After promising it for some time, Lufthansa has enabled free messaging on its intercontinental flights.
Passengers can send and receive any number of messages from their own smartphone or tablet via the familiar apps (WhatsApp, Messages, etc), regardless of their travel class during the flight, including photos.
This is a little different to offerings from other airlines, which offer messaging services that just offer text messaging.
The service has been introduced with the support of Mastercard. Lufthansa is introducing this service due to demand from its passengers who want to stay in touch with family and friends via text messages even on long flights.
Accessing the messaging service
To use it, passengers have to log in to FlyNet with a Miles & More service card number or an email address registered with Lufthansa Group Travel ID.
They can also sign up or register during their flight if they need an account.
If you need anything more, internet access is available for purchase.
Free… at the point of registration
Nothing in life is truly free – and in this case, the cost of accessing the “free” messaging will be handing over your personal information (either in the form of your Miles & More/Lufthansa Travel ID). Again, this is similar to other airlines that want to know who is accessing their hotspots to connect to the big world.
At least now you can send and receive pictures of wings, food, legroom and selfies, along with your text messages when you’re travelling.
I’ll be interested in the uptake in it, as well as the bandwidth, though – whilst text messaging is “cheap” (considering how few kilobytes some messages are), pictures can scale in the megabytes, which will have a cost along the line.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.
Our Social Media pool has expanded. You can find us across most networks as @economybeyond on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon and Instagram!
Also, remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.
Leave a Reply