If you’re one of those people that cringe at the absence of WiFi and if you hate the idea of not being able to stay connected with friends, family and strangers online every time you fly the friendly skies, then this could be the knight-in-shining-armour that you’ve been looking for.
AirAsia has officially launched Twitter on their WiFi planes and they put out the following tweet from about 30,000 feet up in the sky. Impressive!
Hello from 30,000ft up in the air! We've officially launched @Twitter on our WiFi planes, powered by @roKKi_official! pic.twitter.com/naLR9ajVr4
— airasia Super App (@airasia) July 1, 2015
The potential question that people may be inclined to ask is if the WiFi on board is free and the answer to that question is NO—I’m sure you knew that.
If you’re interested in staying connected to the world below you while you fly, then you have to purchase a WiFi token with cash at RM9 (for 3MB data usage) from the cabin crew or you could purchase it online.
How Does It Work?
The WiFi is currently powered by roKKi chats and you can connect to the onboard WiFi network using through your WiFi enabled smartphones but you won’t be able to access it through your laptop.
The aircraft is equipped with four wireless access points along with an antenna on the top of the aircraft that communicates with a satellite orbiting the Earth.
Rokki chats gives you access to a selected collection of instant messaging applications like WhatsApp, WeChat, KakaoTalk, LINE and Twitter and they are gradually working to increase their support for more apps and for more device types.
The idea is that as soon as the cabin-crew make the announcement regarding the WiFi, you will be able to purchase a WiFi token that will give you access to the roKKi-supported IM apps which you can simultaneously use to stay in touch with people around you.
Currently, you only purchase one token per credit card transaction and you can only you use it on the device that you made the purchase on and you can pay for the service through either Visa or Mastercard.
You also have to note that the system will automatically turn off as soon as the plane reaches below 10,000 feet or when it’s in the territories of India, China and Macau. So, that’s something that you’ve to keep in mind when you’re using the service on board.
Regardless of the limitations of the service, I’m psyched to be able to be able to exchange banter with folks that I know while I fly.
To know more about the service, you can click here. Also do note that this service is only available for selected flights that offers WiFi service (almost 4,000 flights each month). AirAsia will continue to increase the number of aircrafts that are equipped with the service.