Man hit with $1,200 internet bill for 'viewing emails' on Singapore Airlines flight

Jeremy Gutsche went over a wi-fi package on plane from London to Singapore

A man has been charged an incredible $1,200 (£750) for using the wi-fi on a flight from London to Singapore.

Jeremy Gutsche, a Canadian entrepreneur, claimed he mostly used the internet for work emails between naps and watched no videos.

He was hit with the Singapore Airlines bill after getting off the plane on Wednesday, discovering he had racked up $1,142 (£730) in charges for going over his purchased 30MB package.

Mr Gutsche is CEO of the Trend Hunter website, where he wrote about the shock bill.

Claiming he viewed only 155 pages, he added: “I wish I could blame an addiction to Netflix or some intellectual documentary that made me $1,200 smarter. However, the Singapore Airlines internet was painfully slow, so videos would be impossible and that means I didn’t get any smarter.”

GOUGED! Here's how @SingaporeAir billed me $1200 for the internet: http://t.co/hTohWmy5LL pic.twitter.com/RMlYPmiOmT

— Jeremy Gutsche (@jeremygutsche) November 13, 2014

Sending a 4MB PowerPoint presentation cost him around $100 (£64), Mr Gutsche estimated, and another $10 (£6.40) went on an email to colleagues warning them the upload was slow.

Conditions listed on the Singapore Airlines website state that varying wi-fi packages are offered on Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ER planes which must be selected before passengers connect.

They are based on the amount of data used or the length of time online but anything going over the package limit is charged substantially more.

“The pricing per megabyte was disclosed on sign-up,” Mr Gutsche said. “But I bought the $30 package, slept through most the flight, and really didn't think I'd end up a thousand bucks past the limit.”

A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines told MailOnline Travel that the carrier was following up the complaint but would not say whether the bill would be lowered.