by Andrew Chalk
You sometimes pay for a technical service up front and then find out that it does not work. When this has happened and I asked for a refund for the affected period I have never had a problem (beyond administrative complexity) obtaining one. This has been true in the USA, Mexico, Dubai, and the UK. In some cases, vendors have been keen to show their confidence in their product, and added something additional such as a free week, etc.
For the first time, and to my complete surprise, I just ran into a case where a vendor refused such a refund.
It was for inflight Internet service on a flight with TAP Air Portugal. The process of obtaining a final reply took several months, but here I am not most concerned about that. Rather, it is that TAP is simply taking payment and then not providing the service. Not only does this smell of underhand business practices (get people to fund their losses by paying for non-functional inflight Internet) but it also reduces their incentives to fix the underlying technical problem by shifting the costs to the customer.
I am posting this so that other people know in advance that if they pay for TAP inflight Internet upfront, and it does not work, they will be left holding the bag.
There are lots of choices on the Atlantic route. Do you want to do business with a company that thinks like this?
Paying for onboard internet and not getting a refund when it fails to work is incredibly frustrating. Airlines should be more transparent about service reliability and offer fair compensation when things go wrong. For long flights, having a backup plan, like downloading entertainment in advance, can help. If you’re looking for something engaging, check out great gaming options here, where you can find exciting titles to enjoy offline. A little preparation can make a flight much more enjoyable despite connectivity issues.