You know that epic feeling when your flight ends and you finally get to your destination? Now imagine taking those first steps off the plane, syncing your phone, and getting a $1200 bill for airplane internet use. That's what happened to me on Singapore Airlines today.I had an otherwise enjoyable flight, but the sticker shock of being gouged $1200 made me feel like I was deplaning from Total Bastard Airlines , that old skit from SNL where they kick you off the plane with a "Buy BYE!"So what does it take to rack up $1200 of internet use? In my case, just 155 page views, mostly to my email. I know this because for the first time I counted up my page views to see where all the dollars went. I wish I could blame an addiction to NetFlix or some intellectual documentary that made me $1200 smarter. However, the Singapore Airlines internet was painfully slow, so videos would be impossible and that means I didn’t get any smarter… except about how to charge a lot of money for stuff. I did learn that.At one point, I spent about an hour uploading one 4mb powerpoint doc. That doc probably cost me $100 to upload, so I hope my team liked it. I actually even emailed them a warning that my upload was taking a while. That email probably cost me $10. And yes, the pricing per mb was disclosed on sign-up, 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.I can think of a lot of other things I'd rather spend $1200 on, like a flight… to Singapore! But alas, I've already done that and the flight ended up costing WAY more than expected. ;)P.S. Shouts out to the Shangri La who welcomed me to my hotel with a note explaining that the internet HERE, is always free. Meanwhile, no replies from Singapore Airlines. Tweet ‘em this story if you want them to stop gouging internet users: @singaporeair 

 A passenger who racked up a $1,171 Wi-Fi bill on a recent Singapore Airlines flight calls the charges excessive. Singaporeair.com 
 
 A Canadian man who racked up a $1,171 Wi-Fi bill on a recent Singapore Airlines flight says it’s official: He has to pony up and pay the full amount. 
 
 Jeremy Gutsche, chief executive of Toronto-based innovation consultancy Trend Hunter, says he unwittingly accrued the charges on a flight last week from London to Singapore. 
 
 Gutsche says he signed up for a 30 megabyte Internet plan, which cost $28.99, and was aware that he would be responsible for data beyond that limit. But he was stunned when he learned upon landing that viewing some 155 pages — mostly checking email and uploading a PowerPoint document — had resulted in $1,142 of overage fees, he said in a blog post and on Twitter. 
 
 A Singapore Airlines spokesman said Monday the airline had been in contact with Switzerland-based OnAir, the provider of the WiFi service, on Gutsche’s behalf. 
 
 But the airline ultimately told him that he must pay the full amount, according to Gutsche. Asked about the apparent resolution to the charges, the Singapore Airlines spokesman said he could not provide any details about the carriers’ discussions with Gutsche. 
 
 In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, OnAir said that the process for purchasing its services is “entirely transparent.” Passengers can choose to end their sessions when they reach a certain price limit, a graphic shows data consumption at all times and users can disconnect whenever they want. 
 
 “To consume several hundred megabytes during one flight takes much more than basic email viewing, for example downloading heavy attachments, cloud access and using Skype,” OnAir said in the statement. 
 
 In comments left on Gutsche’s blog post, some travelers argued that the situation amounts to a simple case of buyer beware, writing that Singapore Airlines’ Wi-Fi signup procedure makes it clear that users are responsible for extra data. 
 
 “Just because someone agrees to terms and conditions doesn’t mean those terms are ethical,” Gutsche said, when asked about that criticism. “I think the overage model is excessive and I can imagine someone like my mom, or a family, or a backpacker going aimlessly over.” 
 
 Ironically, while many airlines are increasingly shelling out on in-flight entertainment services such as Wi-Fi, many carriers concede they aren’t making much money offering Internet connectivity. 
 
 Just 6% of passengers world-wide use paid in-flight services, according to satellite and communications consulting firm Euroconsult. Gutsche may wish he were part of the 94% who don’t. 
 
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– When Jeremy Gutsche signed up for a WiFi plan on a Singapore Airlines flight, he knew he was getting 30 megabytes for $28.99 and would be responsible for any additional data he used. What he apparently did not know was that by "checking email and uploading a PowerPoint document," as the Wall Street Journal puts it, he would end up viewing 155 pages ... and getting charged $1,171. The airline talked to OnAir, the Switzerland-based WiFi provider, on Gutsche's behalf, but the Canadian CEO is out of luck: He has to pay the whole bill. "I wish I could blame an addiction to Netflix or some intellectual documentary that made me $1200 smarter," he writes on his blog. "However, the Singapore Airlines internet was painfully slow, so videos would be impossible and that means I didn’t get any smarter … except about how to charge a lot of money for stuff. I did learn that." OnAir says its fee schedule is "entirely transparent," and that customers can see how much data they've consumed. (A group of diners in New Jersey were recently shocked by the bill for their $3,750 bottle of "decent" wine.)