Hawaiian Airlines Debuts Free Inflight Wi-Fi from SpaceX's Starlink | Hacker News Reader

Hawaiian Airlines Debuts Free Inflight Wi-Fi from SpaceX's Starlink

cnbc.com

26 pointsperihelions19 comments

I wonder if this is the beginning of the end of in-flight entertainment. Once the Wi-Fi gets reliable enough, people will probably just start using their own devices and streaming services. Which of course becomes a great cost-cutting opportunity for airlines as they could potentially ditch their own systems. I have no idea what % of costs the in-flight system represents, but if the margins are as thin as people say I'm sure they'll jump at the opportunity.

It's a pretty awful regression to the complete elimination of the systems. I remember my first flight to Japan as a teenager on ANA and finding out that they not only had movie channels in the seat but you could actually play SNES games. I got to watch movies I hadn't even heard of as well. The games have been eliminated and you're now stuck playing terrible candy crush clones if your family can't afford a switch.

I've seen domestic flights have already started removing in flight tvs and telling you to make sure you download the app before the flight takes off. Seems pretty awful that families are now expected to provide a screen for every person or they're out of luck

Yeah, the potential for enshittification is massive. I can imagine they'll offer the Wi-Fi for free at first, use that as a reason to take out screens, and then start charging for the Wi-Fi as an "extra service" (in the way that everything is charged for these days, including basics like booking seats together if you're booking for two or more people).

The European airlines with in-flight wifi (not necessarily Starlink) have several grades.

The free connection replaces the screen: you can see the flight status, destination tourist guide, connection information and the in-flight menu and catalogue. Sometimes you can watch films, TV or stream music and podcasts.

There's a cheap level which claims to allow messaging services.

Then something 'normal'

And finally something 'business' which supports VPNs.

One airline I used had holders in the headrests to support a tablet or large phone. (I forgot which one.)

Wi-Fi has already been a thing on planes for years, and has been good enough for me to watch high quality YouTube videos and attend Zoom meetings. Not a single family member or friend whom I've enlightened about this has bothered to use the internet on a plane flight, even when it's free. It's going to take at least a decade before the old habit will be replaced with the new one.

Computer bad. Phone bad. But small airplane screen? Small airplane screen novel and good.

Not only that, the EU has now mandated that all planes support 5G on passengers' phones directly.

No idea how that would work, and I imagine airlines would push back against this (how would they capitalize on this without raising ticket prices?), but it would be awesome if this happens.

The deadline for implementation has passed, all the planes had to have the equipment added to support it. I'm not sure if any airlines have turned on the service yet though.

Airlines started removing the screens in 2019. Southwest never had them [0]. Good riddance.

[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2019/10/13...

> Good riddance

Out of curiosity, why? I tend to like in-flight entertainment options, at least on Delta.

personally i hate TVs (usually sports) being forced upon me. but i understand how valuable the screens are for infrequent flyers.

> i hate TVs (usually sports) being forced upon me

Fair enough. Delta's are easy to turn off, which I do most of the time. I've been on flights where they autoplay--or have ads--and that's incredibly annoying. I enjoy taking some flights watching a film--something I ordinarily don't do--on a screen without distractions.

Easy to turn off after the federally mandated safety video plays. Oh, but what about that downtime before? The airlines already have the ability to disable the power button for the 90 second safety video, what if we changed the lockout to 120s instead? Or 180?

Remember, there didn’t used to be commercials before movies, either.

Any captive audience like airplane passengers (who are, by federal law, confined to their seat at the discretion of the flight crew) are a vector for advertising. I don’t like having my attention sold.

> captive audience like airplane passengers (who are, by federal law, confined to their seat at the discretion of the flight crew) are a vector for advertising. I don’t like having my attention sold

I've never been shown a third-party ad on Delta. The only "ad" is an intro video, which seems acceptable.

Doesn’t mean you won’t be:

https://www.imm-international.com/airline-partners-usa/delta...

Weight may be an issue. For an airplane extra weight means more fuel burned per mile.

IFE has been on the way out for years. Many airlines are optioning "streamlined" domestic cabins without IFE.

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