Recently we’ve seen a lot of airlines make positive changes to their inflight Wi-Fi offering, from introducing free Wi-Fi with no limits, to introducing free inflight messaging. Lufthansa has just announced some improvements to its Wi-Fi, though it only applies to narrow body aircraft.
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Lufthansa introducing free inflight messaging
As of mid-January 2024, Lufthansa will be introducing free inflight messaging on all short and medium haul flights operated by Airbus A320-family aircraft. Lufthansa’s entire narrow body, mainline fleet consists of A320 family aircraft (including A319s, A320s, and A321s), so this will cover all of those flights.
Unlimited messaging will be available throughout the flight with major chat services, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram, and it will be available on smartphones and tablets. You’ll even be able to send and receive unlimited pictures, which is something that’s restricted with other similar free chat services.
The only restriction with using this service is that you’ll need to log into the FlyNet portal with a Miles & More service card number, or with an email address registered with a Lufthansa Group Travel ID. If you don’t yet have this, you’ll be able to create a log-in during the flight.
Note that it’s fine if you credit the miles for your flight to another program, as all that matters is that you have an eligible log-in. It doesn’t have to be connected to your reservation.
Let me emphasize that this free service only applies to messaging, so you wouldn’t be able to browse the web, check your email, etc. This also doesn’t apply to Lufthansa’s regional jets or to Lufthansa’s wide body aircraft.
Lufthansa lowering price of other Wi-Fi
Not only will Lufthansa be introducing free inflight messaging on Airbus A320-family aircraft as of mid-January 2024, but the airline will also be lowering the price of Wi-Fi packages. The airline hasn’t yet published exactly what the new pricing will be, but has stated that fees for Wi-Fi will be reduced by almost 50%.
For what it’s worth, when I recently flew Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Munich, below is what Wi-Fi pricing was like (interestingly the airline was already trialing 30 minutes of free inflight messaging). As you can see, the cost of a streaming package was 10 EUR, so I imagine that will be decreased significantly.
It’s great that Lufthansa will be lowering Wi-Fi pricing. This will be useful on some of the longer flights operated by narrow body aircraft. The catch is that Lufthansa has so many flights that are under an hour, where it’s just not worth paying for Wi-Fi, since you have a very limited period where you can actually be productive.
Bottom line
In early 2024, Lufthansa will be introducing free inflight messaging on all Airbus A320-family aircraft, which constitutes Lufthansa’s entire narrow body mainline fleet. You’ll just need a Lufthansa Miles & More or Lufthansa Group Travel ID to use the system, and there will be no data caps.
Furthermore, Lufthansa will be lowering the price of its other Wi-Fi packages on flights operated by these planes, for those who want to unlock the full potential of inflight Wi-Fi.
These are positive changes, and I’m happy to see airlines continuing to invest in inflight Wi-Fi.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s inflight Wi-Fi improvements?
Austrian offered 30' of free Wifi for messaging on a 321 two days ago. That was a first; they did not offer that on the outbound four days earlier.
It's 2023 and they do not offer USB to charge phones inside the aircraft lol
May TAP be next, please!