Originally Posted by
olouie
Yeah it’s a very strange benefit. Helps a very limited set of customers. If you are a heavy AS flyer then the monthly pass is a better deal overall and if you dont fly much $8 in flight wifi is better than locking to $5/monthly for 12 months with uncertain other benefits. I wish they rolled out something like $120-200 unlimited wifi for the year.
I do agree, this is a subscription to a bundled benefit of limited use. Subscription benefits are not new to the industry, as UA has been offering subscription benefit for more than a decade. UA has "economy plus" subscription ($599+), two baggage subsription ($349), Unlimited wifi subscription ($49/mo, $539/yr), and historically, I was a member of Continental's Travel Club offering $5 discount for every trip I book and complete on continental.com. While similar benefits, if offered to AS, mean little to any status bearing elites, it likely provides benefits to infrequent flyers who are not often able to gain status..... and when you compare Delta's "free unlimited wifi" to all Delta skymiles members, AS's $5/month once-session monthly for 12 month seem overly greedy.
If AS wants to cater to non-elites, they need to do a better job of identify the "right price" for the benefits they can use.
Jiburi