I used to do this on long flights, but most in flight providers have stopped trying to identify and shape specific protocols and now limit bandwidth purely by client. If you get a few people on all at once it thinks you are streaming video and throttles you.
I believe that you can't both simultaneously provide wifi hotspot and use wifi internet (at least, I couldn't on a phone several years ago last time I tried it). I think you can only do that if the network the phone is using is accessed via the cellular modem.
I absolutely can, that's how I connect my ps4 to my uni accommodation internet as it's mschapv2 or smth the ps4 can't connect to. I know it's definitely using the wifi and not my mobile data as my data usage for the day is unchanged after I've downloaded a game.
Cheap Chinese android phone from 2020 (or maybe 2021 can't remember).
Depends on the phone OS and wifi chipset Some Pixel phones can do it last I checked, which was about a year ago. It's a fragile dependency. For example, a Samsung with the same wifi chip didn't work.