Swiss Airlines Lag Behind on Internet Offers

Many Swiss want to stay online during their holidays, and for many Swiss, holidays begin and end in an airplane. To meet this demand, many airlines offer their passengers options for getting online during flights. Telecom expert Ralf Beyeler from moneyland.ch performed a detailed analysis of the inflight Internet offers for consumers in Switzerland.

Prices vary enormously between different airlines and individual offers, ranging from free of charge to 9 francs for 20 megabytes. Most airlines offer several bundles with different amounts of data or Internet time, as well as unique limitations. “For example, the cheapest inflight Internet offers from some airlines do not let you send images through messaging apps,” explains Beyeler. Whether you are flying within Europe or to another continent also plays a role in which options are available. You can find a detailed overview of the individual Internet offers from airlines here.

Most airlines charge less than 10 francs for their cheapest Internet bundles for flights within Europe. Most do not have fixed limits on data, but Internet speeds are very low. For intercontinental flights too, a number of airlines offer Internet access to passengers for less than 10 francs.

The five most important airlines in Switzerland

For Swiss consumers, the most relevant inflight WiFi offers are likely those from Easyjet, Edelweiss, KLM, Lufthansa, and Swiss. These five airlines conduct the most passenger flights to and from Switzerland. Table one provides an overview of the Internet offers available for European flights. Table two shows the offers and prices of inflight WiFi on long-distance flights.

Table 1: Internet offers for European flights from the most relevant airlines

Table 2: Internet offers for intercontinental flights from the most relevant airlines

Offers from Swiss airlines are not attractive

The comparison reveals that the offers from Swiss airlines Edelweiss and Swiss are somewhat lean. Edelweiss does not offer passengers any inflight Internet at all. Swiss only offers inflight WiFi on intercontinental flights, “and even for those, the internet bundles from Switzerland’s largest airline are not very competitive,” observes Beyeler.

Swiss long-distance flight passengers have to pay 9 francs for 20 megabytes of data, and 59 francs for 220 megabytes. That is 25 centimes per megabyte, in the best case. Even Lufthansa, which owns Swiss, offers 1 gigabyte for 29 euros, which translates into around 3 centimes per megabyte. Dutch airline KLM offers unlimited Internet access for the entire flight for less than what Swiss charges for 120 megabytes of data. KLM is the only one of the five analyzed airlines which gives all passengers complimentary access to online text messaging services. It includes this service on both European and intercontinental flights.

“Swiss airlines have not yet entered the twenty-first century,” in telecom expert Ralf Beyeler’s opinion. “Today, most airlines offer inflight Internet as a basic service and at reasonable prices.”

Edelweiss responded to an inquiry by moneyland.ch about whether it will soon introduce inflight Internet by saying that it has no plans to introduce this service in the near future. Beyeler cannot understand the view of the two Swiss airlines. “Internet access is a customer need. Obviously, customers are not king at Edelweiss. And Swiss fleeces customers who want Internet access.”

Inflight Internet is not always available

Which airline you fly with is not the only factor that determines whether or not you can get online. Beyeler stresses that “whether or not you can actually get online depends on whether the specific aircraft is equipped with onboard WiFi.” Just because an airline offers inflight Internet bundles or even complementary Internet access, that does not mean passengers will always be able to use these on all flights.

Internet availability can vary broadly depending on the airline. For example, all Airbus aircraft from Finnish airline Finnair which fly on European routes are equipped with inflight WiFi. KLM offers inflight Internet on all of its long-distance flights. Air France says that two-third of its aircraft are equipped with Internet access. Qatar offers Internet on its A380 and A350 aircraft from Airbus, and on its Boeing 787 aircraft.   

If you want to get online while flying, you should understand that inflight Internet is normally only available during cruising. “You cannot access inflight WiFi during takeoff and landing,” clarifies Beyeler. You can find more tips for getting online while flying and compare Internet offers from around a dozen airlines in the moneyland.ch guide to inflight Internet.

More on this topic:
The comprehensive guide to inflight Internet for Swiss travelers
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