Last October I wrote a post about the status of Wi-Fi on British Airways long haul aircraft, following my first British Airways flight equipped with Wi-Fi. It was a useful resource at the time, but almost a year later a lot of progress has been made, so I figured it was time to update the post.
In this post:
How Many British Airways Planes Have Wifi?
British Airways initially announced that they’d install Wi-Fi in 2016, with a target completion date in 2019. While they were a bit delayed with getting started on activating Wi-Fi, the pace with which they’ve installed Wi-Fi has been impressive.
British Airways’ Wi-Fi webpage used to list the status of Wi-Fi by aircraft type, though no longer does. Fortunately, there’s an excellent wiki on FlyerTalk that has all the latest information.
So, which British Airways long haul aircraft feature Wi-Fi as of now? Let’s break it down not only by aircraft type, but also by configuration:
Boeing 787-8 Wifi
As it stands, zero of eight British Airways 787-8s have Wi-Fi. These planes are expected to eventually get Wi-Fi, but it just hasn’t happened yet.
Boeing 787-9 Wifi
Currently, eight of 18 British Airways 787-9s have Wi-Fi. They’re currently in the process of installing Wi-Fi on the remaining aircraft.
Boeing 777-200ER Wifi
Currently, 42 of 46 British Airways 777-200ERs have Wi-Fi. The way it’s broken down:
- 27 of 30 Boeing 777-200ERs with four classes have Wi-Fi, and the last three aren’t getting Wi-Fi; four class 777-200ERs have first class, business class, premium economy, and economy
- 15 of 16 Boeing 777-200ERs with three classes have Wi-Fi; three class 777-200ERs have business class, premium economy, and economy
Boeing 777-300ER Wifi
Currently, nine of 12 British Airways 777-300ERs have Wi-Fi. They’re currently in the process of installing Wi-Fi on the remaining aircraft.
Boeing 747-400 Wifi
Currently, 17 of 33 British Airways 747-400s have Wi-Fi. The way it’s broken down:
- 17 of 18 Boeing 747-400s with 86 business class seats have Wi-Fi; the last plane isn’t getting Wi-Fi
- 0 of 15 Boeing 747-400s with 52-70 business class seats have Wi-Fi; these planes aren’t getting Wi-Fi
Airbus A350-1000 Wifi
Currently, British Airways’ single A350-1000 has Wi-Fi, and the plan is for all newly delivered A350s to come with Wi-Fi.
Airbus A380 Wifi
Currently, eight of 12 British Airways A380s have Wi-Fi.
How To Tell If Your British Airways Flight Has Wifi?
There’s no way to know for sure in advance if your flight will have Wi-Fi or not, assuming you’re on an aircraft type where at least some of the fleet has Wi-Fi. For example, none of the 787-8s have Wi-Fi, so if you’re on a 787-8 you know you won’t have it. Meanwhile, if you’re on a four-class 777-200ER or on a 747-400 with 86 business class seats, you have over 90% odds of getting Wi-Fi.
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 Wifi?
British Airways charges for Wi-Fi based on time rather than data usage, which I really appreciate, since the cost of the latter concept adds up.
You can purchase either a “Browse” or “Stream” package, and the pricing varies based on whether you want to buy a package for one hour, four hours, or the entire flight.
For the “Browse” package (described as being for basic web browsing), pricing is as follows:
- 1 hour: 4.99GBP
- 4 hours: 10.99GBP
- Full flight: 14.99GBP
Then for the “Stream” package (described as being for high-speed web browsing and video streaming), pricing is as follows:
- 1 hour: 7.99GBP
- 4 hours: 17.99GBP
- Full flight: 23.99GBP
It’s interesting that you can also elect to be billed in USD or EUR, and there might be a slight price difference if doing that. For example, a full flight “Stream” package costs 30USD or 23.99GBP, so depending on the conversion rate, one might be slightly cheaper than the other.
While this isn’t among the cheapest inflight Wi-Fi out there (some airlines charge ~$20 for unlimited data on a flight), it’s not unreasonable either, and is much better than any airline that charges based on data usage.
Lastly, while some other airlines offer first or business class passengers free Wi-Fi, British Airways charges all passengers for Wi-Fi.
