In 2016, British Airways announced plans to install Wi-Fi on long haul aircraft. Initially the target completion date was 2019, though as you’d expect, that timeline didn’t quite work out. In this post I wanted to take an updated look at British Airways’ progress with Wi-Fi installation.
Which long haul British Airways aircraft have Wi-Fi, how much does it cost, and what are speeds like?
In this post:
Which British Airways aircraft have Wi-Fi?
British Airways has done a respectable job with installing Wi-Fi throughout its long haul fleet, especially when you consider that the pandemic basically set airlines back a couple of years. At this point a vast majority of long haul British Airways aircraft feature Wi-Fi, and on some fleet types you’re guaranteed this service.
In many cases, installing Wi-Fi has coincided with the installation of the new Club Suites business class product, as these are now also available on most long haul aircraft.
So, which British Airways long haul aircraft feature Wi-Fi as of now? Let’s break it down by aircraft type.
All Airbus A350-1000s have Wi-Fi
All British Airways Airbus A350-1000s feature Wi-Fi. So far the airline has 13 of these planes in its fleet, with a further five expected to be delivered in the coming years. They’ll all be delivered with Wi-Fi installed.
All Airbus A380s have Wi-Fi
All 12 British Airways Airbus A380s feature Wi-Fi. Note that not all of these planes are currently flying, but if you’re on an A380, it should have Wi-Fi.
All Boeing 777-200ERs have Wi-Fi
All 43 British Airways Boeing 777-200ERs have been retrofitted with Wi-Fi. British Airways has done a great job with reconfiguring these jets, as both the Heathrow and Gatwick based aircraft now feature this service.
All Boeing 777-300ERs have Wi-Fi
All 16 British Airways Boeing 777-300ERs now feature Wi-Fi, so you can be assured Wi-Fi when flying on a 777.
No Boeing 787-8s have Wi-Fi
Currently zero of 12 British Airways Boeing 787-8s feature Wi-Fi. This is the only long haul fleet type not to have Wi-Fi on any jets. These planes are expected to start getting Club Suites in late 2023, and I’d expect Wi-Fi will be installed then as well.
Most Boeing 787-9s have Wi-Fi
Currently 14 or 18 British Airways Boeing 787-9s feature Wi-Fi. You can expect that the remaining four jets will be fitted with Wi-Fi within the next year.
All Boeing 787-10s have Wi-Fi
All British Airways Boeing 787-10s feature Wi-Fi. So far the airline has five of these planes in its fleet, with a further seven expected to be delivered in the coming years. They’ll all be delivered with Wi-Fi installed.
How can you tell if your British Airways flight has Wi-Fi?
The best way to know in advance if your British Airways flight will have Wi-Fi is to simply book an aircraft type where all planes have Wi-Fi. This would include A350s, A380s, 777s, and 787-10s. It’s only the 787-8s and 787-9s where not all planes feature Wi-Fi.
Unfortunately for fleets where not all aircraft have Wi-Fi, there’s no way to know for sure in advance if your flight will have Wi-Fi or not. But there is potentially a way to tell within a couple of days of departure if your flight is likely to feature Wi-Fi. The FlyerTalk Wi-Fi lists the registration codes of all the planes that have Wi-Fi within each fleet.
While you won’t know which registration code operates which flight way in advance, British Airways typically assigns a tail number a couple of days in advance.
So you can go to Flightradar24 and enter your flight number. Then within a day or so it’s likely that they will show the registration code for your flight, and then you can cross-reference to determine if it should have Wi-Fi or not.
Keep in mind that plane assignments are always subject to change due to operational reasons.
How much does British Airways charge for Wi-Fi?
I appreciate that British Airways’ Wi-Fi pricing doesn’t factor in data usage, but rather it’s based on time. The airline has some different Wi-Fi packages. On long haul flights:
- A messaging pass costs £2.99 to £4.99
- A browsing or streaming pass costs £4.99 to £21.99
- British Airways first class passengers can receive free Wi-Fi, by logging in with their name and seat number
For example, below are some of the pricing options from a recent flight I took from Newark to London. As you can see, the pricing won’t always get as high as £21.99, as that’s presumably the pricing on much longer flights.
While there’s cheaper Wi-Fi out there, personally I find that British Airways Wi-Fi pricing is pretty reasonable, especially with the lack of data caps.
What are British Airways Wi-Fi speeds like?
Wi-Fi speeds will differ by flight, depending on where you’re flying, how many people are using the system, etc. Personally I’ve found British Airways’ Wi-Fi speeds to be competitive, but not industry leading. Expect performance to be somewhere between Viasat and OnAir in terms of quality.
I wouldn’t necessarily count on being able to stream (despite the premium package suggesting that streaming is possible).
