If you cannot or do not want to do without the Internet on the plane, you should urgently inform yourself in advance. Not all airlines offer the service at all. Customers can also easily fall into a cost trap, as a study by the “Check24” comparison portal of 110 international airlines revealed.
57 out of 110 airlines even offer internet above the clouds. With almost every second provider, customers fly completely without a network. According to the comparison portal, this applies to the low-cost airlines easyJet or Ryanair. With two providers, it is generally free to surf the Internet. Two others offer at least free streams for series or films.
Otherwise, the offer on the plane is extremely varied and sometimes confusing. 38 airlines offer surf packages. For a fixed price, travelers can use unlimited internet on board. However, streaming of films and series in the usual quality is only possible with 18 airlines.
The average price for a surf package is 12.36 euros for short trips and 16.21 euros for long trips. The price ranges from four euros to 54.14 euros – a difference of over 90 percent. According to the study, the most expensive long-haul offer is 334 percent above the average price of 16.21 euros.
Among the short-haul flights, the most expensive Wi-Fi costs 36.70 euros, a difference of 32.70 euros compared to the cheapest offer. Asian and Middle Eastern airlines often cost more to have in-flight Internet than European and North American airlines.
Many airlines offer internet that is limited in terms of time or data volume. With these tariffs, travelers pay an average of 8.09 euros per hour or 16 cents for one megabyte of data volume. Chat packages offered by 26 airlines are more advisable for those who write a lot. Passengers with a chat package send and receive unlimited messages and pay an average of EUR 2.89.
WLAN is available free of charge at all international airports considered by “Check24”. At 14 airports, passengers can use the Internet without time limits. In Bangkok, Istanbul, Singapore, Stockholm and Zurich, free WiFi is subject to time limits. In Germany, all commercial airports were examined in more detail. Travelers can surf the Internet 24 hours a day at a total of 17 airports in Germany. Seven airports limit their free WiFi to between 30 minutes and three hours, including Bremen, Hanover and Stuttgart. Eleven regional airports do not offer WiFi at all.
