Cathay Pacific unlocks free WiFi for frequent flyers
More Cathay passengers now enjoy a complimentary connection above the clouds.
By David Flynn, November 12 2024
Top-tier frequent flyers on Cathay Pacific can now tap into free WiFi, just like first class and business class passengers.
The perk is available to Cathay Diamond members, who must have their membership number listed against their booking.
Getting online remains a simple process – fire up your laptop, phone or tablet, connect to the plane’s Cathay Pacific network and wait for the sign-up page to appear (or enter wifi.cathaypacific.com into your Web browser).
Then enter your name and seat number to fire up the free WiFi, where you can expect speeds anywhere from around 4-10Mbps.
The catch, of course, is that your Cathay Diamond number needs to be part of your booking – this perk isn’t available to Oneworld Emerald equivalents such as British Airways Golds and Qantas Platinums.
Passengers can connect one device at a time, but can switch between devices at any time during their flight.
Cathay Pacific's business class passengers will soon enjoy free WiFi on all flights.
If you’re not among those passengers eligible for free WiFi, Cathay Pacific offers three paid WiFi programs, based on how long you are connected:
- US$10 for one hour
- US$13 for up to six hours
- US$20 for over six hours, through to the entire flight
On flights of six hours or less there’s also a US$4 Message Pass which lets you send and receive text messages (but no photos) through the likes of Apple and Google Messages, WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook Messenger.
Note that while the six-hour and entire-flight plans can be paused – while you enjoy your meal or even watch a video – the one-hour plan can’t be paused, so choose your timing carefully and make full use of that hour.
In addition, it’s not possible to upgrade from the hour-long option to a six-hour or full-flight plan if it turns out you want or need to stay online longer.
Once those 60 minutes are up, your only option for staying connected is to pay for a new plan at full price – and even if that's only paying for one extra hour, you’ll end up having paid the same US$20 as for a whole flight pass yet had only two hours of connectivity.
All things considered, then, the US$13 six-hour and US$20 entire-flight plans offer the best value.
Cathay Diamonds will get free WiFi even if they're in premium economy or economy.
Vodafone mobile roaming on Cathay Pacific flights
If you have a Vodafone mobile plan, you can also take advantage of Vodafone’s $5/day inflight mobile roaming on Cathay Pacific flights.
(Cathay is one of around 20 airlines which allow Vodafone inflight mobile roaming: others include Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines.)
This works along the same lines as Vodafone’s $5/day international roaming, and delivers “3G-like speeds” via satellite – except it uses your phone’s mobile data rather than WiFi, with AeroMobile selected as your mobile network.
And if you activate Vodafone’s $5 airline roaming during your flight and within 24 hours of landing in a country covered by $5 global roaming – such as on a Cathay Pacific flight from Australia to Hong Kong – this is counted as the same $5/day charge, rather than seeing you slugged twice, once for $5 in the air and again for $5 when you land.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Jan 2019
Total posts 7
It should be noted that the Vodaphone Roaming is only compatible with A350 aircraft for Cathay Pacific. Tried using it on their B777 and A330 aircraft a month ago and was presented with a message advising it only works on their A350 aircraft.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
31 Jan 2013
Total posts 16
Great when it works. On my HK-SYD flight a few weeks ago service was fast / stable throughout the flight, consistently got 4Mbps. Streaming was smooth from YouTube and Netflix. Returning to HK yesterday WiFi worked for the first 2hrs then had no service / connectivity for the rest of the flight. Both flights were on B777-300ER.
Cathay's WiFi is notoriously unreliable, if they are giving it free then they set expectations which must be met
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 1208
Another example of how flaky the whole global alliance structures really are. Your status on other Oneworld airlines is ignored. Of course. CX is not alone with this. Other airlines such as SQ, QR and EK all reward direct status but ignore status from alliance or partner airlines when looking at these and other perks..
20 Nov 2015
Total posts 477
Counterpoint: Cathay wants to reward its own top frequent flyers who obviously spend big on flying with CX. As a service, Wi-Fi costs money. So while Cathay is prepared to wear that cost for business & first given the high fares, and also carry that cost as a reward for Diamonds, why should Cathay be expected to also pay for the Wi-Fi of people who spend most of their money flying with QF or other OneWorld airlines for example? I am totally fine with an airline prioritizing its own top flyers and passengers. That's common sense.
21 Apr 2017
Total posts 51
Further counterpoint. I am DM with CX but treated poorly on a range of fronts I believe when flying QF (a fact which together with a number of other factors leads me to avoid flying QF wherever possible). All things considered I think OWEs get very good treatment by CX relative to the way other airlines treat non-member OWEs.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
13 Nov 2024
Total posts 1
Mine is the opposite experience. I've been a OWE for years and only just found out (because I finally called Cathay) that I was NOT invited to their First Class lounge because their system did not show and hence the invitation cards only printed invitation to the Business Class Lounge. My status was not printed on the boarding pass and the staff just assumed I'm just a business class passenger.
Plus my own ignorance that I did not know there's a "Wing" and "Wing First" etc made me not questioned it till this recent trip.
I think there's some incompatibility between the systems which maybe why they did not treat you appropriately? QF has always treated me very nicely.
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