy others at stopovers and leave them with friends at the other end to enjoy so I don't have to cart them back again.
And yeah, I have a bunch of eBooks on my BB for emergencies, but I *like* real books.
Yeah, I'd buy it if the flight was more than a couple hours. Considering the cost of travel in general, $12.95 is chump change. At least for this $12.95, you're actually getting something.
It would be worth it for business travel.
Not sure its quite worth it otherwise- I guess I'd want to know how reliable it is before I'd shell out. Our airport supposedly has wi-fi free but I have yet to get a strong enough signal to not have to reposition every 5 minutes.
When will some clever person come up with an airline that gives you a final no haggle/no fee price that's the same whenever and wherever you buy the ticket?
Depends on how long the flight is. 3+ hours then yes. Worth it. Going from LAX to SFO, not so much. Plus I would need a place to plug in. No reason to have wifi for a 15 hour flight if my battery only last 2-3 hours.
@Cocotte: Not arguing books vs. laptop, but for those trips, I like to just pick up stuff from the library's book sale (50 cents to a buck for a paperback), and then I don't feel bad leaving it on the plane for the next guy.
I might but I had to check a bag.
@scoobydoo: I'd prefer to sleep during the flight. Or else bring my ipod and a book, and eat a delicious sandwich.
Maybe if they got rid of all the other frivolous fees. My pockets are empty by the time I board the plane.
@TechnoDestructo: Yeah your pings would be horrendous. Besides, I cuss too much when I play TF2, hehe.
SFO to NYC? Hell yeah, I would pay that.
It would make the flight much more tolerable.
IRC and 4chan and pron, oh my!
But I imagine the constant tapping noises from a cabin full of people on their laptops might drive some insane :)
Id pay it... if it was a long enough flight...
If its a long flight yeah.
That $13 had better buy me WiFi access at the departure, layover, and destination airports as well.
This would be a single low-bandwidth connection which is split between each person who buys. I suspect the bandwidth you will actually receive will not be nearly worth the price. (Actually, I suspect that the bandwidth you would receive if no one else but you paid, would still not be sufficient to justify the price).
Yes. Unless the inflight entertainment was unusually good I'd pay $13 for five hours of internet.
Absolutely not. The speeds are crappy and even at good speed $12.95 is just too much, period. I thought the $2 cans of coke were stupid....