Emirates will give economy passengers a larger serve of free inflight Internet before new data charges kick in.
The Qantas partner carrier currently provides 10MB of free access to all passengers, followed by a modest ask of just US$1 for each 500MB of data.
From June 14 2017, new pricing tiers will levy US$9.99 (A$13.50) for 150MB or US$15.99 (A$22) for 500MB to be used throughout the flight.
A spokesperson for Emirates has advised Australian Business Traveller that under the revised scheme, economy passengers will now receive 20MB instead of 10MB of free WiFi, and that allocation "must be used within 2 hours from sign-up."
As previously reported, business class and first class passengers will now enjoy unlimited free WiFi by entering their Skywards membership number at the login screen.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
28 May 2016
Total posts 127
So they want to make the wifi completely unusable before they start charging for it? This won't make it very attractive for potential buyers, or maybe they want to encourage more people to purchase it, by seeing what they are missing out on when they lose it.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Feb 2015
Total posts 387
Well that's 3 webpages covered, such generous allowance!!
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
05 Jun 2017
Total posts 28
I agree the service is routinely less than useless. I'm not sure that the price increase will determine many in economy. Too many people are addicted to streaming video (albeit practically impossibe), but their repeated attempts are what kill the service for everyone else
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
05 Jun 2017
Total posts 28
I'm about to board a flight to Addis Ababa, and I have found that flights to Africa generally have better service as I'm guessing that Africans are not as interested in endlessly streaming. Fingers crossed!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1374
At those limits they are chopping off Netflix entirely (typically 1gb /hr for SD), so it will definitely improve things, although won't stop YouTubers
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