Japan Airlines - Free WiFi Access

Japan Airlines - Free WiFi Access

Various surveys show that travellers today regard free or low-cost access to wifi when abroad as an essential need, while many travellers have run into unexpected high roaming charges when returning home.

When Japan Airlines (JAL) found that around half of international leisure visitors to Japan had a strong desire for free internet access, the airline decided to partner with Japanese telco NTT East. NTT East operates a network of so-called ‘Hikari Station’ hotspots that are located at more than 46,000 shops and facilities across eastern Japan and which allow tourists to use free Wi- Fi service during short visits to Japan.

Foreign visitors purchasing a JAL ticket to Japan will be eligible to apply for a free ID and password on JAL’s international website . With the ID and password, passengers can enjoy free Wi-Fi service for 14 days at a wide range of NTT East’s Wi-Fi hotspots covering 17 cities.

JAL’s provision of free wi-fi for passengers in Japan is a good example of the ‘marketing as a service’ trend, which is decribed by trendwatching.com as: “With pragmatic, convenience-loving consumers enjoying instant access to an evergrowing number of supporting services and tools (both offline and online), brands urgently need to hone their ‘butlering skills’, focusing on assisting consumers to make the most of their daily live.”