We’ve seen a trend lately whereby more airlines have made free Wi-Fi available for more passengers. Taiwanese Star Alliance carrier EVA Air is the latest airline to introduce free inflight connectivity. The implementation of this is a bit complicated, so let’s discuss…
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EVA Air adds free Wi-Fi for Infinity MileageLands members
As of July 2025, EVA Air will be introducing free inflight connectivity onboard all Wi-Fi equipped aircraft, including the Boeing 777, Boeing 787, and Airbus A330. The implementation here is a bit unusual, though.
As a limited time promotion, between July 1 and September 30, 2025, the airline will offer free Wi-Fi to all passengers, regardless of the cabin they’re flying in, and regardless of whether or not they’re part of the loyalty program. This includes both messaging and web browsing.
Then as of October 1, 2025, the long term new policy will come into effect. Whether you receive unlimited web browsing or unlimited texting depends on your tier in the Infinity Mileage Lands program, plus the cabin you’re traveling in.
Unlimited free web browsing will be available to all business class passengers, all Infinity MileageLands members in premium economy, and Infinity MileageLands Diamond and Gold members in economy. Meanwhile Infinity MileageLands non-elite and Silver members in economy will receive unlimited free texting.
Note that unlimited web browsing does not support video streaming, voice calls, VPN connections, and video conferencing. Unlimited text messaging is supported via apps such as LINE and WhatsApp, and excludes photo sharing.
EVA Air states that “when booking a flight with EVA Air, members need to input their Infinity MileageLands membership number for the system to determine their eligible inflight Wi-Fi service.”
Inflight Wi-Fi sure is getting competitive
Inflight Wi-Fi has come a long way in recent years, both in terms of bandwidth and in terms of cost and value. At first, it was exciting when an airline offered Wi-Fi in the first place. Then we saw speeds start to improve, and now we’re seeing airlines investing in making Wi-Fi complimentary, at least in some form.
In Asia, free Wi-Fi on full service carriers is increasingly becoming the norm, though with restrictions. For example, Singapore Airlines now offers unlimited free Wi-Fi to all KrisFlyer members, having the most generous policy in the region. Meanwhile All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Japan Airlines, among others, now offer unlimited free Wi-Fi to premium cabin passengers.
The issue for several airlines in the region is that they don’t exactly have high speed connectivity throughout much of the fleet, so bandwidth is a major limitation. The more the airline offers free Wi-Fi, the more people will use it, and the slower the speeds will be.
Hopefully EVA Air can eventually work toward offering free Wi-Fi in economy as well, beyond texting. However, the airline probably needs to update its Wi-Fi service before something like this could be extended to economy.
Bottom line
As of July 2025, EVA Air will be introducing free Wi-Fi. For a promotional period of three months, the airline will offer unlimited free Wi-Fi to all members. Then as of October 2025, the airline will offer unlimited free Wi-Fi to business class passengers, and select members of EVA Air’s loyalty program. Meanwhile all members of the carrier’s loyalty program will at least get unlimited texting.
What do you make of EVA Air rolling out free Wi-Fi?
I flew Royal Laurel (business class) last year but on a United Airlines Mileage Plus award. No free internet. Looks like now non-EVA members in business class will get internet.
After the promotional period, United flyers might not get free internet or texting if they enter the United Mileage Plus number instead of joining EVA. We'll see.
Many of the US-TPE flights leave at 1 am and arrive at 5 am except maybe an additional...
I flew Royal Laurel (business class) last year but on a United Airlines Mileage Plus award. No free internet. Looks like now non-EVA members in business class will get internet.
After the promotional period, United flyers might not get free internet or texting if they enter the United Mileage Plus number instead of joining EVA. We'll see.
Many of the US-TPE flights leave at 1 am and arrive at 5 am except maybe an additional SFO or LAX flight. If so, much of the flight is sleeping. Working is kind of unwise except maybe the first hour or two of the flight. So no big loss.
On the reverse, most US bound flights leave at midnight and arrive in the evening. For those flights, it's good to take an initial nap and possibly work in the second half of the flight. That's when internet comes handy. However, I just watched foreign films that are less available in the U.S.
Doh, I'm flying EVA at the very end of June! Dang
It still takes a while to retrofit the entire fleet
Does anyone have a list of which airlines offer free, complimentary Wi-Fi to *all* passengers (including people who are *not* members of a loyalty program)?
This news is not relevant to most of us readers who are American and not Chinese
DO NOT @ ME about Taiwan being separate from China - that is untrue online incel propaganda. Taiwan is very much part of China. Taiwanese are Chinese. G'day!
Funny, from where I stand you’re the one who sounds like an incel.
DJT, do you know what a warm vagina feels like?
That is increasing less true. The elderly people who came from China in 1949 and there children and grandchildren may feel Chinese (not mainland Chinese) but many of the long time Taiwan residence feel that they are Taiwanese.
Taiwan is part of the Republic of China, not part of the People's Republic of China. The UK did it all wrong. They should have had a one Britain policy and insisted that the U.S. was...
That is increasing less true. The elderly people who came from China in 1949 and there children and grandchildren may feel Chinese (not mainland Chinese) but many of the long time Taiwan residence feel that they are Taiwanese.
Taiwan is part of the Republic of China, not part of the People's Republic of China. The UK did it all wrong. They should have had a one Britain policy and insisted that the U.S. was part of Britain. If you have an embassy in London, you couldn't have an embassy in Washington.
The article is relevant to Americans who are not Chinese. I am mixed race Black. I am interested in Taiwan and have been there twice for work and once for a connecting flight.