Qantas: turns off WiFi

Well, this will make flying even more unpleasant. No catering, no Lindt balls, no posies in the toilets, and now, no WiFi on domestic planes!

A Qantas spokesperson has just confirmed to the Executive Traveller website that the WiFi service was shut down yesterday. When will this cost-cutting end!

Background

Qantas started introducing free WiFi to its aircraft in April 2017. The service has been rolled out on almost all its B737 and A330 jets plying domestic skies. In fact, recently I was on a Qantas flight where the crew announced that the aircraft we were on, was one of only two aircraft in the fleet that didn’t have WiFi.

I love this service. It’s fast (10-15Mbps), and stable most of the time. I use it regularly to either work, or download podcasts, or conduct research while flying. The downside of this service is the passenger who loudly Facetimes her boyfriend without headphones for the entire flight or those passengers who watch porn. Oh, yes they do, I have seen it more than once.

2PAXfly Takeout

I’m kinda glad I am not flying at the moment. The last time I did was in early March, I was filled with anxiety, not about flying but about contracting COVID-19. It was the day that Qantas announced the standing down of most of its crew, so in between whipping down surfaces, hand washing, overhearing crew talking about auctioning their Qantas Centenary pins on ebay and being ignored by the same very depressed cabin crew, there was not a lot of joy to be had.

I will have to hold on to the fact that my Platinum Status has been extended by 12 months without me having to fly to earn it.