Maybe you’re the type of person who whiles away the hours on a long-haul flight turning pages of the latest best seller. Or perhaps you spend your time on planes catching up on sleep. But for everyone else out there who just wants to watch hours of television or log on to the internet, you’ll have to pick your airline wisely. When it comes to Wi-Fi access in the air, availability and pricing vary drastically and only a handful of airlines offer live TV.
Thankfully, Globehunters, an online travel agency, conducted a survey of the world’s 20 biggest airlines and their economy-class entertainment options. It took into consideration things like Wi-Fi availability and price, seat-back screens, music streaming, live TV, in-flight movies, plugs, and the ability to stream media on personal devices. After pulling all the data, Globehunters determined that Turkish Airlines was the best at keeping its passengers entertained on long-haul flights.
The Turkish national airline narrowly beat out Emirates and American Airlines, which tied for second place. Each of the three top airlines offer all of the in-flight entertainment categories—including live TV—but Turkish topped the rankings because its Wi-Fi costs $15 for a 24-hour period. Emirates Wi-Fi costs $16 and American Airlines is $16 for 24 hours of access.
But if you’re just looking for free Wi-Fi and don’t care about accessing live TV in the air, then you’ll want to consider booking your next flight on Air New Zealand, Air China, China Southern Airlines, or Qantas. All four airlines offer completely free Wi-Fi access in economy class for the duration of your flight. Only one airline—LATAM Airlines—didn’t offer any Wi-Fi access at all, landing it dead last on the list. Aeroflot also didn’t fare well in the list either, since 24 hours of Wi-Fi access will set you back $50 on the Russian airline.
To see how your favorite airline fared, see the full rankings at globerhunters.com.
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