Japan Airlines is to introduce WiFi on some of it’s international flights beginning this summer.
The service branded “JAL SKY” will be installed on its Boeing 777-300ER fleet, wthe following planes for install:
- Tokyo Narita – New York JFK
- Available on alternate days starting15 July 2012.
- Plans to go daily from “early August”
- Planned for installation for the following routes to end of October 2012
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- Jakarta
- Planned for installation by “Spring 2013”
- Frankfurt
- London
- Paris
In flight Wi-Fi has never been a best of value product, so the prices below show that
- US$11.95 for one hour
- US$21.95 for 24 hours
Payment is by credit card only, with discounts for JAL Card, JAL USA Card or JAL Shanghai Pudong Developement Bank card holders, with 1 hour costing US$10.75 and the 24-hour’s for US$19.75.
As they ramp up the service, passenger from July 15 to September 30, passengers in first and Business class on flights will get an hour free of charge.
The service is provided by Panasonic’s eXConnect package.
The international pricing looks very attractive, and if you’re near a power socket on a plane – that’s First and Business Class, Premium Economy and the first few rows of Economy passengers – there’s plenty to enjoy.
Alas, the one thing missing from this is the bandwidth available through the satellite link. And I’d wager it isn’t that much….
” And I’d wager it isn’t that much”
That’s quite all right. Can’t be too picky. Technology can only go so far. Besides, with Internet access over the pacific, its a damn good start!
Very true. Some bandwidth is better than no bandwidth…. And hopefully not enough to run VoIP apps….