Does British Airways have in-flight wi-fi?

Someone asked me last week if the new A380 and B787 deliveries to BA would finally deliver a decent wi-fi experience.  Does British Airways finally have in-flight wi-fi?  The answer is No, unfortunately.

As Frank van der Post, BA’s ‘customer experience’ boss said in The Daily Telegraph recently:

Perhaps most controversially the [new A380 and B787] planes will not offer Wi-Fi, which is widely available on Virgin, Emirates and Qatar Airways. “We might get it later when the technology improves,” van der Post says.

When I flew to New York in Lufthansa First Class in February, one of the most interesting things was the ability to use the internet onboard.  I even managed to write part of my review of the flight!  The price isn’t the cheapest (€11 per hour) but Lufthansa had sent me a free one-hour voucher code as a special offer some months previously.  It worked surprisingly well.

The only British Airways service that currently offers in-flight wi-fi is the service from London City Airport to New York JFK.  This offers the ‘OnAir’ system, which allows you to use your existing mobile phone contract for browsing.  Pricing is based on whatever your mobile network has agreed with OnAir.  Full details of this service are here.

One European airline is offering free wi-fi.  Norwegian, the low-cost Scandinavian carrier, now has wi-fi on the majority of its flights, and even shows you when booking if your flight will have the service.

Hong Kong Airlines also offers free wi-fi on a number of its routes, but that is a carrier you are less likely to be using.  Are there any other free wi-fi airlines out there? 

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.