| Death knell for international 3 years ago For those of you who remember, Connexion by Boeing didn't last very long due to the same factors -- lack of customers.
Granted, Boeing's service was much worse. I suffered though it on a JAL flight once. I barely kept my IM running, much less any decent email. But the pricing was pretty close to the current trends.
I wonder if anybody paid attention to Boeing's failure before they started on the current domestic service(s). |
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| I dont recall the specifics, but Boeing's Connexion was also hampered by the satellites it had been using. They were much more costly and with less performant. It couldn't lower its prices. A new generation of statellites was being launched with lower costs but used by the company associated with Airbus, and Boeing had no hopes of competing, so there was no point in continuing to lose money in a system that had no hopes of competing in the future.
The current generation being talked about right now uses ground based systems with coverage only in the USA. (Air Canada is launching it only for flights between Canada and USA and it is activated only once you reach covered areas).
And yes, people will not bother paying $10 or more for internet access unless they really need it. The airlines have figured that they can get enough "business" passengers who will pay the $10 (and get re-imbursed by employers) to pay for the system. That remains to be seen.
And in an era where airlines would very much like to have coin operated toilets and reclining seats to raise revenues, it is doubtful that they would ever include the costs of internet as part of the flight, unless you buy a business class ticket. (as opposed to using FF points to upgrade to business class in which case, you don't give the airlines enough $$$ to pay for the service). |
