WiFi Prices keep going up
When United started rolling out Wifi the prices were reasonable even though, by comparison, airlines such as Qantas offer it free domestically: diseconomies of scale I guess so I won't begrudge them. However, over the last year reasonable has morphed into almost gouging status. On my last trip back to Australia in July I think it was $17.99 for the entire journey (14-15 hours) for which, given there are some blackout spots, I was okay paying. However, on my last two trips to Europe (IAD-MUC, IAD-LHR) in the last 3 weeks prices have been $22.99, $29.99, and $31.99. My workplace is footing the bill as I am able to work while in the air (except when ranting on flyer fora such as this) so it doesn't affect my pocket but I am starting to find it hard to justify. For that type of money I would expect: an uninterrupted service (10 minutes into this flight we lost connectivity which when doing remote shell work is a PITA) and streaming capabilities. I'm not sure the technology and the satellite coverage could support this anyway. The service being provided is no different than what I was getting when I went to LHR last year but only paid $12 or so. Evidently the market is able to support the current levels but it still feels like gouging.