Flying transcon recently aboard a Viasat-fitted Breeze Airways Airbus A220 was deeply instructive for your author. The carrier has embraced an app integration with its onboard Wi-Fi service, creating a truly frictionless log-in experience, whilst retaining the benefits of a portal.

The app immediately recognized my fare bundle (in the carrier’s Nicest offering) and with it the fact that, as part of that bundle, I was to immediately receive free access to the Wi-Fi. (The Nicer extra-legroom economy bundle also receives free Wi-Fi. And travelers who sign up for the Breeze Easy™ Visa card receive free Wi-Fi on every flight, whilst all others pay $8 for the service, covering every device and everyone under their booking.)

During an interview with RGN at Viasat’s 23-acre campus in Carlsbad, California, Breeze director of product development & innovation Kyle Smith explained why the premium leisure low-cost carrier sees its approach to onboard Wi-Fi as a key differentiator, and shared some color around management’s considerations when picking an aero ISP for its Internet service aboard the A220.

Viasat’s 24/7 support is, for example, important to the airline. “Viasat around the clock is monitoring these flights for us and they’re in constant communication with us, as well as when we do have, you know, the rare and few and far between hardware issues. They’ve got field techs that are out there ready to come support us and figure out how to get those issues mitigated,” noted Smith.

He also gave his thoughts on the portal-free IFC debate playing out in industry right, reckoning that whilst there is some value in that model, at the end of the day “it’s a big loss for the airline.”

Viasat, incidentally, has 3,500-plus aircraft fitted with broadband cabin connectivity comprising Viasat high-capacity Ka, Inmarsat-now-Viasat GX and hybrid S-band/ATG European Aviation Network (not including its L-band installs). If Breeze opts to fly internationally, as has been mooted, it will need a L-band satcom-based cockpit comms and safety services solution. Viasat and Iridium are expected to be contenders on that front.

RGN: I flew in on a Breeze A220 and the Viasat app integration was really phenomenal. Can you talk a little bit about how that was developed? 

Kyle Smith: Yeah, we really wanted it to be as frictionless an experience as possible. So we started really from an ‘app first’ perspective and then followed with web so that we could accommodate all guests. But the goal was to know who the guest is so that we know what their experience can be. So if you purchase our bundles, if you didn’t want to purchase our bundles and went ‘a la carte’, if you wanted to buy for the whole family, we wanted to know who you were and and what you had bought so that we can easily connect to you without having to do codes or things that a lot of other airlines do to get you connected or having the purchase have to be on board if it’s included with your bundle . So that was really the goal, to make it as frictionless and easy to connect, which hopefully it was when you connected. 

RGN: It was. There’s so much talk right now about frictionless and even some airlines thinking about portal free. So when I got on board, I didn’t ever expect it to be that frictionless. The app recognized effectively my fare bucket and said she gets free Wi-Fi and that’s that.

Smith: Yep, we knew we knew what you had purchased or what your your experience was supposed to be and we were able to align with that. Guests that don’t buy the bundles, that want more of an ‘a la carte’ experience, we make it really frictionless for them too; they do pay. What’s really unique is the payment. So it’s $8 or 800 Breeze points. We accept both card or point payment for those and it’s all of your devices and everybody on your reservation so it’s not a per-device per-person for those that do pay. So we think that’s a really unique value proposition. It’s really reasonable for a family flying. 

RGN: It’s a big differentiator

Smith: Yeah, I mean, I always have my iPad, my laptop, my phone going. And the worst is when you get on an airline that makes you swap devices and you spend 10 minutes moving your session from your phone to your laptop or vice versa. And so our goal was really to make that simple and easy for the guests to understand and get connected. And while I do think there’s a value for portal-less experiences, you know it’s a really big opportunity for an airline in the sky to be able to tell you about all of our other products and services, the places we fly, the things you can do with us. And so while portal-less does take one less teeny tiny bit of friction out of it, it’s a big loss for the airline as far as being able to communicate with our guests.

RGN: I reckon you’ll see airlines try to mirror what you’ve done here [with the seamless Wi-Fi/app integration].

Smith: We’d be very flattered by that. 

RGN: I fly United a lot. And it’s my one, kind of, I suppose, complaint is that it’s not easier to get online. And here I have the United app, and in every other way, the United app is fantastic. But this is a clog point. And it’s a choke point. And it’s also preventing  these airlines from really maximizing how much they can make. 

Smith: And United does a lot of really great things. 

