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Free in-Flight Wi-Fi over Australia on Selected A330-200 & B737-800 International Flights @ Qantas & Viasat

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Free in-Flight Wi-Fi over Australia on Selected A330-200 & B737-800 International Flights @ Qantas & Viasat
Go to Deal
eecchhoo on 06/07/2023 - 17:15 qantas.com (1735 clicks)
Last edited 06/07/2023 - 17:21 by 1 other user

Just received an email today from Qantas.

We are excited to announce the expansion of our inflight Wi-Fi on selected international flights whilst flying over Australia. Now, customers travelling aboard select A330-200 and B737-800 aircraft on flights to destinations including Singapore, Bali, Jakarta, and Manila can enjoy seamless connectivity during the portion of their journey that crosses over Australia.^

How to connect to Qantas Fast and Free Inflight Wi-Fi:
Once onboard, connect your own device to Qantas Fast and Free Inflight Wi-Fi on domestic flights in three simple steps;

Step 1
Select the 'Qantas Free Wi-Fi' network in your settings once onboard.

Step 2
Follow the prompts on the “Welcome Onboard” screen to connect.

Step 3
Once you’re connected, you're ready to access the internet and start exploring.

Travel Wi-Fi

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Comments

  • CachePC on 06/07/2023 - 17:21
    +16

    Great, will be able to post how bad they are on the ground and in the air now for free…

    Seemed like a good idea Marketing😁

    • AircraftFreight on 06/07/2023 - 19:38
      +8

      Just came off QF402 this morning and in the J lounge for QF449.
      Flight on the way up was great, quick breakfast service and solid crew. Lounge staff in SYD have been great and looking forward for the journey home.

      • PCHammond on 06/07/2023 - 22:12

        Not sure why this is being negged

        I honestly look forward to my flights just so that I can watch some videos and zone out. I also like the service of staff.

        Melbourne J lounge food is overrated though. I've only ever had a few nice meals from the Spice Temple section

        • AircraftFreight on 07/07/2023 - 02:01

          Well, some people don’t like reality.
          Qantas VIP Team cleared me into 1F at the gate.
          Flight was again very good and with nothing to complain.

          I like to have leeway of an hour at each port to finalise any emails/requests before needing to head home or into office.

        • b2dz on 07/07/2023 - 07:51
          +3

          It was negged because slagging off Qantas customer service is now the cool thing to do. Don't post about your positive experience with Qantas please, it doesn't fit the narrative.

      • ntwigz on 07/07/2023 - 08:51

        Did QF11/12 in J last month and QF1 a couple months ago. Was bang average. Food was barely what I’d call business level, no champagne on boarding (wtf), service spotty (had to repeatedly ask for things they forgot I ordered).

        I did Emirates back from london and it was miles ahead. Anyone with that option should be taking it over QF

  • lovbargain on 06/07/2023 - 17:25
    -2

    starlink?

    • nutcase on 06/07/2023 - 17:37
      +5

      Viasat, stated in title.

      • CptnObvious on 06/07/2023 - 19:12

        Is this the Zuckerberg version?

        • SimAus007 on 06/07/2023 - 19:49

          There are not low orbit satellites, so nope. Regular satellites.
          But yes, I am sure Zuck will bring it to the ring with Musk in this space soon LoL

  • SolitaryMan on 06/07/2023 - 17:26
    +4

    Completely shaft you on the airfares and cancellations, give you a bit of free wifi for a small part of your flight in return…

    • AircraftFreight on 06/07/2023 - 18:40
      +1

      Cancellations? looking at BITRE data with Qantas as the international carrier with the lowest cancellation or delay rate

      • Spendmore on 06/07/2023 - 19:09
        +2

        They say the flights are delayed so they arent classified as cancelled,

        • AircraftFreight on 06/07/2023 - 19:31
          -2

          They still have the lowest delay rate :)

          • Spendmore on 06/07/2023 - 19:57
            +4

            @AircraftFreight: Its hard to say because they are so dishonest in the way they operate.
            I would not be surprised if they delay or cancel on purpose due to a low amount of passengers on that particular flight.

            • AircraftFreight on 07/07/2023 - 02:07
              +1

              @Spendmore: There is no way of bullshitting numbers, BITRE under CASA takes the designated slot departure time as per in the ASA system and checks it against the push time by ASA.

              Qantas only does that between MEL-SYD, and does it more than 24 hours in advance and pushes passengers within 30 minutes… is that really an inconvenience to be notified 24 hours+ ahead of schedule of a 30 minute change and a different QF number on your ticket.

