Wi-fi Robinhood flew Air Canada, bought one internet pass, and used a $79 router to offer free connections to everyone.
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The Air Canada passenger bought the airline’s streaming internet package and turned himself into a micro ISP. He plugged a $79 UniFi Travel Router into a power bank, connected it to Air Canada’s ACWiFi.com network, authenticated it through the captive portal and created an open hotspot for the rest of the cabin.
This little travel router from UniFi works really well with the onboard wifi. I set it up with a free open AP for everyone to use and the children are contented.
The display in the photo he shared shows three devices connected. He says as many as five people joined at once, with only a few dropouts and slowdowns on the premium plan (plus a brief satellite outage over the ocean).
- The travel router joins the aircraft network just as a phone or laptop would. The passenger signs into Air Canada’s captive portal through the UniFi app, and the internet session is associated with the router.
- Every phone and laptop connected behind goes through that one connection like a router at home.
Of course there are reasons to do this even without sharing your internet connection with strangers. You can connect a laptop, phone and tablet at the same time. You can cover your whole entire family with one wifi purchase.
Air Canada does have free wifi on much of its fleet – within North America and to Mexico and the Caribbean. On most long haul, Aeroplan members still receive only free messaging. Air Canada’s connectivity page promises this goes free “in 2026.”
The new Airbus A321XLR, though, offers free wifi even on long haul routes. There are still two A320s and three Boeing 787-9s that are dark, along with Q400s outside of nine serving Toronto Billy Bishop.
Normally you’re only allowed to use one device per purchase. If you log in with a second device, the first one disconnects and the session transfers. Here, the route places all the devices behind a single login. That’s actually against the terms of the service which prohibit sharing connections or authorizing someone else to use your connection.
- The wifi service terms say that the service is personal and non-transferable and limited to one device with no sharing of a connection.
- Air Canada also publishes a a rule against radio transmitters which is odd considering that phones and laptops are allowed to inflight wifi. A passenger operating their own wireless access point still might run afoul of this.
In 2016 I wrote about using a HooToo nano router to connect several devices to one Gogo session. It was annoying to keep moving a connection between my laptop and phone, and hotels still commonly imposed device limits.
That’s different from bringing a personal Starlink terminal onto a Delta flight. That passenger was attempting to provide the connection to space. Here the passenger is merely redistributing the internet the aircraft already receives.
My first attempt to get Starlink working on this Delta flight a failure thus far pic.twitter.com/ECys107dfD
— Ryan Petersen (@typesfast) November 12, 2024
Thirty years ago I hosted open connections because in my early naive utopian days I thought the web would be open and transformational. I had a $3.99 per month connection that came with ads, I disabled the ads, and made it available to anyone within range.
Of course back then there wasn’t much worry over security. And while encrypted connections mean that a network host isn’t necessarily seeing transmitted passwords, you are sharing metadata and could face phishing or other attacks.
In an era where everything else seems to be a reverse-Robin Hood and class-traitors abound, it’s nice to see a few class-heroes still exist. *slow clap*
As a user, you’re trusting the person sharing the connection wasn’t logging your phone/computer details and all of the data passing through the router for nefarious purposes. I wouldn’t take that risk.
Grifters will look for any reason to get something for nothing. So sad people are that cheap and unscrupulous.
@Retired Gambler — Ok, so, you’re almost getting, but… you’re blaming the poor, when it’s the rich and those in-power, currently, ‘grifting’ with impunity. (Fine, fine… go back to blaming ‘the left,’ or immigrants, or whatever… *facepalm*)
The security risk of an open network isn’t really other users attacking you (mostly). It’s primarily that bad actors will do things they shouldn’t, but it being attributed to you. A common one might be a kid using whatever the current flavor of “free streaming” service is, like PopcornTime used to be.
I still offer one at my house on an isolated network, b/c people are overly paranoid about security, and I say that as someone working in the industry. It’s just a good thing to offer as a host and neighbor and costs me nothing.
Why? Almost all web traffic (and a fair amount of DNS) these days is encrypted. Worse-case scenario is that an alleged attacker sees IP addresses and maybe DNS hostnames.
It’s a lot like public WiFi – as long as you pay attention to any browser warning messages regarding certificates and the like, you’ll probably be fine.
Gary – separate alert – do a search for KQED United SFO – they did a story with a lot more color and background about what led up to and what happened after that viral video of the check-in agent. Very interesting.
I’m never surprised by the utter stupidity of people like this nitwit. I won’t say anymore, just that this idiot should not have been so painfully obvious and has contributed to a huge disservice to anyone else who shares WiFi with THIER FAMILIES and NOT the general public. Nice job DumbA$$
Have we all forgotten that most major airlines, JetBlue and Delta for years, and now American and United, have already made Wi-Fi free for their loyalty members? So, Air Canada is kinda behind here.
While some of you (@Drew Simmons, @Retired Gambler) are gleefully clutching your pearls over perceived ‘rule-breakers,’ these workarounds act as a public reminder that in 2026, inflight internet is (and should be) a utility, not a premium luxury.
Of course, @Gary Leff would happily keep paying for his ‘special’ WiFi on American, if it means he gets to business-expense the charges and take advantage (no, AAdvantage!) of the 25% discount on Wi-Fi purchases made inflight using his Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®…
I love the arrogance of the envious socialists here who think they have the moral high ground.
@Common Sense — Still hutt-burt about earlier? Hoo-boo…
@1990: Just the facts, Sir. No word salads, please.
So, use a router: against the rules. Does AC allow you to use a powerbank in flight? (AI says no, I can’t find it on their website.) Not a fan.
This is why Canadian related things cannot be trusted. They are infested with communism. Distributing free internet is the first step towards the west being taken over by Pol Pot. Free internet slows it down for everyone and is just as bad. Best is if people need to be certified investors before being able to purchase internet on a plane. Then those of us with actual social status and things to do can tend to protecting this country.
Oh, no, violating terms and conditions! What are they gonna due, put him in internet sharing jail? OTOH, some power tripping FA might declare it a security risk and get TSA involved. They’ve turned around planes for less…
This is stealing from those who valued WiFi and paid, and giving to thoise who did not not and would not have paid.
Your ‘Robin Hood’ needs therapy.
@Common Sense — Ah, now you’re doing a Tim-Dunn-impersonation… (my opinions are ‘facts/data,’ your opinions are ‘wrong/ancedotes.’)
No one can compete with Tim Dunn.
You didn’t dispute any of the facts, you just spewed a whole bunch of nonsense strung together.
@Common Sense — There you go again (abusing the meaning of words, like ‘facts,’ and phrases like ‘common sense,’ neither of which apply for most of what you say on here). Also, ignoring your nonsense doesn’t validate it (it’s more like a fart in the wind…)
On most US airlines there wouldn’t be any point now since they offer free wifi. Also, my phone hotspot allows sharing of wifi (Google Pixel) so in my case, if I wanted to do this, I wouldn’t need a router. I can’t imagine though why someone would pay for a service and then ensure that it was degraded in performance.
@Barry Graham — “On most US airlines there wouldn’t be any point now since they offer free wifi.” Exactly.
But, you were supposed to ignore that fact, and instead feign outrage against this big-bad-passenger ‘cheating the system,’ don’t you see? ‘…harrumph, harrumph, harrumph!’
Good for him! It’s too bad that somehow someone squealed on him. I’m guessing that Air Canada doesn’t have USB power ports which would be the reason for the power bank. Next time, plug the mini router into the power port and then put it in the seat back pouch…out of sight!