RGN: Sure! I mean, I love United, but…

Smith: But, you know, we had a really unique advantage that we were a clean sheet experience. We started from scratch. We didn’t have any technical debt to fight against, which gave us a really a unique opportunity to create something like this and we’re really proud of it. And it’s just the first iteration. We’re constantly evolving the experience. We just recently started or launched our Breeze Easy™ Visa rewards card, and now by just applying on board the aircraft, you get free Wi-Fi for that flight too. Once you’re approved, then you become a card member. You then get free Wi-Fi on every future flight, no matter what product you purchased.  [It’s] also a really great card perk and that’s all linked again to your profile. So by just logging in, we know what your experience should be, whether you’re a card holder, a bundle and we connect you the way that you should be connected. 

RGN: That’s super creative. I noticed on the app that more payment options are coming. Are you guys looking at a PayPal integration or Venmo or…

Smith: Yeah, we’re  looking at a lot of different things right now. It’s still at just the cards that we accept, major banded credit cards and loyalty points, but we are always looking at additional ways to help people get connected and faster. Nothing is set in stone yet, but we’re always looking at what the next cool tech is to to innovate with. 

RGN: The new shiny thing on the market is of course the SpaceX Starlink service, PaxEx.aero’s Seth Miller revealed when he flew Hawaiian that there’s actually not one, but two antennas atop the A321neo that’s flying with that. Did Breeze evaluate Starlink and what was your thinking about all of that?

Smith: Yeah, we did have some conversations with them. I think they’ve got a really compelling product. We have worked with Viasat at other carriers, other partners of ours and we thought that they have a really great reliable consistent product. They’re a great team to work with. [Editor’s note: Breeze founder also founded JetBlue and Azul, which are both Viasat customers.] You know we really got this from contract to installed on aircraft, was rapidly fast with very little friction and that was a great experience for us. I am sure Starlink is at that point too, or will get there. But when we were making these decisions with the aircraft, we were just kind of right on the cusp of that kind of stuff.

RGN: Did the single antenna package versus double antenna package factor into your thought process at all? 

Smith: A little bit, but we didn’t really get quite to that point of the discussions.

RGN: If Breeze flies further afield internationally, which David Neelman has teased in the past you’re going to need a satcom-based cockpit communications and safety services provider. Have you started those explorations just yet? 

Smith: Yes, our our tech ops team, our fleet team have really started that effort. I’m not sure where they are with that yet, but they’ve started those efforts so that when we are ready with everything else to do international or do over-water flights that were we’re prepared with that technology.

RGN: It would be inappropriate to assume it would just be a Viasat win? Obviously, Iridium is out there, and will be doing a competing bid?

Smith: I think they’ll do a competitive bid and I think you know Viasat obviously has done a great job for us. So sometimes there’s no reason to change things up if you don’t have to. But we’re very good at checking the entire field and knowing, you know, what the pluses and minuses of each option are. 

RGN: And then finally, from a passenger experience standpoint, the service was truly flawless. It never let out. I had was connected for the entirety of the flight. Was a decision taken to provide a browsing level of service and just hold back on the streaming because obviously you got streaming cached content on the server and that helps preserve the cost a little bit. Was that some of the thinking? 

Smith: We had a lot of conversations around that. I would be almost embarrassed to say the number of conference calls that we had to discuss that internally. Really, we see that as a friction point because people don’t realize they buy browsing and it doesn’t work for streaming, or they think that the streaming then is too expensive and they want the browsing but it doesn’t do what they want. And we really wanted to keep it simple. You can message for free or you can get connected to the world. And those were really where we wanted to set the standard for it. And we thought the full connection was a really great value prop as it was. So we didn’t think we were, you know, if we were up in the $30s [price point] or something, which some aircraft are, then there’s a need for that. But we really thought we were at a great price point. 

RGN: You’ve got some good cached content on there like Dolly’s Christmas special, 

Smith: A little bit of the holiday stuff hasn’t rolled off yet. 

RGN: No, it’s great. 

Related Articles:

• Breeze enjoys strong momentum with premium leisure LCC focus
• Viasat opens new International Business Headquarters in London
• United short-hop flight underscores the power of its amazing app
• Hawaiian Airlines installs A321neos with FAA blessing
• Breeze Airways issues RFP to serve international markets with A220s
• SpaceX teases disruption with frictionless Wi-Fi
• Breeze Airways makes the case for kindness as a business model

Featured image credited to Mary Kirby