Hey you! Stop It!
Like many well-seasoned travelers reading this blog, I am a happy road warrior just trying to make a buck along the way. Part of my professional behavior is to utilize the in-flight WiFi connection services when I travel. I value my time, and get some of my best work accomplished on long flights. No questions asked. Until now.
Several years ago, when in-flight Internet connection services were introduced, the GoGo service was often free, sponsored by advertisers. It made perfect sense. A captive high-income professional audience reading your message while logging on. That business model changed to low-cost offerings. I totally remember $9.95 per flight until recently (and in the early days, I swear some flights were $4.95, but please correct me). Today the cost is $16.95 (read $17) per flight on Alaska Airlines with warning messages that rates will go up soon.
Say what?
That’s a 70 percent price increase within a short amount of time from $9.95 to $16.95. And yet I’ll pay it, because of how I value my hourly rate and because there isn’t an alternative at 38,000-feet.
Sadly, there is no competition amongst Internet service providers on a single flight. It’s a monopoly and it’s take it or leave it. It’d be nice to see a disruptive competitor emerge that allows for in-flight competition so I could select the carrier of my choice at a lower cost.
One alternative I see is this. With my rather significant backlog of e-mails “cached” locally in Microsoft Outlook 2013, I can work offline during shorter flights and upload when we touch down on the ground. Not a great solution to live streaming but hey, you start saving $16.95 here and there and we’re talking some real money!
