Wunk

Last month I flew on a KL-operated 787 back from the US, which offered wifi onboard.

However the very small 120MB data limit, tied to a hefty €20 price tag stopped me from trying it. Mainly since I read some reviews from 2016 saying the poor connectivity and hoops you'd have to go through to actually connect (buy voucher in-flight, create a Panasonic account, log in with account and enter voucher number).

I couldn't justify myself in getting Wifi, retrieving and sending a bunch of Emails and loading some online google sheets, only to run out within an hour or two of data usage and having to spend another €20 to load up another 120MB

What's the current state/quality of the KLM inflight wifi on planes that offer it. Is it still as bad as stated above or did they improve on the quality and ease of use?

caliform

No, it is still a complete disaster. After purchase it usually simply doesn't work for me at all.

johan rebel

I trust you get your money back every time?

Johan

YYCCL3

I used it once recently and it was one of the only times in my life where I found it useful to be an IT person outside of work. I probably wouldn't have been able to get it working otherwise.

I found that I burned through the 50 MB package *really* quickly even though I tried to disable as many auto-download/auto-update functions on my phone as I could.

I probably wouldnt buy it again unless the data allotment went up, way up.

Wunk

I don't get it. As an airline you introduce a new product that's VERY expensive to install or retrofit and then you make it an absolute horrible and overpriced experience to use.

What's up with that. I'd assume some people at AFKL tested it before actually buying it from Panasonic?

irishguy28

Nothing in the history of everything has been tested so thoroughly.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-f...rd-2013-a.html

caliform

I think it took them 3 years to get it working at all, then decided too much money was sunk into it to declare it a failure and start over.

I am in a lot of planes with wi-fi, transcon US and intercontinental. I have never had this level of issues with internet. It's a complete disgrace.

johan rebel

An all too common problem with software projects.

Those in charge just keep on throwing more resources at the problem, while everyone else can see it is just money down the drain.

At work I deal with the consequences of one such project every day, even though it has now been "in development" for over seven years. Another one has been looming on the horizon for about the same time. I sincerely hope it stays there forever.

Johan

Wunk

yet a common sense approach of 'Hey, Delta's gogo service works pretty sweet, let's see if we can install that as well' didn't come to mind?

caliform

That came to mind, and then they got 5 bids, and went with the one that was 2.5MM EUR lower than the competitor, thinking 'what is the worst that could happen', no doubt.

bworrell

I just purchased a 30 euro pass on my flight from AMS-MSP. First of all it's ridiculous to have data caps like that, but nothing I can do to change that. However, it worked like crap, and I was only able to use about 1/2 of my data allotment. How has everyone been getting refunds? I tried submitting for a refund on the KLM site, but because I was on a delta ticket (006) it directed me back to Delta....

Ditto

Either way Delta handles customer service for KL in the US, so you got redirected to the right place, please do report back if you get a refund.

Sjondorn

And if you're T-Mobile US customer, then you have it for free as well (you can add it as an subsciption to your plan).

CyBeR

The problem may be that back when that decision was being made, Gogo was based on terrestrial towers and thus not available outside the United States.

These days they have a system that works off of satellites as well so it'd be a different matter today.

Meneer Guggenheimer

The free limited wifi with Emirates is a better experience then KLM paid wifi service.