Jeremy Gutsche, CEO of Trend Hunter, accused Singapore Airlines of ‘gouging’ travelers who made use of the service, claiming that he only viewed 155 pages and uploaded a 4 MB file.
He later wrote on his blog: “I know this because for the first time I counted up my page views to see where all the dollars went. I wish I could blame an addiction to NetFlix or some intellectual documentary that made me $1,200 smarter. However, the Singapore Airlines internet was painfully slow, so videos would be impossible and that means I didn’t get any smarter… except about how to charge a lot of money for stuff. I did learn that.”
Singapore Airlines onboard WiFi: An expensive presentation
Gutsche waited an hour for his 4 MB PowerPoint document to upload. “That doc probably cost me $100 to upload, so I hope my team liked it. I actually even emailed them a warning that my upload was taking a while. That email probably cost me $10,” he later quipped.
Gutsche pre-empted any smart comments about reading the small print too. “And yes, the pricing per (megabyte) was disclosed on sign-up, but I bought the $30 package, slept through most the flight, and really didn’t think I’d end up a thousand bucks past the limit.”
The airline said that it offers volume- or time-based WiFi plans on its Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and passengers must select a price plan from either OnAir or Panasonic, depending on the flight.
The airline claims that users are given the option to have their session disconnect automatically when the limit is reached, or be charged for additional data usage.
Singapore Airlines investigation
“I can think of a lot of other things I’d rather spend $1,200 on, like a flight… to Singapore!” Gutsche’s blog post continued. “But alas, I’ve already done that and the flight ended up costing way more than expected.”
The airline responded to his request for clarification of his bill and has said that it is carrying out an investigation. The airline spoke to MailOnline Travel and stated: “Mr Gutsche has contacted us with his feedback and we are following up directly with him on the matter.”
