"You know that epic feeling when your flight ends and you finally get to your destination? Now imagine taking those first steps off the plane, syncing your phone, and getting a $1200 bill for airplane internet use," wrote Mr. Jeremy Gutsche, CEO of Trend Hunter, on the website last week.
Mr. Gutsche had been flying to Singapore from London via Singapore Airlines (SIA) when he purchased a USD30 package for WiFi usage, with which he reported to have racked up a mere 155 page views. "I know this because for the first time I counted up my page views to see where all the dollars went. I wish I could blame an addiction to NetFlix or some intellectual documentary that made me $1200 smarter. However, the Singapore Airlines internet was painfully slow, so videos would be impossible and that means I didn’t get any smarter… except about how to charge a lot of money for stuff," he said.
It's clear Mr. Gutsche is a little more than disgruntled — it's USD1,200 (SGD1,500)! — judging by the sarcasm dripping from the Trend Hunter post: "At one point, I spent about an hour uploading one 4mb powerpoint doc. That doc probably cost me $100 to upload, so I hope my team liked it."
Several other media outlets have already picked up on the story, possibly leading Shangri-La hotel where Mr. Gutsche stayed in Singapore, to leave him a courtesy note reminding him their internet was "always free".
SIA hasn't issued a statement on the matter nor a reply to Mr. Gutsche, who's encouraging readers to send the story to them via social media.
"You know that epic feeling when your flight ends and you finally get to your destination? Now imagine taking those first steps off the plane, syncing your phone, and getting a $1200 bill for airplane internet use," wrote Mr. Jeremy Gutsche, CEO of Trend Hunter, on the website last week.
Mr. Gutsche had been flying to Singapore from London via Singapore Airlines (SIA) when he purchased a USD30 package for WiFi usage, with which he reported to have racked up a mere 155 page views. "I know this because for the first time I counted up my page views to see where all the dollars went. I wish I could blame an addiction to NetFlix or some intellectual documentary that made me $1200 smarter. However, the Singapore Airlines internet was painfully slow, so videos would be impossible and that means I didn’t get any smarter… except about how to charge a lot of money for stuff," he said.
It's clear Mr. Gutsche is a little more than disgruntled — it's USD1,200 (SGD1,500)! — judging by the sarcasm dripping from the Trend Hunter post: "At one point, I spent about an hour uploading one 4mb powerpoint doc. That doc probably cost me $100 to upload, so I hope my team liked it."
Several other media outlets have already picked up on the story, possibly leading Shangri-La hotel where Mr. Gutsche stayed in Singapore, to leave him a courtesy note reminding him their internet was "always free".
SIA hasn't issued a statement on the matter nor a reply to Mr. Gutsche, who's encouraging readers to send the story to them via social media.