Why You Always End Up Paying Too Much For In Flight WiFi
We have all in this age become dependent on staying connected while traveling.
We usually end up paying more than we’re comfortable with but we pay it
anyway. It is simply a must nowadays to stay in touch. How many of us need to
have access to our Email for example?
If you have paid for the luxury of having WiFi on your business or family trip,
Gogo was more than likely the provider (in the US) for the service. The rates for
this service have increased dramatically even just looking back to 2012. For
instance a $28 fee will now cost you around $40 for the same service. Considering
that this is only a 3+ year span, this is not a positive trend for most.
We are willing (most of us) to pay for the price bump in order to stay connected
to our families and businesses. The increase in the price is not out of sheer
corporate greed however. It is for the most part due to the lag that would be
experienced if everyone were logged on at the same time. It would be A Lot.
On that same note, recently the „Federal Aviation Administration“ approved new
tech that will allow internet speeds to run up to 20 times faster than previously
on flights. This is great news indeed for anybody who has paid this fee to stay
connected. The high cost is at the mercy of what is dubbed „Dynamic Pricing“ and
is why it fluctuates how it does.
How this works is on the days that experience high volumes of business travelers
(or just high dollar clients in general) the prices go up. Of course when the
customer base is not of the wealthy sort the price goes down. This is the
simplified version here.
Other companies offer WiFi on their airlines for free and experience
interruptions but nothing to crucial. The customer complaints are low on the
subject which leads to the question (Why the high cost?) I guess in the end it
comes down to the value of staying connected for the individual over the cost.
If you are on vacation you may need to stay connected for a variety of reasons.
When you are on a business trip that requires connectivity it is a must have.
So the question is how much is too much for connectivity during travel? I guess
we have not found the tipping point quite yet on this one.
