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You would normally associate free Wi-Fi on board with Premium cabins on legacy carriers, but all that is about to change, since Norwegian have announced that they will be introducing free Wi-Fi onboard for all passengers regardless of their class of service.
When Will Norwegian Introduce Free Wi-Fi
The latest development extends Norwegian’s current policy of providing free Wi-Fi. The company currently offers the service on most of its intra-European flights and flights from the US to the Caribbean. Norwegian announced that this would be extended to its transatlantic routes within the year. The new complimentary Wi-Fi service will be available on both its new Boeing 737 MAX and its Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Why This Is A Game Changer
The reason this could potentially be a game changer is not the fact the Wi-Fi is free but, who is offering complimentary Wi-Fi to passengers. Norwegian, being a low-cost carrier, are supposed to try and charge you for every single little thing. Ryanair has even sought to charge customers for using the toilet, but regulators quickly squashed those ideas. If a low-cost carrier can offer free Wi-Fi, why can’t everyone else?!
Without a doubt ever since winning approval to fly to the US, Norwegian has been gaining momentum and upping its game, from revolutionary $65 transatlantic fares to constant route expansion, Norwegian has performed brilliantly. The company’s growth will make other carriers stop and take stock of what Norwegian is doing.
Overall
This is a big coup for Norwegian in the face of legacy carriers, especially when you consider that Etihad has recently hiked their on-board Wi-Fi pricing. It will be interesting over time to see whether this move sets off a trend and starts forcing other carriers to cut Wi-Fi pricing which can be very high, or even do away with them completely. Hopefully, they will ultimately be removed, since staying connected in the modern world is probably one of the most appreciated perks when flying. We just hope that with everyone connecting that it'll still be usable!
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The best thing about the likes of Norwegian is that they are making it a lot easier to buy one-way fares to/from the USA. It’s only a matter of time before the legacy airlines have to offer the same.
That’s awesome. Will it cover the OAK-CDG route that is supposed to open next year?
About Wifi: it would be useful to build a benchmark between companies (price, speed, apps supported, special partners such as T-Mobile, etc.).
Norwegian is trying to gain a following of US travelers. This will definitely be an incentive since some flights do not have any real in flight entertainment. Bring your iPad
thank goodness! this is a great move!
I’m not sure that Ryanair ever really wanted to charge people for using the toilet. I think it was just to get publicity, as they really seemed to be big believers in ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’.
To me it’s nice not going online when I fly, but I can see the benefit to have that access to it. I feel better not being connected to everything once in a while. Do we know who they use? Is Go Go the company most airlines use?
Fyi- love the radio button for the notify me of followup posts via e-mail!
This is great. I don’t know why all airlines don’t offer this. It would create a more pleasant environment for ALL, passengers and crew.
This is great. I don’t know why all airlines don’t offer this. It would create a more pleasant enviornment for ALL, passengars and crew.
This is a nice extra.
Anyway, they should also improve the punctuality. I would prefer.
Ok, I will check from now on if norwegian flies the routes I am planning to take!
this is a nice perk that is likely to help them retain customers
DY has been a market leading LCC for a while, winning plenty of awards. Wonder if they have been in talks with Skyteam, as SK is *A and BA/AB/AY in OW.
Free wifi offered by a discount carrier. I can’t imagine the bandwidth being anything special, and with many people using it, it will probably just be a waste of time trying to connect to any site.
I think that this is a good idea. A distracted passenger with free entertaiment could minimize the discomfort of flying on these low cost carriers.
Great news, at last another airline offering free wi-fi. Norwegian are really upping their game so let’s hope the like of BA follow suit.
While I don’t plan on flying Norwegian anytime, I do hope the other airlines quickly follow suit. No reason why it cant be offered for free by all.
This is a step in the right direction. Norwegian have been offering some great fares recently so maybe one airline to keep an eye on!
Let’s hope everyone follows along. I just paid $20 for a flight pass from ORD->PVG! Ouch!!
While this is an awesome concept , I don’t think it’s a game changer. Doesn’t JetBlue offer free wifi? It’s not enough for people to choose over other airline, most people don’t mind the small fee for wifi . This might be a good feature for low cost airlines to compete against one another ,”.
wifi is everywhere nowadays i dont understand why airlines still charge us on that.
because airlines = business . They need to make money
Norwegian is certainly making their product more desirable. It would be very nice to see other airlines follow suit!
I love the idea of free wi-for. I am going to try flying Norwegian transatlantic.
I hope other airlines do the same.
Amazing. When compared to Finnair which stripped away duration-of-flight free WiFi for even J customers, this is a change that should push other carriers a bit. Although if it’s free for all it does bring up the concern of speed as everyone is using it…
I like it!
Free WiFi is a great benefit.
I avoided norwegian for a while after only flying intra europe on the 737. But after flying long haul on the 787, I quickly changed my tune. I’m becoming more of a norwegian fan…and free WiFi helps keep me looking in their direction.
It is good and bad news . I guess planes are using satellite communications for their wifi. Good news free internet , bad news everyone will be connected to it so it will end up being slower than dial-up
That is a good point about with everybody using it means it might be very slow. Whilst it is good to get ‘something for nothing’, maybe a small fee would restrict numbers a little bit and provide a much better connection. The other side of that though is that if it is free nobody can have any complaints about the speed, but if you have paid you will have much higher expectations.
This is great news. Hopefully other carriers follow suit.
this should be the norm
They’ve already had free wifi on the US – French Caribbean routes since they launched, but it’s very very very slow.
This airline is now on my list. Would have never considered them before but, being able to be fully productive during a flight and save my time on the ground for me is an exceptional benefit. Hope this catches on in the industry.
Hope the legacy carriers also follow suit.
All airlines should be offering free wifi. Especially the ones that have very bad or non existent on-board entertainment
I suspect that airlines can make far more money by stripping out IFE (lower weight = less fuel burned) and let passengers stream on their gadgets. (than whatever they get from paid wifi)
Long term play here, as otherwise I cannot see why a LCC would give something away that could be charged for.
This seems a rather strange move by Norwegian offering something for nothing that many people would be more than happy to pay a small fee for. It seems to go completely against the normal low cost carrier model.
How unexpected! Good news
You said it – if an LCC can do this, why can’t everyone? Competition is a good thing. Legacy carriers have had it too good for too long.