Lufthansa has now made it possible for passengers on long-haul flights to use their mobile devices to connect to terrestrial friends, family and others using their existing service provider.
Currently installed and available on a handful of A330 aircraft and others, the service will be made available ‘long-haul’ fleet-wide by the end of the year. The early phase of this rollout will cover flights serving North America and the Middle East.
The technology is provided by AeroMobile, who has contracted with over 200 mobile phone service providers worldwide to make this possible. It is integrated with Lufthansa’s existing FlyNet service.
However voice calls, Skype, Face Time and the like will still not be permitted aboard LH flights. This service will simply allow passengers to use their mobile devices to text, surf the internet, check emails etc.
The pricing of access will depend on your service provider. It will be considered ‘Data Roaming’ which can carry significant charges. Charges will be billed directly by your service provider and added to your normal bill.