What Are British Airways Wifi Speeds Like?
British Airways says that the “Browse” package should get you a minimum of 250kbps, while the “Stream” package should get you a minimum of 0.66Mbps (660kpbs). In my opinion, it’s a bit of a stretch to call the latter “high-speed browsing,” but…
So, how were speeds on my flight? On my first flight on British Airways with Wi-Fi the speeds weren’t great. However, it was also a daytime flight from London to New York, which I would imagine has among the highest Wi-Fi utilization rate of any route.
Wifi speeds ranged from really, really, really awful…
…to just pretty bad (but then again, we’re talking about using the internet while flying 600 miles per hour through the sky, so I’m forgiving there). 😉
I’d say the speeds felt on par with what you’d find on a domestic Gogo flight that’s not 2Ku equipped.
Tips For Using British Airways Wifi
Some of this is probably obvious, and some of it less 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, though I had issues with that, and could only access it when specifically typing 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
- I had huge issues connecting to the internet at first because I kept submitting my payment info, but it never went through, but there was never an error message; it was only later in the flight that I realized the Wi-Fi purchase triggered a fraud alert on my credit card, so using a different credit card did the trick (interestingly when I called Chase they said this was caused from entering the wrong zip code, yet at no point in the process of purchasing Wi-Fi was I asked to enter an address or zip code, which makes me think this may be a common issue)
British Airways Wifi Summary
While British Airways’ inflight Wi-Fi isn’t the cheapest or fastest in the sky, I’m thrilled to see how many of their long-haul aircraft already feature it. $30 is a price I’m willing to pay for unlimited Wi-Fi on a long-haul flight, and to me, it greatly enhances the value of flying British Airways across the pond, since this was previously one of the things that largely kept me off of them, especially on daytime flights.
British Airways has made great progress with this, and at this point a large majority of their long haul fleet has Wi-Fi.
Have you used British Airways’ inflight Wi-Fi? What was your experience like?
What Chase card do you usually use for in-flight WiFi? Does it code as travel for CSR?
Just flown the A350 today & it has different pricing from what you've posted, plus it was on a MB basis not a time basis.
I actually find the lack of wifi a huge positive it one of the few times i can truly disconnect for a few hours, No "needs" wifi for a flight. I really dont understand those who claim it as essential like Ben does.
FYI those last three 777-200s you referenced won't be getting WiFi are not 777-200ERs, they're the base version that has a much shorter range.
Wifi rarely works and is way overpriced
Tried to use it two weeks ago, flight from LHR to BOS on the 772 G-VIIL.
It did not work...., no internet connection. In First, it should be complimentary but it kept asking for a .air account (I did not have). They tried to get it working but no success and gave up after 30 minutes.
On a BA flight (LHR to GCM) as I type this. Wifi is woeful. I got the "hi-speed" package for the entire flight. Not only is it incapable of streaming anything, it can barely even load a facebook page or browse the internet. Very poor. If it does not improve I will be demanding a refund.
Unless my eyesight is totally going, that BA link no longer lists aircraft with WI-FI or the rollout progress
Are folks still able to see the list of wifi-enabled aircraft with tail numbers? I can't seem to find it on that link and unable to find anywhere else. Thanks!
@Russell:
So Lucky is wrong when he says your best chance is on a 747, he means “a hi-J 747, which are predominantly on routes like NY-LON”?
I’m flying a mid-J next year in BA J+, I mean F, so I shall keep my expectations low (since it is likely to also have an old Rockwell Collins IFE as well as no WiFi and be a beater- it’s LHR-LAS so I don’t imagine they’ll use the good stuff, I don’t even get T5).
Most of BA A321 have wifi. I had an opportunity to get inside the hangar last year september and they already had 3 planes with wifi installed and they were installing it on the 4th. Its just not activated for some reason
Finnair on flights to Asia have first 30 minutes free
Lucky wrote, "it was only later in the flight that I realized the wifi purchase triggered a fraud alert on my credit card, so using a different credit card did the trick (interestingly when I called Chase they said this was caused from entering the wrong zip code, yet at no point in the process of purchasing wifi was I asked to enter an address or zip code, which makes me think this may be...
