On a recent flight from Paris to Budapest, I logged into Air France’s in-flight Wi-Fi and was faced with the same overpriced plans I’ve seen for years now. Dozens of euros to be connected during a long-haul flight might be justifiable if you need to get work done, but for a bit of light browsing and messaging on a short two-hour flight, some of the airline pricing doesn’t make any sense.
I often pick the good compromise of the free “messaging” plan, which lets me chat on apps like WhatsApp and Google Messages (via RCS, not SMS) without paying a cent. But this time, I needed to do some quick last-minute research, so I wanted some form of connectivity. Then it occurred to me: There’s Gemini in Google Messages, and it works over RCS! Could it bypass the in-flight Wi-Fi and let me search the web and ask time-sensitive questions? Only one way to find out.