Over the past couple of years, Cathay Pacific has progressively been rolling out free Wi-Fi to more and more passengers. The airline has now made yet another group of passengers eligible for free Wi-Fi, so let’s go over the details. If you’re traveling in a premium cabin or have status in Cathay Pacific’s loyalty program, odds are that you’re entitled to free Wi-Fi.
Cathay Pacific passengers eligible for free Wi-Fi
Cathay Pacific now offers unlimited free Wi-Fi to the following groups of passengers:
- First class passengers
- Business class passengers
- Premium economy passengers enrolled in the Cathay program
- Cathay Diamond and Gold members in economy
Cathay Pacific has continued to roll this out on a very gradual basis. Wi-Fi has been free in first class for years, then it was added for free in business class as of the middle of last year, then a few months later it was added for Diamond members, then for Gold members, and now for premium economy passengers enrolled in Cathay Pacific’s loyalty program.
Note that for situations where Cathay membership is required for free Wi-Fi, unfortunately the benefit doesn’t extend to elite members enrolled in partner oneworld loyalty programs, even those who have oneworld Emerald and oneworld Sapphire status.
Nowadays Cathay Pacific offers Wi-Fi on 100% of its fleet, so that includes Airbus A350s, Airbus A330s, Airbus A321neos, and Boeing 777s.
For those who don’t have access to free Wi-Fi, Cathay Pacific ordinarily charges $12.95 for Wi-Fi on flights of up to six hours, and $19.95-24.95 for Wi-Fi on flights of over six hours. Messaging passes are also available at a lower cost.
Inflight Wi-Fi sure is advancing at a fast pace
Inflight Wi-Fi has come a long way in recent years, both in terms of bandwidth and in terms of cost and value. At first, it was exciting when an airline had Wi-Fi in the first place. Then we saw speeds start to improve, and now we’re seeing airlines investing in making Wi-Fi complimentary, at least in some form.
While many airlines still charge for Wi-Fi, some airlines have started offering free inflight messaging to all passengers, and free unlimited Wi-Fi to premium cabin passengers. For example, in Asia, Singapore Airlines now offers unlimited free Wi-Fi to all KrisFlyer members. Meanwhile All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines offer unlimited free Wi-Fi to all first and business class passengers.
Cathay Pacific’s issue is that while the airline markets that it has high speed Wi-Fi, in reality, it’s not exactly Starlink Wi-Fi, so bandwidth remains a limitation. The more the airline offers free Wi-Fi, the more people will use it, and the slower the speeds will be.
Hopefully Cathay Pacific can eventually work toward offering free Wi-Fi in lower cabins as well. However, the airline probably needs to update its Wi-Fi service before something like this could be extended to economy. With airlines increasingly making the switch to Starlink, that allows all travelers to enjoy unlimited free Wi-Fi, so hopefully that trend continues.
Bottom line
Cathay Pacific now offers free Wi-Fi to all first and business class passengers, premium economy passengers who belong to the Cathay program, and economy passengers who have Cathay Diamond or Gold status. It’s nice to see this progress, especially with 100% of Cathay Pacific’s fleet now featuring inflight connectivity.
Admittedly free inflight Wi-Fi across the board will soon be the norm, so hopefully this is expanded even further in the future.
What do you make of Cathay Pacific expanding free Wi-Fi for premium passengers?
