Unthinkable a decade ago, and so slow that they were unusable until just a year or so ago, decent internet connections on planes have over the past 12 months become, if hardly the norm, at least common enough to no longer be a novelty. Most major flag carriers now offer some kind of Wi-Fi connection on board (often at extra cost when flying economy class), powered by Starlink. Last month, British Airways, currently rolling out Wi-Fi across its fleet, said that it would allow passengers to make in-flight phone and video calls. Even Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has admitted that he is open to the idea of Wi-Fi on board his planes, but refuses to do so until it can be installed without the need for antennas that cause drag and drive up his fuel costs.
A near-term future in which onboard Wi-Fi is ubiquitous will no doubt be something to look forward to for anyone who can’t bear to be offline for more than five minutes. For anyone who views flying as a good opportunity to switch off for a few hours (both from their own online lives, and the lives of others: those who watch TikTok videos or listen to music without headphones) the prospect is horrifying. Your correspondent is very much part of the latter group.
United Airlines, an American airline, last month became the first to formally announce a clampdown on passengers who play media without headphones. Failure to use headphones on United flights could result in removal from the flight or a permanent ban. Good. As Wi-Fi becomes more prevalent onboard aircraft, it is to be hoped that other airlines will follow its lead. BA’s announcement that passengers can make calls is not particularly encouraging, however.
Farewell to a last sanctuary
For most of the history of commercial aviation, the cabin has been one of the last places on earth where nobody could reasonably expect you to reply to an email, join a video call or watch a colleague’s motivational LinkedIn thought-leadership post. The average adult now spends seven hours a day staring at a screen. The two or three hours of a short-haul flight (or even the ten hours of a long one) represented a rare, enforced pause. Phones went into flight mode. People read books, listened to music (with headphones), watched a film (again, with headphones). Some even just stared out of the window.
That pause had real value. There is a growing body of evidence that time away from screens improves concentration, reduces anxiety and helps with sleep. The irony is that while the wellness industry makes a fortune selling people digital detoxes (some costing thousands of pounds for a week without Wi-Fi in a yurt), air travel offered one for the price of your ticket.
The case for onboard Wi-Fi rests on the assumption that connectivity is something passengers actually want. Some, no doubt, do. Business travellers will tell you they need to send urgent emails regardless of the altitude, though one suspects most of those emails could wait until arrival. The rest of us managed perfectly well for decades without it. Nobody ever stepped off a plane complaining that the flight had been ruined by the absence of Instagram.
Lights, camera, cabin crew
What is likely to get worse is the curse of content. Walk past any notable landmark in any major city and you will find someone filming themselves in front of it, often dancing. The Trevi Fountain, the Sagrada Familia, a particularly photogenic bowl of ramen in Shibuya: all are backdrops now, props in an endless production line of short-form video destined for TikTok, Instagram Reels and whatever platform replaces them next. A travel influencer recently threw a tantrum after Qatar Airways crew members on three separate flights asked him to stop filming them. He seemed genuinely baffled that anyone might object.
Onboard Wi-Fi will turbocharge this. It’s only a matter of time before passengers begin live-streaming their in-flight meals to followers. Expect live unboxing videos of amenity kits, time-lapse clips of clouds passing beneath the wing, and tearful monologues about how ‘grateful’ people are to be ‘in this space right now’. There will be ring lights in overhead lockers. The aisle will become a catwalk.
Not everything is, or should be, content. The word itself has become one of the ugliest in the English language, stripping whatever it describes of any intrinsic worth and reducing it to fodder for algorithms. A meal is not content. A sunset is not content. A flight is not content. It is a method of getting from one place to another, ideally in something approaching peace. Must we really add cruising altitude to the list of places where the social feed never stops?
United’s headphone crackdown is a start, but airlines will need to go further. Quiet zones on trains have existed for years. There is no reason aircraft cabins could not adopt something similar, designating sections where phone calls, speakerphone TikTok binges and performative videos are forbidden. At least make passengers who want to be noisy pay for the privilege of sitting next to each other. In the meantime, Ryan Air’s refusal to install Wi-Fi on the grounds that it adds drag and costs too much may be the most compelling reason yet to fly on its aircraft. Michael O’Leary, the accidental hero of the analogue age.
Photo: Dreamstime.
