For those of you addicted to Internet connectivity, it seems British Airways is making its wireless project with GoGo a bit of a Gogo, with initial pricing released.
British Airways Boeing 777-200 taxing and Boeing 747-400s at Heathrow (sans WiFi domes) Image, Economy Class and Beyond
Gogo is installing its 2Ku product aboard British Airways long haul fleet, and with British Airways is beginning the activating it for trial purposes
Gogo 2KU Antenna with Airbus fittings – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
Interestingly British AIrways will offer two forms of connectivity
- Simply Connect – allowing users to connect to the WiFi and use it to carry out tasks
- Connect Plus – Allowing users to connect and stream content as well .
According to British Airways (who were cagey with numbers, the prices start at £4.99 for Simply Connect,and £7.99 for the Connect Plus.
Of course, this is the Internet, and full numbers are out thanks to Head for Points and Business Traveller. So get your wallets open.
Length Simply Connect Connect Plus 1 hour £4.99 £7.99 4 hours £10.99 £17.99 Flight Pass £14.99 £23.99
Data: British Airways/Head for Points/Business Traveller
You’ll be able to buy your access in Pounds, US Dollars and Euros.
On first glance, this isn’t well priced (considering you can buy an all-flight pass on American Airlines with Panasonic Ka for $19 or so… coming out near £16). The interesting thing will be to see how much bandwidth to the seat each of the packages is given. If it’s about 5mbs to the seat on the Simply Connect package, this would equate to the packaging from American Airlines. I would hope the Connect Plus can stream at least 15-20mb to the seat (which is possible on a Gogo 2Ku installation dependant on load)
It’s been some time for British Airways to commit to a in-flight WiFi provider, and with the possibility of streaming video as well as the usual content, there’s lot to be excited about.
Just bring some extra pennies to pay for your WiFi access.
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Inflight Wifi without notebook – cool…