Times are hard at Emirates – so what does the airline do – it announces a 1600% price increase for its on board wifi!
Currently all passengers can access !)MB of wifi for free. And for US$1 (which is donated to the Emirates Foundation) all passengers can access 500MB.
But from 14 June here are the changes.
Economy Class
Passengers can access 10MB for free for up to two hours from initial sign-in. No change.
But 150MB of data will cost US$9.99
And 15MB data will costs US$15.99
First and Business Class
Passengers who are also existing Skywards members will get free Wi-Fi for the whole flight: BUT they must be a existing Skywards customer.
If you are in Business or First but not already a Skywards members then the Economy class pricing applies.
Back in 2014 Sir Tim Clark, Emirates President, in the National newspaper – November 4 2014 said:
“We’ve always viewed Wi-Fi as a service and a value-added part of Emirates’ overall product, rather than a revenue stream.”
So things really have changed.
It is also worth noting that there is no wifi access over India and China.
The wifi service is slow at best (even slower when many passengers are online at the same time) but I seriously doubt passengers will want to spent up to US$16 for slow wifi.
Emirates will argue that the airline has invested heavily in equipping our aircraft with wifi. But it has also equipped the airplanes with seats and wifi and aircon and toilets…..which of these does the airline need to charge extra for?
It is a step backwards.