More and more airlines are offering free Wi-Fi on board: this greatly attracts passengers
Free Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly vital to the passenger experience, changing societal norms of connectivity during flights.
Offering free Wi-Fi is cost-effective for airlines, increasing customer satisfaction and market competitiveness, as reported by Simple Flying.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to stay connected on board an airplane was relatively limited. It was generally assumed that when someone boarded an airplane, they would be offline for the next few hours and unavailable for text messages or emails.
Obviously, business travelers will be able to purchase Wi-Fi for their more immediate needs, but this is usually limited to a few passengers at the front of the plane. In economic terms, relatively few were willing to justify the extra cost and chose to stay disconnected instead.
But with more and more airlines starting to offer free Wi-Fi, most passengers have transitioned from being connected while on the ground to being fully integrated into society during the flight. This dramatically changes the nature of the passenger experience.
Thus, passengers who have convenient access to free Wi-Fi will be much more satisfied with their flight. Consequently, airlines that fail to offer this important amenity will become more vulnerable in the marketplace due to a much weaker customer experience.
As TravelWise wrote earlier, the main dangers of using Wi-Fi at the airport were identified .