Inflight Wi-Fi Now A ‘Necessity, Not A Luxury’, New Poll Finds

A majority of airline passengers not only want inflight Internet, they’re willing to pay for it – and prepared to ditch airlines that offer no Wi-Fi or, arguably worse, slow Wi-Fi, former technology editor David Flynn reports for the online Australian Business Traveller.

Those are among the findings from a survey of 9000 passengers from 18 countries conducted by global satellite provider Inmarsat. It comes as Qantas and Virgin Australia ramp up their plans for sky-high Wi-Fi services, Flynn notes. Among the findings:

Passengers from the Asia-Pacific region are among the most willing to pay for inflight Wi-Fi;

Some 67 percent consider inflight Internet access to be a necessity rather than a luxury while 61 percent rate it as more important than inflight entertainment; and

Fifty-two percent said they would stop using their preferred airline if it offered slow or poor quality Wi-Fi.