Optus now lets its $5/day global roaming customers stay connected above the clouds when flying on various airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Turkish Airlines. More about Optus inflight roaming, find out below.

The telco has switched on the same inflight roaming capability as rival Vodafone, whereby passengers can connect to an airplane’s AeroMobile network.

The satellite service runs at roughly 3G speeds, which is sufficient for basic tasks such as messaging, email, and light-duty Web browsing.

It’s available through Optus Choice Plus plans, which include an Optus Daily Roaming allowance of 5GB per day for $5.

As a bonus, the same $5/day roaming charge covers the flight and when you land in one of Optus’ 110 ‘Zone 1’ countries within 24 hours.

For example, you could fly from Australia to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Hong Kong with Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, or Cathay Pacific, respectively – jump online during the flight to activate $5 roaming—and then continue roaming once you land, without any additional charge.

The complete list of AeroMobile mobile partner airlines that are available through Optus’ $5 inflight roaming are:

However, it’s worth noting that several of these airlines offer faster inflight WiFi entirely free of charge, so check that before you enable inflight roaming.

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