BA wi-fi pricing revealed as in-flight trials begin
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
If you read Head for Points on a regular basis you will know that British Airways is gearing up for the roll-out of wi-fi on its long-haul fleet very soon. It is also coming to short-haul but with a different system.
What most people don’t know is that the system is already installed on many long-haul BA planes. BA is not turning it on at the moment, presumably because it wants the majority of the fleet to be ready on Day 1. Making a big song and dance about it, only for passengers to find out that they only have a small chance of being on a suitable plane, would be another PR mess.
The BA long-haul wi-fi should be pretty good. By holding back for a few years, it is now able to use ‘next generation’ technology which should allow connection speeds substantially better than you have experienced on other carriers.
To make sure that the system is running smoothly when installed, British Airways is currently testing wi-fi on random long-haul services. There is no way of knowing that you are on one until the cabin crew announces it.
Here is a map showing roughly where in the world the service will be accessible:
What will it cost?
Quite a lot. In fact, more than I expected.
There are two levels of service. If you want to stream video or do anything else which requires a lot of bandwidth, you will need to dig deep. Here are the prices for ‘Connect Plus’ as BA calls it:
1 hour – £7.99
4 hours – £17.99
Entire flight – £23.99
Peak download speeds are stated as 20 Mbps with a peak upload speed of 2 Mbps. On average users are told to expect between 25% and 50% of this speed.
Given typical UK residential speeds for anyone not on cable broadband this won’t be much worse than being at home. A quick test on our Virgin Media cabled broadband wi-fi gave me 50+ Mbps but our backup Relish system, which works over the mobile spectrum, was only running at 5 Mbps.
If you want to do simple browsing, such as e-mail, it is cheaper – but still far from a bargain:
1 hour – £4.99
4 hours – £10.99
Entire flight – £14.99
The reason I am surprised by the pricing is that in-flight wi-fi is usually priced highly to artificially limit demand. You can only get a decent speed if the majority of passengers do not try to use it.
Theoretically, the British Airways system can support more users at higher speeds than we have seen before. BA does not need to price it at a level which will put off 90% of passengers, but it seems they are.
It appears, based on the trials, that all passengers have to pay irrespective of travel class.
Notwithstanding the pricing, this is an important development for British Airways and one which I hope succeeds. For every passenger who refuses to fly BA due to the seating or food quality, there is probably another who refuses purely on the basis that they cannot work in the air.
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:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
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.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
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.
Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa
Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review
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.
British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
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.
American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
Kingy 
Kathy 
TGLoyalty 
@mkcol 
Caro 
Lee 
Nick 
Anna 
Rob 
Henk 
NigelM 
Genghis 
Lady London 
Roger I 
Ro 
Alan 
Phil T 
Yan 
Comments (121)