Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > British Airways | Executive Club
Reload this Page >

FAQ : Status of on-board WiFi rollout on BA aircraft

Old Oct 1, 2017, 1:57 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: sigma421
Onboard WiFi has been introduced to BA's fleet and is being marketed as Highlife Connect. This thread is to track the rollout. See https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb.../wifi-on-board for BA's FAQ on the system.



Long-haul aircraft with WiFi fitted

A350-1000 - All fitted (12 aircraft).

A380 - All fitted (12 aircraft)

777-200ER - All fitted (43 aircraft)

777-300ER - All fitted (16 aircraft)

787-8 - 0/12 aircraft

787-9 - 14/18 aircraft

G-ZBKA, G-ZBKB, G-ZBKC, G-ZBKD, G-ZBKG, G-ZBKH, G-ZBKI, G-ZBKJ, G-ZBKK, G-ZBKL, G-ZBKM, G-ZBKN, G-ZBKO, G-ZBKP

787-10 - All fitted (2 aircraft).


BA are currently trialling free WiFi in first class cabins. For those in other cabins the current cost on all long-haul aircraft is:
  • 1 hour: Ł7.99
  • 4 hours: Ł17.99
  • Full flight: up to Ł23.99 depending on route

Note that prices and services offered are subject to change.
Long-haul aircraft still to be fitted with WiFi

787-8 - G-ZBJA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I/J/K/M

787-9 - G-ZBKE/F/R/S
Short-haul and mid-haul aircraft known to have WiFi fitted and enabled

The majority of aircraft have wi-fi equipment fitted with the exception of those expected to retire within the next few years. Wi-fi equipment is installed after delivery and the rate at which this happens appears to have slowed down post-COVID.
A319 - 12/29 Aircraft

G-EUOA
G-EUPL/M/N/O/P/R/S/T/U/Y/Z

A320 - 61/67 Aircraft

G-EUUA/B/C/E/F/G/H/I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P/R/T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z
G-EUYA/B/D/E/G/H/I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P/R/S/T/U/V/W/X
G-GATH/J/K/M/N/P/R/S/U
G-MEDK
G-MIDO/S/T/X/Y
G-TTOB/E

A320neo - 17/20 Aircraft

G-TTNA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I/J/K/L/M/N/O/P/Q/R

Wi-fi installation has not yet occurred for aircraft delivered from October 2022 onwards.

A321 - 15/18 Aircraft

G-EUXC/D/E/F/G/H/I/J/K/L/M
G-MEDL/M/N

A321neo - All fitted (10 aircraft)

The price of WiFi on short-haul flights varies according to the length of the route. The following prices are known:

Messaging - Ł1.99 or Ł2.99 depending on flight distance.

Browse & Stream (one hour) - Ł4.99

Browse & Stream (whole flight)
Ł4.99 (MAN / NCL)
Ł6.99 (ARN / HAM)
Ł7.99 (KRK / LIS / MAS / PMI)
Ł8.99 (AGP)
Ł9.99 (LED / SOF)
Ł11.99 (LCA)



Short-haul aircraft not planned to receive WiFi due to retirement

A319 - 18 Aircraft

G-EUOE/F/G
G-EUPD/G/J/K/W
G-DBCA/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/J/K

Background information:
Print Wikipost

FAQ : Status of on-board WiFi rollout on BA aircraft

Old Nov 18, 2018, 3:57 am
  #361  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hotels.com Gold
Posts: 576
Originally Posted by GentleGiant
Has anyone got around the one device situation?

Most other airlines seem to have it purely on the login - seems crazy not to have similar and to clearly restrict is based on MAC address.

In hotels I used to run my own network - no idea if this would work?
Something like this should, in theory, work

HooToo Wireless Travel Router, USB Port, High Performance- TripMate Nano (Not a Hotspot)
Amazon Amazon
CloudGazer is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 7:43 am
  #362  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 30
Originally Posted by Schind
There's been an update on the EAN. Testing on BA flights is due to begin in December with full roll-out by summer 2019 although flights to Scandanavia won't have wifi until 2020 as there won't be coverage over the North Sea until then.

We'll see how true this timeline is in due course...

EAN ready for IFE launch with British Airways IFE content from ATWOnline
The lack of coverage over the North Sea bit is weird. This system is supposed to be a hybrid ATG/Satellite system, and gaps like that shouldn't exist. Something is fishy there.
yankees368 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 7:57 am
  #363  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Greater Metropolitan Area
Programs: Yes
Posts: 367
That sounds a bit like the satellite backhaul is not ready at all, doesn't it. I've always wondered how Wifi would be affected if there is no ground coverage available, and the North Sea is probably the key area where that is the case in Europe. Surely performance and latency would suddenly go through the roof if it has to fall back to satellite there? Will also be interesting to see whether that will affect some simple cross-channel crossings...

That's also why comparison to US in-flight Wifi with Gogo isn't very appropriate, because the US doesn't really have these huge open bodies of water that planes have to fly over...
Quark999 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 11:16 am
  #364  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: All the usual suspects
Posts: 342
Originally Posted by Quark999
That sounds a bit like the satellite backhaul is not ready at all, doesn't it. I've always wondered how Wifi would be affected if there is no ground coverage available, and the North Sea is probably the key area where that is the case in Europe. Surely performance and latency would suddenly go through the roof if it has to fall back to satellite there? Will also be interesting to see whether that will affect some simple cross-channel crossings...

