How common is wifi Internet on long-distance international flights?

[also_anon_dc]

I fly long haul pretty frequently and never even try to use the wifi anymore. When I've tried in the past it usually costs money and rarely worked. It's also incredibly slow and just not worth the hassle. Long haul flights almost always have a high quality entertainment center where you can watch movies, TV and play games so that takes up a lot of my time. As others have said, you can also read a book and download stuff to watch to your phone/iPad etc.

You specifically mentioned American and Delta. If you're doing a long haul flight I would not recommend and American-based carrier. Your service, food and other amenities will be much better on Turkish, Emirates, Korean or Etihad.

 

[kelemvor]

All the AA flights I've been on have had gogo (except small planes) however coverage is spotty. I've seen it cut out on the way to Cozumel from Miami. Same provider so you can probably use Delta's map that @Kinglake posted. Seems crazy that planes don't have good service everywhere, they're high enough to pick up just about any satellite on whatever half the planet they are on. Maybe starlink will start providing uplink service to airlines someday.

I always fly American, and they have a MASSIVE price hike for business or first class on long haul flights. I just checked Tampa to Fiji and they only offered business (no first) at quadruple the price of coach ~12k vs ~3k round trip. I'm not sure I could justify $9k for a two days of increased comfort.

 

[Eric802]

My limited experience using wifi on domestic flights has been universally frustrating. You may get connected and be able to text, but web surfing is dicey (it'll take forever to load a page), and streaming anything is right out. Now I load up with Netflix downloads on my iPad and pass the time that way.

 

[tridacna]

I’m a long haul specialist. Visited my parents twice a year in South Africa for 25 years interspersed with multiple Asian interludes. Only one thing works for me: AMBIEN. Other than that, load up with movies and music and forget communications for the flight.

 

[Dan]

I never care about having Wi-Fi access on the plane. Instead, I look for ways to make me sleep comfortably on the plane, without costing me an arm & a leg of business class seat. So I won’t be hung over, due to lack of sleep (what some people refer it as “jetlag”), which would waste another day at the final destination, instead of enjoying the diving paradise.

So, forget about Wifi, try to sleep, wake up when the meal is ready, eat, stretch, read or watch some boring stuff to get you sleepy again and go back to sleep. Your body will thank you upon arrival, instead of feeling tired, buzzing head and exhausted upon arrival.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I see, you want to surf SB while in flight. Ha ha.

 

[Dan]

I see, you want to surf SB while in flight. Ha ha.

Yep. Another good reason to not having Wi-Fi access on the plane. SB can be addicting.

I would pay extra to be able to get a good sleep in the airplane, not the other way around. LOL.

Hibernation is the word for the long-hour flights. That’s how bears survive the winter.

 

[Stoo]

Take a book. Or a sleeping pill. Both is best.

 

[hedonist222]

The wifi on Etihad and Emirates is pretty good.
I would say between 100 and 250 Mbps.

I turn off background use though - so that the bandwith I purchased is not plundered by background running applications (chat, social media, email, and etc etc).

 

[ontdiver]

It is interesting to see how we somehow need to be entertained/connected 24/7. In any case, my experience with domestic flights has been similarly poor. While knowing gate changes and status of connecting flights before arrival would be helpful to have before landing, until you have actually deplaned it can simply fuel your frustrations.