There's nothing like a $1,200 bill for in-flight Wi-Fi to ruin an otherwise uneventfully pleasant flight.
This is what happened to Canadian Jeremy Gutsche, who racked up a massive $1,171 on his in-flight Wi-Fi bill with OnAir, the Wi-Fi provider for Singapore Airlines. Toronto-based Gutsche, who is CEO of innovation consultancy firm Trend Hunter, was flying to London from Singapore on Nov. 12.
Gutsche signed up with what he thought was a reasonable 30MB plan for $28.99 and agreed to a contract that says he has to pay for additional bandwidth use beyond 30MB. When the plane landed and he arrived at his destination, he was shocked to find out the Wi-Fi provider was charging him more than $1,000.
The CEO details his ordeal in a blog post, where he explains how he traced his Internet usage to figure out where all those dollars went. In his case, it takes 155 page views mostly of email, which he thinks was worth $10, and uploading a 4MB PowerPoint presentation, which he estimates probably cost him $100.
Gutsche admits he was asleep during most of the flight, but he doesn't know what else the rest of the charges account for.
"I had an otherwise enjoyable flight, but the sticker shock of being gouged $1,200 made me feel like I was deplaning from Total Bastard Airplanes, that old skit from SNL where they kick you off the plane with a 'Buy BYE!'" he says.
Switzerland-based OnAir, which had spoken with Singapore Airlines, provides no explanation. The airline has already made contact with Gutsche, telling him that he must pay the full price. The Wall Street Journal reached out to Singapore Airlines, but a spokesperson said she was not allowed to disclose the details of the discussions with Gutsche.
OnAir, for its part, defends its billing practices and says that they are "entirely transparent" about data use and charges. In a statement sent to the Wall Street Journal, an OnAir spokesperson said its service allows customers to end their sessions anytime they want and view information about how much data they are currently consuming. The spokesperson also says that for any customer to use up to $1,200 worth of data, they would have to do more than basic email or web browsing.
"To consume several hundred megabytes during one flight takes much more than basic email viewing, for example downloading heavy attachments, cloud access and using Skype," the spokesperson says.
Some commenters on Gutsche's blog post criticize him for ultimately agreeing to the overage charges, saying that he could have simply just refused to sign the contract and chosen another provider. Gutsche argues that the charges are simply too excessive, given that other airlines were able to offer Wi-Fi at a flat rate or even free.
"Just because someone agrees to terms and conditions doesn't mean terms are ethical," he says.
