More and more airlines are adding Wi-Fi but there’s a drop-off when travelers must pay for the service, according to recent reports.
Alaska Airlines even tested the service for just $1.
“The result: a lot fewer laptops, BlackBerrys and iPhones signed on,” said The Wall Street Journal.
"There’s a very substantial decline in passenger usage the minute you start charging for the service,” said Michael Planey, a consultant specializing in in-flight passenger technologies told the newspaper. He added:
"It really begins to invalidate the model on which this service is being built for the next 10 years."
But the paradox here is that business travelers value in flight Wi-Fi access more highly than meals, free movies or other airline services, according to a study by the Wi-Fi Alliance and the US-based Wakefield Research.
Well over two-thirds in a survey of 480 frequent corporate travelers said they choose an airline based on Wi-Fi availability.
By David Wilkening