              • U30004 on 07/07/2023 - 05:27
                +1

                @AircraftFreight: Yes

              • Spendmore on 07/07/2023 - 07:35

                @AircraftFreight: I was talking domestic.
                A recent example, a flight from Broome to Perth scheduled at 4pm delayed to 8pm.
                8pm came and went then there was talk they were sending another plane but sent a bus for people to sleep on as there was no accommodation in town.
                The plane finally left at 7pm the next day.
                No cancellation just delay.
                Thats an inconvenience.

      • SolitaryMan on 06/07/2023 - 22:47
        +1

        Good luck being able to use your credit for past cancellations.

  • ATangk on 06/07/2023 - 17:32
    +3

    737-800 for international flight. Better hope its a short hop. And why does it say over Australia only? So you only get it for 1% of your NZ flight?

    • eecchhoo on 06/07/2023 - 17:43

      I think while you are over Australia, the you get the internet coverage
      So a portion of your trip have the internet service

    • AircraftFreight on 06/07/2023 - 18:38
      +1

      Qantas Mainline operates 737-800s from Melbourne/Sydney to Denpasar daily. Aswell as shot hops to some pacific islands such as Nadi, Honiara (bleh) ect
      Jetconnect operates Qantas 737-800s from Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane - New Zealand

      Whilst its fine for economy, I have been upgraded to Business before and its a pretty meh ride, especially for $1500-$3200 oneway. You are better off flying Garuda and getting a lie flat on MEL/SYD-DPS.

      • Harold Halfprice on 06/07/2023 - 21:13

        Qantas does 737-800s to Auckland too
        I just flew there last month - pretty subpar experience. Very small plane, but at least the flight isn't too long.

        • AircraftFreight on 07/07/2023 - 02:14

          Yep, although they are operated by Jetconnect crews.

          Planes used to be owned by the New Zealand subsidiary Jetconnect too until it all had to close

        • willyroo on 07/07/2023 - 05:27

          I did BNE-AKL last month. A330 over, 737 back and thought it was pretty good in comparison…

        • jerrysfang on 08/07/2023 - 11:37

          If it's the midnight (red eye) flight to AKL I'd prefer a bed in A330 to B737

          • AircraftFreight on 08/07/2023 - 12:46

            @jerrysfang: Yeah iirc back in 2019 it was an A330-300 and then the first flight in the morning on MEL-AKL was an A330-200.

    • UberIsCool on 07/07/2023 - 12:51

      737 goes to Singapore from Perth

      • ATangk on 07/07/2023 - 13:29

        Not much flying over Australia for that. But 5 hour flight, seems shorter than I'd have expected. Perth really is far away from the rest of us East Coasters…

  • FBI on 06/07/2023 - 17:49
    +2

    Fiji Airways was rated higher than both Qantas and Air NZ in the recent rankings ❤️

    • AircraftFreight on 06/07/2023 - 19:33
      -5

      Cant wait to go to Auckland via Nadi……..
      Thier A330-200 product is horrific, angled lie flat seats in a 2-2-2 configuration.
      Thier A350-900 product is solid, but where the seat is good - in my experience the soft product such as catering and service is average

      • GregRust on 06/07/2023 - 21:17

        You think lie-flat is hard, try YMML-KLAX in economy.

        • AircraftFreight on 07/07/2023 - 01:59
          -2

          I’ve done worse. Upgrade didn’t clear on QF9 last month, was stuck in the back :(

          Don’t know why my comment was being negged but Fiji Airways has a way inferior product to Qantas, United, Delta, Air New Zealand or American Airlines. Outdated seating on its A330 family, mediocre service and most likely a 737 MAX for the first 3-4 hours to Nadi before hopping onto a widebody for the 9-11 hour flight to LAX/SFO/YVR.

        • ATangk on 07/07/2023 - 13:41

          Economy suits smaller statured persons more. So it depends if you're a big burly bloke or not.

  • Irishness on 06/07/2023 - 17:53
    -4

    Emirates has had free wifi on international routes for many years

    • AircraftFreight on 06/07/2023 - 18:39
      +4

      Emriates does not offer free wifi to all passengers.
      Only Emirates Skywards Platinum members can get access to free wifi in any cabin.
      Emirates Skywards Silver and Gold when in Business or above.
      Emirates Skywards Blue when in First.

