Icelandair’s New In-Flight Wi-Fi Study Is a Thing of Beauty

We’re tepid on marketing Infographics.

Sometimes they’re useful. Most times they’re a bunch of pretty pictures pitching platitudes. Therefore, when Icelandair sent us a heads-up about their Ultimate Wi-Fi Infographic, presenting a summarized history of everything you might want to know about In-Flight Connectivity and In-Flight Entertainment, our response was a very enthusiastic “uh-huh.”

But, whoah! Look at the thing. Really. Look at it in detail. (embedded below).

Sure. It’s a marketing pitch angled to assert Icelandair’s in-flight connectivity superiority on transatlantic routes.

It’s also a sales-pitch metaphor for Iceland as a great connection between Europe and the Americas. The fleet coverage numbers are skewed by Icelandair’s smaller fleet, compared to competitors mentioned. It may or may not make you rush to the airport to fly on Icelandair to Iceland, just so you can surf the web. (There’s lots of other fun stuff to do there, anyway).

But still. Look. At. It.

Wi-Fi service in the sky is a booming business, in high-demand by passengers, and a key driver in passenger experience satisfaction, we’ve heard.

This is not it. It’s only Icelandair’s Passenger Experience Survey amouse-bouche, before the main meal, embedded below.

In-flight connectivity will rule the future of flying, we’re told. We believe it. But What? Does? That? Really? Mean?

Despite many airlines’ and suppliers’ claims to performance superiority; and despite many efforts by many good people (sometimes even ourselves) to pack the complex jumble of acronyms and tech terms and connection speeds and satellites and radio towers and market conditions and fees and customer preferences..Into..One..Easy..Crib-Sheet–that the flying public can understand–no one has really managed to do it.

Icelandair’s Wi-Fi infographic is far from the ultimate, ultimate, ultimate, picture of what the heck’s going on way up there with the stuff we can’t see that lets us see all the stuff we want.

But it’s a very good start.

Nuff said, we think. Just look now. And judge for yourselves.

[There should be a multi-chord chorus of angelic voices singing “Awe” as background, but dramatic music is really hard to type.]