That said, I still don't think that that's too common – building out cabin Wi-Fi for card authorizations only is probably not worth it, given how hard it is to get away with fraud in an environment where every seat has a passenger name to it, and that name is often verified by the airline or government at the airport or at boarding time.
It usually does, it requires quite a bit of equipment and it doesn’t make economical sense to install it and not sell it to passengers. Airplanes have other means communicating with the ground and airline offices though.
