Back in the day, when it was first rolling out, you could (theoretically ofc) join the plane's network and scan for MAC addresses, then clone someone else's for free access.
I think the authentication is a bit more sophisticated these days, but it's clear that these providers treat security as an afterthought. At least the one in the article had a bug bounty program and responded quickly, I guess.
Unrelated, I think it's funny that the AI artist put a little picture of a house on the airplane's interior wall in the article's header image. Maybe plane trips would be more bearable if the cabins didn't look like a utopian abbatoir's waiting room.