Lucky wrote, "it was only later in the flight that I realized the wifi purchase triggered a fraud alert on my credit card, so using a different credit card did the trick (interestingly when I called Chase they said this was caused from entering the wrong zip code, yet at no point in the process of purchasing wifi was I asked to enter an address or zip code, which makes me think this may be a common issue)".
Considering how well BA has been doing to protect their customers' data, it is not surprising that the way they process credit cards is screwed up.
In response to Joe and Eponymous Coward, when it says 14 out of 17 747s have been fitted on the BA page the latter number is the total that will be fitted. None of the mid-J planes are getting wifi (there are 16 of those) and one of the super hi-J planes won't be getting it fitted. This is mainly due to the fact these planes are being retired soon, although BA's 747 retirement plan...
In response to Joe and Eponymous Coward, when it says 14 out of 17 747s have been fitted on the BA page the latter number is the total that will be fitted. None of the mid-J planes are getting wifi (there are 16 of those) and one of the super hi-J planes won't be getting it fitted. This is mainly due to the fact these planes are being retired soon, although BA's 747 retirement plan keeps changing.
It's the same with the 777s.
Regarding the 787s, fitting was rumoured to be starting in September this year but it appears the aircraft that have been in maintenance since then haven't been done yet.
One final point - the article states BA's shorthaul planes haven't been fitted yet. Most have, but the European Aviation Network system they'll be using still hasn't gone live due to various legal battles. Once that goes live (it was supposed to be by the end of 2017, then June 2018, now 'sometime this year') the vast majority of shorthaul planes will have connectivity but again, some won't be getting it as they're being retired shortly.
"British Airways wifi only works when flying above 10,000 feet, so it’s not gate-to-gate"
It should theoretically be gate-to-gate since the WiFi is satellite-based, not Air to Ground.
This information does not match what BA say they have in the fleet.
The two erros are that BA say they have 36 planes which are 747-400 and 46 planes which are 777-200. This is taken by me on the BA websiteunder fleet facts menue.
I much preferred when there was no connectivity on 'planes.
I disconnect, partly for a break, and partly because the speeds are still usually frustratingly slow.
Now there is pressure from employers/clients to respond even when flying.
More stress.
I feel I’m in the Minority these days but I still love to be on a long haul flight knowing there is no way to be contacted in the sky!
British Airways sucks. I think all their pilots are on twitter being total douches. Some a380 pilot Dave, some 747 douse Scott, some chick diuche Johanna. I swear every one of them is on twitter.
BA 747 should use Gogo 2Ku if I'm not mistaken. Pretty underwhelming performance for 2Ku.
You might get wifi on your flight — or you might not. And there’s no simple and easy way to tell from their website or the booking information. How quintessentially British Airways. The masochist’s favourite way to fly.
Uh, Lucky, something's not right about that BA page.
See all the 747s on that page?
Look and see if you find G-CIVK, G-CIVA, G-CIVB and G-CIVC on that page. That's four, right? One more than the number of planes that supposedly don't have wifi.
Now go look up those tail numbers on Flightaware.
See the problem?
PS: https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/about-ba/fleet-facts
Boeing 747-400
Number in fleet 36
I took my parents to Naples in Florida (it's great I recommend visiting it) we flew Club World on the 747 from Heathrow to Miami. We got back home to London on Saturday morning and both of my flights didn't have WiFi. Still I'm looking forward to getting it on more flights as 7 or 8 times out of 10 I fly BA and I really hope that they will turn around one day and make my gold card worth it
" $30 is a price I’m willing to pay for unlimited wifi on a longhaul flight, and to me it greatly enhances the value of flying British Airways across the pond"
Just wondering, is the ~6-8 hour flight (depending on the direction) between New York and London considered Long Haul? About what flight time is a flight considered to be long haul?
"I had issues with that, and could only access it when specifically typing in the URL shop.ba.com"
I had the same issue on my mobile device. It seemed to work better on my Surface.
I actually didn't realize BA had Wifi at all, so it was a pleasant surprise on my day flight LHR-PHL a few weeks back.