A few days ago I wrote about how Singapore Airlines has increased the complimentary Wi-Fi allowance for passengers traveling in Suites, first, and business class:
- For passengers in Suites and first class, the Wi-Fi allowance has been increased from 100MB to unlimited
- For passengers in business class and PPS Club members, the Wi-Fi allowance has been increased from 30MB to 100MB
As it turns out, those aren’t the only changes that Singapore Airlines has made to their Wi-Fi offering. Historically Singapore Airlines has taken a confusing approach towards Wi-Fi pricing, as on some planes Wi-Fi pricing was based on how much time you used the system for, while on other planes Wi-Fi pricing was based on how much data you used. Even among planes that charged based on data usage, the pricing varied greatly.
Well, Singapore Airlines has now introduced consistent Wi-Fi pricing throughout their Wi-Fi equipped fleet, which includes their A350s, 787s, 777-300s, and A380s (their 777-200s and A330-300s don’t have Wi-Fi).
The new pricing will be as follows:
- There’s a Chat Plan for 3.99USD, which includes 30MB of data
- There’s a Pro Plan for 9.99USD, which includes 100MB of data
- There’s a Premium Plan for 15.99USD, which includes 200MB of data
Each pass is valid for a single flight, though you can switch between devices.
Just for context, here’s Singapore Airlines’ old description of inflight Wi-Fi:
And here’s their new description:
While I do prefer when airlines just have a flat cost with no caps on how much data you can use, I’d say that’s quite reasonable pricing, and in most cases it represents better pricing than they had before.
Just to give some examples of previous Wi-Fi pricing, when I flew the Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR from Singapore to Newark, the pricing was as follows:
- 20MB of data cost 6USD
- 80MB of data cost 16USD
- 200MB of data cost 28USD
As you can see, the new pricing represents a significant cost reduction in this situation.
Hi, The pricing if reduced, may it be in any form, it surely brings some respite to the frequent travellers. And this one, a simplified and reasonable inflight WiFi pricing sounds interesting. Also, the price plans generally vary based on the providers and plan chosen. Anyways, cost reduction even a bit of it gives some relief.
Kudos to those who have been able to use 200 or even 100 MB of data using in-flight wifi on any airline over international waters, because I've found it pretty much useless even doing the most basic tasks.
This plan is pure trash. SIA does many things right, but the limits and pricing they set on these tiers is simply not competitive and is pretty much useless for business traveller's. Cathay and United are two examples of carriers that have sensible plans that are both reasonably priced and provide enough data to get work done.
Paying for inflight wifi is the stupidest thing ever, just get an ipass subscription ffs.
I don't usually complain about SIA but their wifi plan is absolutely ridiculous. 200MB is even hardly anything and goes very quickly. I much prefer United's wifi plan based on time and you can even pause and resume your wifi session so as to not burn through data.
These rates are still outrageous.
What a backwards approach to inflight WiFi...Business users like me would gladly expense $50+ for WiFi for the entire flight. Just give us an all flight WiFi package and charge a high price for it.
How does the payment work between the airline and the provider? Do they pay per MB used or just a flat rate? Seems odd how pricing and packages can vary so much between airlines.
I had free 100Mb and it was used it in an hour or two just doing emails, chat and very light news reading on my iPhone. Everything takes a lot of data now. I even turned off all background refresh etc
How much would a regualr user need?