      For everyone else its $19.99 USD for the flight.

      https://www.emirates.com/au/english/experience/inflight-ente…

    • T-man on 06/07/2023 - 20:49

      Emirates wifi is crap, very slow. Singapore Airline wifi is much better.

  • bobbyz0r on 06/07/2023 - 18:28
    +1

    I flew on QF from SIN <> MEL recently on the A330-200 and got 14.6/0.9 on their WiFi. Definitely enough to stream videos, but latency was quite high as one would expect.
    Speedtest results

    • GregRust on 06/07/2023 - 21:18

      Damn, I might miss out on some CS:GO headshots.

  • Yorkshire-Man on 06/07/2023 - 21:13
    +11

    Maybe this isn't a popular opinion but I don't want internet on a plane. It's always been the place of peace from emails & work, guilt free watching a movie.

    • GregRust on 06/07/2023 - 21:19
      +2

      I can understand your point of view, sometimes it is nice to get away from the constant connectivity.

    • jeppetto367 on 06/07/2023 - 21:22
      +1

      Same. I fly a lot for work and am hoping that free Wifi doesn't become a standard thing. I don't need my work to expect me to be contactable on a 10 hour flight to Shanghai.

      • U30004 on 07/07/2023 - 05:29
        -3

        But you are flying for work at company's expense

    • wackedupwacko on 07/07/2023 - 11:47

      You have the option to not connect.

      • Yorkshire-Man on 07/07/2023 - 12:46
        +2

        I actually do.

        But without the option I dont feel the guilt of losing productivity. I know this sounds daft, but I could fill my time 24/7 easily, with zero wifi on planes, it was always a time I cherished. Just chill out & watch movies!

  • l2p10 on 06/07/2023 - 21:17
    +1

    Flew Qantas recently. Not quite usable imo, very slow. I gave up trying to watch any video

    More enough for just messaging and text type of browsing.

    • fantombloo on 07/07/2023 - 00:48

      I watched Netflix from Syd to Perth recently, was great the whole time.

    • SimAus007 on 07/07/2023 - 08:04

      Yeah, I had the same experience on Qantas, I tried streaming a couple of times with Netflix and gave up. It was okay for Whatsapp, and Twitter, that was about it (for my flight).

    • beatthatflight on 07/07/2023 - 10:48
      +1

      Was the lead tester on the original wifi project. We've had an entire A330 worth of passengers streaming, and I downloaded 17Gb once between SYD and BNE. I'd wager there was interference on your flight or some issue with the beams. Would definitely expect better than that, hopefully next time runs smoother.

      One of the best moments for me was the cricket being on and seeing it on phones/laptops across large parts of the plane :)

  • PCHammond on 06/07/2023 - 22:10
    +2

    I fly Qantas almost weekly on round trips.

    Netflix and Prime are quite usable on their wifi. Binge is not, even though Binge advertises heavily at Qantas terminals, but this more a Binge issue.

    I don't really have any issues with Qantas. There's the occasional delay, which is maybe 20mins. These delays are really more painful on Friday evenings when I just want to get home. Qantas have plentiful flights on the routes I fly, and if there is the occasional cancellation (rare), they stick me on another similar flight. I usually go flexi, so if I'm running early or late, there's always options to flex to. I've never lost any luggage, and I probably have taken over 400 flights.

    I can only think of 2 times that I've been screwed by actual cancellations.
    -Flying from Tamworth when there was ridiculous rain, so the arriving plane couldn't land
    -Flying from Port Macquarie, during near peak COVID times, where the plane had engine issues and they had no spares, so they had to fly up an engineer the next morning
    Both times, Qantas gave me a decent hotel and a nice food voucher. Both times they were quite organised and kept us in the loop.

    Qantas wifi seems to not work with phone calls on some planes. It also won't work on some websites/game services and it won't work with some VPNs. I've found that I can't play certain games on some planes, but it's fine on others.

    My real gripe with Qantas is the terrible post COVID food. Amazingly bad most of the time. My protip is don't wait for the website prompts to take you to the wifi logon, because this doesn't work. Instead use in your browser:
    qantas.viasat.com

    I took Virgin one trip to save work a bit of money. I had a 1130am Adl>Syd flight on a Friday. Virgin cancelled while I was sitting at the gate and did not send any sort of notification. I only noticed when I looked up at the screen while at the gate. In order to get a new flight, I had to go back OUT through security and to the Virgin service desk…where after taking forever to get to the front of the line, they told me to go join another massive queue…but first I had to go collect my luggage. So by the time I got my luggage, the line was GIGANTIC.