That's also why comparison to US in-flight Wifi with Gogo isn't very appropriate, because the US doesn't really have these huge open bodies of water that planes have to fly over...
I may have mentioned before that I have some responsibility for our in house general aviation, and I can tell you from bitter and incredibly expensive experience that satellite capability on aircraft is being massively oversold by the providers. The capability doesn't meet the hype and its frankly painful to use with very patchy and inconsistent service.
Soupdragon62 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 11:49 am
  #365  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Greater Metropolitan Area
Programs: Yes
Posts: 367
That's why the EAN should only be using satellites when there's no ground coverage, because there's just not enough satellite capacity for all the short haul flights in Europe. I believe it's less of a problem for long haul as there will be far fewer planes in a particular spot beam at any particular time. But it does make me wonder about the "North Sea" - there will be quite a bit of traffic, and it will have to be largely satellite backed? I wonder how different the experience will be - provided it will be working at all at some point...

I have to say though that my experience with Viasat based inflight Wi-fi on SAS was really good - so perhaps Satellite Wi-fi in Europe isn't that impossible either. But I don't think a fleet as big as BA's has deployed Wi-fi yet...
Quark999 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2018, 11:51 am
  #366  
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,210
Originally Posted by CloudGazer
Something like this should, in theory, work

HooToo Wireless Travel Router, USB Port, High Performance- TripMate Nano (Not a Hotspot)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I00J8DW/
I bought one of these but have not had a chance to try it out yet. Hopefully next week on a Gogo equipped flight.

https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-ar300m/
CloudGazer likes this.
golfmad is offline  
Old Nov 22, 2018, 8:03 am
  #367  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Scotland, United Kingdom
Posts: 20
G-VIIX returned from Shannon yesterday after WIFI fitting and G-VIIU has went over today for fitting
Craig777 is offline  
Old Nov 28, 2018, 4:36 am
  #368  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 1,498
Anyone had any success with iPass?

I note one comment further up suggesting login credentials don't work, but the iPass app tends to connect to Gogo all over the US quite seamlessly, so hopefully works on BA too.
Virazuno is offline  
Old Nov 28, 2018, 6:37 am
  #369  
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Silver, IHG Gold
Posts: 448
I had wifi as an option on my last flight back from Bangkok (maybe 2 weeks ago), but nobody announced it, no mention of it and when I connected no portal would load up.

Are the planes being fitted with unusable wifi at first? Are crew announcing wifi where it's available?
Coffeemadman is offline  
Old Nov 28, 2018, 6:40 am
  #370  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 585
Originally Posted by Coffeemadman
I had wifi as an option on my last flight back from Bangkok (maybe 2 weeks ago), but nobody announced it, no mention of it and when I connected no portal would load up.

Are the planes being fitted with unusable wifi at first? Are crew announcing wifi where it's available?
There is a 3 class 777 flying around with WiFi fitted but broken, for some reason. I can’t remember the reg but crew are told not to mention it in PAs etc for to avoid people trying to connect.
MFCC is offline  
Old Nov 28, 2018, 6:42 am
  #371  
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Silver, IHG Gold
Posts: 448
Ah. Chances are I was on that one then. Shame as the IFE is the old, horrible one and I was in WT.
Coffeemadman is offline  
Old Nov 28, 2018, 6:45 am
  #372  
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,476
Generally it isn't announced, in my experience. On one LGW service a crew member walked past my PC and seemed surprised to see I was obviously online, they're not always aware it's on their aircraft either. There are some aircraft with wifi leaflets in with Highlife magazine, and Highlife also mentions it too - there's a full page advert on page 155 on the Blue editions.

A lot of people struggle with the initial stages of login, so it is useful in the day or two before departure, to use the instructions upthread to set up an account whilst on terra firma. Once that's done normally login is fairly easy.
corporate-wage-slave is online now  
Old Dec 4, 2018, 2:48 am
  #373  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,642
Originally Posted by Scotflyer80
G-CIVI - Arrived CWL 21st October for maintainence. WiFi will be fitted while in CWL.
I see that G-CIVI has been back in service since 15 November 2018 - can we take this as confirmed?
Globaliser is offline  
Old Dec 4, 2018, 5:11 am
  #374  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,095
Originally Posted by GentleGiant
Has anyone got around the one device situation?
Most other airlines seem to have it purely on the login - seems crazy not to have similar and to clearly restrict is based on MAC address.
In hotels I used to run my own network - no idea if this would work?
On AA, both Pacwisp and GoGo, you are limited to one device at a time.

​​​​​Yes, you can work around it with a wifi repeater. I have used a USB-powered one that is also a wired to wireless router for hotels or other situations with cables, so it just runs off the USB power in the aircraft (or a powerbank if you have to). Although there are ways to spot this sort of thing by analysing the traffic flows and I'm sure the operators will get upset if you share out your connection to many people to deny them per-user revenues so don't do that. I've only done this to connect, say, my laptop and phone at the same time for different purposes.
flatlander is offline  
Old Dec 4, 2018, 5:20 am
  #375  
Hilton Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: AA, BA, Accor, Honors Diamond, IHG Diamond Elite and lots more....
Posts: 2,954
Originally Posted by flatlander
On AA, both Pacwisp and GoGo, you are limited to one device at a time.

​​​​​Yes, you can work around it with a wifi repeater. I have used a USB-powered one that is also a wired to wireless router for hotels or other situations with cables, so it just runs off the USB power in the aircraft (or a powerbank if you have to). Although there are ways to spot this sort of thing by analysing the traffic flows and I'm sure the operators will get upset if you share out your connection to many people to deny them per-user revenues so don't do that. I've only done this to connect, say, my laptop and phone at the same time for different purposes.
My new phone (Black Friday deal from France) seems to have a wifi bridge - so in theory that should allow me to connect my laptop and phone. Not planning on sharing it around the cabin haha

I am sure on my most recent AA flight we were able to switch devices - maybe that was their Panasonic offering. Also able to switch on Emirates.
GentleGiant is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.