Furthermore, let me share a few more tips (some of which are probably obvious):
- British Airways Wi-Fi only works when flying above 10,000 feet, so it’s not gate-to-gate
- With most Wi-Fi systems, browsers will automatically redirect you to the portal homepage, but if you have issues you’ll want to type in the URL shop.ba.com
- If you purchase internet, it’s linked to one specific device, so you can’t switch between devices on a single flight
- You can choose to purchase Wi-Fi as a guest (meaning you just enter your name and credit card details), or you can register an account, and then it can save your info for a future flight
Bottom line
While not rolled out as fast as promised, British Airways has done a solid job installing Wi-Fi on its long haul jets. At this point all A350s, A380s, 777s, and 787-10s feature Wi-Fi, while some 787-9s feature Wi-Fi, an no 787-8s feature Wi-Fi.
British Airways has reasonable Wi-Fi pricing with no data caps, and the service is even free for those in first class. Between this and the rollout of Club Suites business class, British Airways has done a lot to improve its premium inflight offering.
Have you used British Airways’ inflight Wi-Fi? What was your experience like?
I am embarassed on behalf of BA. It's 2023... wifi was first available on planes 20 years ago. We have had wifi on planes longer than we have had the iPhone.
As much as I think Musk is a giant tool, would love to see SpaceX (or really any solid provider) on BA just as QR is doing.
oi oi
I'd like to nominate BA for the "bullshit contract of the year" award. They directly advertise their higher-tier Wi-Fi service for the ability to "stream music, video content and films throughout your flight" and even call the product the "Browse and *Stream* package" (emphasis mine), and then in their terms and conditions state that the service "is not designed to handle ... streaming video".
How is it even legal to not just advertise a product...
I'd like to nominate BA for the "bullshit contract of the year" award. They directly advertise their higher-tier Wi-Fi service for the ability to "stream music, video content and films throughout your flight" and even call the product the "Browse and *Stream* package" (emphasis mine), and then in their terms and conditions state that the service "is not designed to handle ... streaming video".
How is it even legal to not just advertise a product as being for use for a purpose but even directly name the product as being for that purpose, and then openly state in the terms and conditions that the product was not even designed to allow that service?
Complete nonsense and you won't be getting a penny from me, BA.
@Ben - is the pricing structure still different on their A350s? I seem to recall it being data-based and much more expensive. I even think you commented on it when you reviewed the club suite on the 350?
I’ve used the browse and stream flight pass on several 777 flights and found it pretty reliable on the whole (though I was mostly browsing websites or accessing work files from a vpn).
Went to Barbados and back in March 2023 on a BA 777-236 from LGW. Messaging tariff was fine outbound for WhatsApp only, but 'text only email without attachments' as advertised, didn't work. So I paid for 'Browse and Stream' on the rtn, but again only Messaging worked.
I raised a Complaint online and a refund is promised, and they say that 'system records show there was a problem that day(s)'.
Whether true or...
Went to Barbados and back in March 2023 on a BA 777-236 from LGW. Messaging tariff was fine outbound for WhatsApp only, but 'text only email without attachments' as advertised, didn't work. So I paid for 'Browse and Stream' on the rtn, but again only Messaging worked.
I raised a Complaint online and a refund is promised, and they say that 'system records show there was a problem that day(s)'.
Whether true or not, I don't see how email can work at all on the 'Messaging' tariff, as if it's Webmail-based as on a mobile device, like Gmail, it's effectively 'Browsing', or so I believe.
BA is looking at the service descriptions...
Incidentally, because of it's inbuilt encryption, you can actually send pictures etc. as well as text, when using WhatsApp.
Those posters who have not been able to connect or had multiple drop outs are entitled to a refund and in my experience they have never challenged claims. Just use the claim’s portal and you will usually get the refund within 10 working days.
In my recent experience on TATL flights (a mix of A380s, 77Ws, and 789s), WiFi speeds are fine, but the service is quite unreliable. The inability to switch between devices is also annoying. I've also had instances where it seemed like the WiFi was reset during the flight, and despite having a full-flight pass, I had to purchase a new pass for the same device.
On my last flight to London on a 787-10 Wifi was available but broken. The crew did a whole announcement about how Wifi doesn’t work over parts of Canada etc and then after all that it doesn’t work. They didn’t even mention it did not work till I asked. Silly.
Not sure if my experience is representative, but all 3 of my BA longhaul flights have had wifi installed. 0 of 3 times was the wifi functional (i.e., not slow; broken and entirely unavailable). I have another today, wifi installed - we'll see if BA goes 0 for 4.
Unrelated: There's a bug with the load more function of the main page. A couple posts are missing when they're caught in the middle of 2 pages. For example, right now if you click load more, you can't see the posts about the JFK ATC.
Working ok for me viewing on iPad with ad blocker installed.
This has been happening for a long time on the desktop version of the site (I'm using Chrome). I've reported it before, but got no response.
The posts show up when accessing from a mobile browser. Thanks.