    In the end, I got a text while waiting in the line that I had been rebooked to the next day (Saturday) to fly via the Gold Coast, arriving in Sydney at 1pm. I got the work corporate travel agent to change me to Qantas, and I flew home the same day. I'll never fly Virgin again.

    • AircraftFreight on 07/07/2023 - 02:16
      -2

      Catering in the back has been an issue but it seems like in august along with international catering refreshes, Qantas will update its domestic catering.

      Virgin is far too unreliable and leaves me with a lack of choices especially on the MEL-PER run and a lack of a good business cabin. Customer service is also terrible and with mediocre staff.

      Oneworld is a big seller for myself, and lifetime status attainment is a biggie.

  • No Child Support on 06/07/2023 - 22:14

    Is there a list of flights that has wifi enabled?

    • AircraftFreight on 07/07/2023 - 02:19

      There are a mix of A330-200s and 737-800s that do have do not have wifi so it’s pretty unpredictable.

      Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane - Perth are pretty much guaranteed to have wifi with the exception of QF5/6/9/10 which are 787-9s.

      Melbourne/Sydney - Jakarta/Denpasar are also pretty much guaranteed.

      Singapore is in a mixed bag, some A330-200s can be in the long haul internationally configured version that may not have wifi installed. In some cases it does.

      Same deal with Melbourne - Sydney on the A332s as they are internationally configured doing repositions

      • beatthatflight on 07/07/2023 - 10:50

        All 737-8s should have wifi (was lead tester on the project), and some A330s.

      • No Child Support on 07/07/2023 - 11:00

        Im going to Tokyo in 6 weeks so would be awesome if it was enabled for that flight. Its QF79 A330-300. Got business class via points and was disappointed when i found out afterwards wifi wasn't enabled on the aircraft

    • beatthatflight on 07/07/2023 - 11:00
      +1

      It's also tricky to tell because your flight could have a plane with it, and then they change planes for an operational reason. On the departures board at the airport there'll be a wifi symbol next to it though.

  • davohatcher on 06/07/2023 - 22:36

    Has anyone flown Qantas on the direct Sydney to Bangalore/Bangaluru flight recently? I have a flight booked this month, it shows its serviced by A330-200, whilst BLR is not the Asian destinations listed in the post, i wonder if wifi would still work whilst over Australia?

    • rehan770 on 07/07/2023 - 00:28

      I wish I had the privilege to fly direct to other cities in India. Have fun

    • AircraftFreight on 07/07/2023 - 02:12

      It depends, there are a few internationally configured A330-200s that don’t have wifi systems installed. And others like VH-EBV whilst internationally configured do have wifi capability.

      VH-EBA -> VH-EBM are all wifi enabled but only configured domestically and serve domestic and short haul international routes only.

  • ozizoy on 07/07/2023 - 02:15

    Will be much easier to hack into someone else's phones during flight.

    • U30004 on 07/07/2023 - 05:31

      Right…

  • Cyphar on 07/07/2023 - 14:39

    I've yet to wind up on a B737 with wifi. Still doesn't look like the flights to NZ will get it which is disappointing as this is my most flown route. That said, work has been booking me more on AirNZ lately and flying their A321neo's each time. Wifi works from take off to landing and pulling down nearly a solid 10/3 the whole way. Have been able to work the entire flight without interruptions. Even sat in on an exec meeting in Teams that I only watched and didn't see it skip a beat at all.

    If Qantas are pushing out wifi for free on these select routes, that must mean they are really confident of the offering and hopefully it is as good as above!

    • wackedupwacko on 07/07/2023 - 17:49

      It's the same product that is on the domestic routes and planes that already have them. Basically they already have it, the planes are already capable, so they just turn it on.

      In terms of product, I find it to be actually useable for streaming youtube and such. They claim that they're gunning for Viasat 3's service once it launches for APAC region which in theory should offer faster speeds for their international component, but that's still at least 12-18months away.

      • Cyphar on 07/07/2023 - 22:50

        I wouldn't know what it's like, sadly. AS mentioned none of the B737's I've flown have ever turned it on. I've got quite a few trips of MEL to PER lined up over the next few months so I'll probably get a chance to check it out during that time!

  • wackedupwacko on 07/07/2023 - 17:47

    I wonder how long before they fit out their international fleet. Would make sense given their plans to introduce it with project sunrise and when viasat launches the APAC satelite (targeting late 2024 operational). Have them retrofitted and ready to go, test with the overland Aus section. But who knows what Qantas decides to get up to.

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