Cathay Pacific launches free business class WiFi

High flyers in Cathay Pacific first class have long enjoyed free WiFi, and that perk is now available to business class passengers on all Cathay jets fitted with satellite Internet kit.

Next in line will be Cathay Diamond frequent flyers in premium economy and economy, who will get free WiFi from November 2024.

However, this perk applies only to Cathay Diamond members and not, we understand, their Oneworld Emerald equivalents such as British Airways Golds and Qantas Platinums.

It’s also not yet known if your Cathay Diamond number will have to be associated with your booking, or if you could list another airline’s frequent flyer account on your booking but still use your Cathay Diamond number to log into the WiFi network and jump online for free.

How fast is Cathay Pacific WiFi?

Cathay has in recent months been trialling free WiFi across several aircraft to determine how heavily free WiFi was likely to be used on different routes and at different times of the day and night.

That in turn helped assess how much additional bandwidth is required to each plane, to be shared among passengers.

Passengers can connect one device at a time, but can switch between devices at any time during their flight.

During those trials, Executive Traveller clocked Cathay WiFi download speeds at around 5Mbps, regardless of what time it was during the flight and how many people in the business class cabin were awake and online (which may indicate speeds could be capped in order to deliver a reliable rate at all times).

However, we’ve previously experienced as high as 10Mbps using a paid connection on the faster connections of the Cathay 777s, so it will be interesting to revisit that now that WiFi is free across the entire business class cabin.

Cathay Pacific's business class passengers will soon enjoy free WiFi on all flights.

How much does Cathay Pacific WiFi cost?

If you’re not among those passengers eligible for free WiFi, Cathay Pacific offers three paid WiFi programs, based on how long you are connected:

• US$10 for one hour
• US$13 for up to six hours
• US$20 for over six hours, through to the entire flight

On flights of six hours or less there’s also a US$4 Message Pass which lets you send and receive text messages (but no photos) through the likes of Apple and Google Messages, WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook Messenger.

Note that while the six-hour and entire-flight plans can be paused – while you enjoy your meal or even watch a video – the one-hour plan can’t be paused, so choose your timing carefully and make full use of that hour.

In addition, it’s not possible to upgrade from the hour-long option to a six-hour or full-flight plan if it turns out you want or need to stay online longer.

Once those 60 minutes are up, your only option for staying connected is to pay for a new plan at full price – and even if that's only paying for one extra hour, you’ll end up having paid the same US$20 as for a whole flight pass yet had only two hours of connectivity.

All things considered, then, the US$13 six-hour and US$20 entire-flight plans offer the best value.

Cathay Diamonds will get free WiFi even if they're in premium economy or economy.

Vodafone roaming on Cathay Pacific flights

If you have a Vodafone mobile plan, you can also take advantage of Vodafone’s $5/day inflight mobile roaming on Cathay Pacific flights.

(Cathay is one of around 20 airlines which allow Vodafone inflight mobile roaming: others include Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines.)

This works along the same lines as Vodafone’s $5/day international roaming, and delivers “3G-like speeds” via satellite – except it uses your phone’s mobile data rather than WiFi, with AeroMobile selected as your mobile network.

And if you activate Vodafone’s $5 airline roaming during your flight and within 24 hours of landing in a country covered by $5 global roaming – such as on a Cathay Pacific flight from Australia to Hong Kong – this is counted as the same $5/day charge, rather than seeing you slugged twice, once for $5 in the air and again for $5 when you land.

How do I connect to Cathay Pacific WiFi?

You can connect directly to the Cathay Pacific inflight WiFi network from any device – a smartphone, tablet, laptop, ebook reader, even a smartwatch – in exactly the same way that you’d connect to a WiFi hotspot at work, home, a hotel or your local cafe.

Browse for local WiFi networks, select the Cathay Pacific network and your browser should pop open to help you connect (if it doesn’t, just type in www.wifi.cathaypacific.com).

Select your WiFi plan, create an account if it’s your first time using the service (or log in if you’re a returning customer), enter your credit card details, and you’re sorted. Accepted payment methods include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Paypal and Alipay.

Note that WiFi isn’t be available during the take-off and landing phases of the flight, nor when flying over the northern polar region - common on flights to North America.