Wifi on transatlantic flights at $ 29, and your experiences

Hahahaha this is why you are being so prolific today !

I am so badly addicted to the internet that I have refrained so far from buying wifi in the air. I know it's a slippery slope for me, and if I do it once, I would do it thereafter always !

I usually sleep on the long flights so I don't bother to pay for wifi. However, when I traveled with my teenager, I paid for wifi for him - I think it was 16 euros. Money well spent in my book!

Happy travels!

I noticed my seat mate last week took hours to get WIFI working and eventually involved a Flight Attendant before succeeding. Person then took a nap, so I wondered what the urgency was, but that really wasn’t my business!

I watched several movies. Nice to have choices that fit our preferences.

I find it hard to believe that folks are so addicted to the web that they can’t be without it for an 8-9 hour flight. Take a vacation from the internet!

My last trip was Minneapolis to Seattle, Seattle to Honolulu, Honolulu to Minneapolis on Delta. Our flights were supposed to have Wifi for Skymiles members. It didn't work on any of them. I guess on the first, it was sporadic. So, my caution would be to not count on having it. I downloaded a bunch of episodes from Netflix to watch on my flight back to Minneapolis, in case Wifi didn't work.

I love being able to access the internet, but I would not pay $29 for it. That seems insane. However, I might pay that much for a teenager if I had the privilege of traveling with one. : ) I would also consider paying extra to not have access to Instagram. : D

Any concerns over blue light issues on overnight flights?

I've only paid for wifi one time for a domestic flight from Seattle to Boston because I had to work and could write it off as an expense. I was able to get what I needed done but it was not easy. Spotty and slow speeds which reminded me of the old dial up modem days. So unless there's a compelling reason (teenage travel companion may qualify as compelling) I'll rely on podcasts, books and Netflix or Amazon downloads. Podcasts are particularly nice because they generally put me to sleep. :-)

I have paid for it a handful of times, but I had to be on contact with people. This was when my mom was sick and when I was flying to/from her place to care for her, and I would have to make appointments etc. For vacations though, I don't care about having it.

Actually this worked out perfect as I have to go back to work Monday so I managed to use the wifi to address and set my replies to al work related e-mail to be sent at 8 am Monday; now I have Saturday to do nothing and Sunday to watch the NFL all day.

The yearly sojourn to London is always on a Virgin Atlantics overnight flight LAX to LHR.

Chosen purposely so I can “ unplug, “ and achieve a little bit of shut eye.

I also take an old venerable ipod loaded with tunes and an ibook. Use it in the room at night to help me fall asleep.

Lastly, old school. Take a used paperback that I either leave in my accommodation or donate at a library.

Big into the Michael Connelly Harry Bosch / Renee Ballard series. One, because they are set in LA and I enjoy the mentions of places I know, restaurants I’ve eaten in. Secondly because I worked on the Amazon Prime series, BOSCH for Seasons 2-5. Great show. The producers and colleagues were aces!!! Retired happy and proud to have helped define the look of the show by finding and negotiating filming locations!

I’m not addicted to the internet by any means. No reason to be.

I find it hard to believe that folks are so addicted to the web that they can’t be without it for an 8-9 hour flight. Take a vacation from the internet!

Do you use the in flight entertainment?

Personally I am a heavy internet user, between dealing with work needs and my own putzing around on-line. Nonetheless, I don't find value paying $30 for a few hours of internet and am content to turn things off, use IFE, and look out the window. But that's me

I find it hard to believe that folks are so addicted to the web that they can’t be without it for an 8-9 hour flight. Take a vacation from the internet!

Not everyone is addicted to the internet and there are those that will value the ability and the time to work. More power to them, and hike your own hike.

I use it, mainly for work - it means I can arrive at my destination without having a pile of emails to answer. But Singapore Airlines has it for free - I wouldn't pay for it.

United Airlines has free inflight messaging on WhatsApp. I get a kick out of saying hello to my Mom from 30,000 feet.

Whatever gets you through an 8-11 hour flight needs no justification or criticism in my opinion. Spoken as a person who can never sleep on a plane. I’m just back from 3 weeks in France. None of the movies appealed so I was VERY grateful for ‘Slow Horses’ and other downloads.

I usually don't have to pay as Delta offers free messaging and now free wifi. I haven't had the problems that Jules had, but if it wasn't free, I would certainly pay for it on a transatlantic flight; especially coming back since I would be up the whole flight.

I find it hard to believe that folks are so addicted to the web that they can’t be without it for an 8-9 hour flight. Take a vacation from the internet!

Why would you say that? I don't consider myself addicted to the internet but I do enjoy going online and researching travel or emailing friends and much more. I'm not a big movie person so the entertainment offered doesn't always appeal to me, and I don't like just listening to something. I prefer to be more engaged, so going online works best for that. It's actually a good time, too, to organize your digital files. On my flights earlier this year I completely reorganized Dropbox. :-)

So getting internet on a flight means I am addicted

Yep, to getting paid. My last flight was a day time flight. I worked on the flight. I got it for free but yes, I would have paid.

I download movies, tv shows & podcasts before flights. I rarely watch or listen to what I’ve downloaded anyway because the IFE has lots of movies, tv & documentaries from which to choose on Delta. I can also text for free on Delta on my iPhone. I would never pay for WiFi let alone pay $29.