Originally Posted by flatlander

AA's long haul wifi, which works quite well most of the time [1], is $19 for the whole flight. So it's comparable pricing to their JBV ventures. Frankly, especially since I know in detail how complex the infrastructure is, you're expecting a lower cost than is practical.

Of course it has to work; Emirates might be cheap, but as noted below it doesn't always work. Emirates may also treat it as a loss-leader, quarterly and annual results with shareholder return are not their main focus as a company.

[1] One time it did not work very well but I had dismissed the experience as just something that can happen - Internet access from an aircraft flying over Iceland is a dancing bear, the wonder is that it dances at all not that it dances well. I was pleasantly and very surprised to receive an email a few days later with a refund of my payment because the experience had been less than promised, without action on my part. Is any other airline (than AA) actively monitoring the network service quality and refunding when it's bad?