Free Wi-Fi: The latest on-board perk for airline passengers

Many of us don’t change our lifestyle when we change locations, and that’s especially true when it comes to connectivity. We want our Wi-Fi wherever we go — and not just hard-charging Type-A devices. Many travelers want the ability to access WiFi when – or when – they need it.

For many years, most airline and cruise passengers have had this Wi-Fi access — but typically for a fee. And those costs ranged from $8 to more than $40 per flight. And on cruise ships, it can get even more expensive.

Now Delta Air Lines is changing the game. The airline has been talking about providing free WiFi to all passengers for a number of years, but this month Delta introduced free Wi-Fi on 80% of its domestic flights and on all regional and international aircraft by the end of next year.

The only requirement: Participation in the free Delta Sky Miles program.

Delta joins in JetBlue, which introduced free WiFi on all flights in 2017, but other airlines continue to charge for WiFi. While Southwest is only about $8 a day, that’s not expected to rise to $8 a flight until next week. United is only $8, but the price goes up for long domestic and international flights. American is also expensive.

And once Delta rolls out free Wi-Fi on its international flights, there will be a turnaround there too. Many foreign airlines offer Wi-Fi, and some offer it for free with their entire fleet (Singapore Airlines), others only offer it for free to their business class passengers. But for everyone else, it starts at around $20 — and not necessarily per flight. Some fees are based on usage.

Just six months ago, American’s CEO was arguing that passengers should pay for Wi-Fi, but given the Delta move, the needle could also move in terms of passenger preferences, and it’s expected to be just a matter of Time is before United and American and Southwest follow suit with free Wi-Fi.

But that won’t come soon. Delta talked about free Wi-Fi in 2018 and 2019, then began the slow process of retrofitting its planes with the systems when the plane arrived for other scheduled maintenance. At the very least, it could easily take 18 months to two years for United and American to catch up.

Hawaiian Airlines is poised to introduce free inflight Wi-Fi this year. And American has started testing free Wi-Fi on a few select flights. Passengers who agree to view a sponsored video or advertisement will receive 30 minutes of complimentary WiFi.

And beyond simple email, what about streaming and video games? Right now, most free Wi-Fi plans restrict both streaming and gaming to ensure basic Wi-Fi speeds aren’t impacted.

For those traveling by sea, many cruise ships Offer WiFi as an add-on package. Some offer limited WiFi. And it can be slow. Viking Cruises not only offers free WiFi for passengers, but also for their crew – talk about a morale booster.

And now, faster and more reliable Wi-Fi is arriving with the new Starlink satellite system. Recently I was in Antarctica, until recently a largely blacked out WiFi area. But the ship – Silversea – had Starlink and I even broadcast live to stream CBS News.

And like airlines, expect more cruise lines to start offering free Wi-Fi within the next six months.