LXFlyer

Soo, aero.de reports that the new Swiss 777 will have Wifi. Is that true? Anyone know details? I can't find any mention of that on swiss.com.

http://www.aero.de/news-23330/Viel-n...premieren.html (search for Wlan)

FlyEurope

Here you go: https://www.swiss.com/ch/EN/fly/on-b...d#t-page=pane3

benji2227

People complain about the high price they charge for Wifi.
But TBH, I prefer paying 9CHF for 20Mb that work than 1$ on Emirates for 500Mb I never managed to use because of probable over-saturation...

f4freeJunior

On SQ it΄s also very expensive and is just good enough for whatsapp -if it works! They should include if for C and F pax.

rorschi

The onboard cellphone-cacophony-coverage will prevent me to fly LX in the future (also applicable for the A330/A340 routes for avoiding an equipment change). There are still quiet airlines around, and since I don't longer care for any status, I can (and do) deal with.

But I gave a "customer feedback" to LX and asked them how they handle this problem in different situations (night flights, day flights with off-switched cabin lights, video conferences etc.). Interested about their answer.

LXFlyer

Ah, thank you!

That price is indeed crazy...

weero

I have to agree - one can make a lot of noise with 20MB of data and then you have cell phone calls .... not sure what insane management paradigm has driven LX to go down that syphon.

GalaxyChris

Price sound ridiculous... It's really disappointing they make Swiss airlines customer pay much more than Lufthansa, I guess they use same operator.

I flew 2 weeks ago with Singapore Airlines new 777-300ER (SIN-FRA SQ326), wifi was same like the one I get last year on Lufthansa (on the recent 747-800) price around 23 Euros (T-Mobile portal), unlimited data...

I worked 4-5 hours non stop, installed new antivirus suite 180MB, syncronized my mailbox, sent mails, syncronized my dropbox documents, used whatapps a lot during the flight in my phone with same login (voice call are blocked), skype worked only 20sec when I tried to cheat with a VPN connection. it's obvious SIA blocked the voice calls.

For information :
I even used youtube successfully on Lufthansa flight (FRA-EZE and return) ... but unfortunately not tried voice call.

YuropFlyer

I've not had problems using the EK Wifi for "low usage", ie browsing (not heavily graphical websites), Whatsapp, E-Mails, all worked fine for me.

And if I paid 1$ for something, I don't expect it to stream HD Youtube videos. If With Swiss, the cheapest package starts at 9$, yet it will be heavily "cut" connection: "We offer SWISS Connect on board the Boeing 777-300ER. The WLAN connection is fast enough to access your emails, use social media sites or simply surf the Internet. We only advise against streaming or using voice services."

So: Probably clear-cut stuff like Skype will be blocked. Whatsapp calls? According to Swiss they advise against anything "voice". Streaming - and be it a radio - advised against, etc.

Meh, I prefer to pay 1$ for something that might be a bit slow and I've to wait 10sec for a Whatsapp message to be sent, over paying 9$ (and watching my data usage very carefully..) to be able to do.. exactly the same, just with a limit at 4% of what EK offers..

rorschi

According to Mr. Hohmeister and the press release they support it.

But I'm pretty curious about their answers concerning my questions about the different scenarios (see above).

Flying has quite one advantage: Every airline has competitors. And as long there are some around not offering this nuisance, I have the possibility of using them. And will do so. LX is no more an option.

YuropFlyer

https://www.swiss.com/ch/EN/fly/on-b...d#t-page=pane3

Seems the left hand doesn't know what the right hand does..

"We only advise against streaming or using voice services."

I'm fairly sure there will be only VERY few phone calls happening in the way that Swiss wants them to happen (using the provider service, which will be horribly expensive, similar to prices that you've to pay on cruise boats (or even higher than that) or, in a closer context, similar to those you've to pay on those "old" inflight-creditcard-reader phones that many airplanes are featuring.. (and did you ever see anyone using them?)

Probably Swiss does hope that some important ( ) managers who don't set their phone to airplane mode will get incoming calls and have the urge to answer those - or some people sending text messages or placing calls etc. not knowing about the costs involved. But I doubt that market will be very large - in fact, it seems it's not really used by those airlines that are running similar systems - all that people want is Wifi fast enough to send some Whatsapp/pictures, and browsing some (mostly text based) websites.

You can either include that in your airfare/ask for a nominal price for it (like EK) - or you can heavily charge for it, and hope to get away with it, similar to charging oil surcharges like as oil would be at 130$ (yes, they never got reduced since then, and it's at less than 1/4 now)

weero

Actions speak a lot louder then free-of-charge statements. They will not block speech on data and they openly sell roaming on those birds. What other evidence does one need?
Sure they prey on those who don't have to foot the bill and those who roam without consciousness but the damage to the night cabin has been done in exchange for a few bucks.

benji2227

I agree that it's expensive. I just think that SWISS's focus is very much towards business customers that need a reliable connection for various tasks. Wifi on Emirates is not even close to reliable. When it works it's only good for WhatsApp, even in an empty C cabin!
If I know that I'll need internet during my flight, I'll choose the most reliable source, at the end of the day, 9 or 39 is not that much compared to the overall cost...

I doubt they'll set any speed limit. The quicker the data is used, the faster the cash will roll

weero

I love me a good non sequitur!

And I agree that the new 777 is exclusively for business people, OPMs, and backpackers. I doubt that anyone who buys the 300 EUR TATL fare has cash or space to use the pricey Internet.

CheckInPeach

I also believe voice calls won't be a problem. They're way too expensive. And I read that the voice function will be disabled during sleeping hours.

What I don't understand is why LX charges completely different prices compared to mother LH. 19 for 50 MB is a joke. A day pass on LH is the same price and does not have limits.

I agree, WIFI quality on EK is bad, most likely because it's basically free. However the times I used it on LH it was always good. Also on EY that have the sames prices as LH.