SAS Eurobonus Silver Members Will Get Free Wifi Onboard*
We all have to agree on one thing, SAS's long haul inflight wifi is somewhat a joke, especially those flights to Asia. You can barely scroll through Facebook smoothly, not to mention trying to open my website.
I had a wonderful chance of talking to one of the soon-retiring captain at SAS who flew me from Hong Kong to Stockholm around a month ago. He asked me how was my flight, I told him everything was fine except the Wifi, it was impossible to use. He laughed and informed me that it is the case with routes flying over Russia and China. The satellite signal has never been good, hopefully they will introduce a new system in 2020. I was literally laughing inside at the irony between his statement and the sad truth about time-lag SAS has with service implementation.
Back to now, with this great news coming from SAS, stated on SAS Group's website:
"Passengers on SAS short and medium haul routes will now have access to a stable, fast and strong WiFi signal, enabling them to stream and work inflight problem-free."
You can look through the detailed slideshows on Scandinavian Travellers page here which looks like they are promising a lot: "Installation of the new high-speed WiFi has already begun, with the first 30 short-haul planes being introduced during May 2018. Installation on the rest of the short haul fleet is expected to be finished in the beginning of 2020. Each aircraft will undergo extensive testing and SAS won’t release WiFi on any aircraft until it is completely satisfied with the Internet connection."
Bear in mind that the fast inflight wifi plan does not include any long haul fleets which means what the captain said is still realistically true. We would be able to see some developments made towards that hopefully soon but probably after 2020.
Another interesting point from their website is while free wifi access remain the same as before for "Travellers in SAS Plus as well as EuroBonus Diamond and Gold members. Travellers in SAS Go may pay 7 EUR for full access." A campaign period from May to 19th August 2018 SAS Eurobonus Silver members will also be able to enjoy free inflight wifi access. It is expected that 43 aircrafts will be installed with high speed wifi onboard within September, so they are doing this at a relatively fast pace.
This would be another useful perk being added to the silver tier level, in addition to existing limited time Fast Track and SAS Lounge access during Saturdays, summer season and Christmas season, the free wifi can also be beneficial to many people.
