Airlines to Offer In-Flight Internet Service

Ponca City, We Love You writes "JetBlue Airways will soon begin testing a free e-mail and instant messaging service on one aircraft, while American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer a broader Web experience in the coming months, probably priced at about $10 a flight. A recent survey found that 26 percent of leisure travelers would pay $10 for Internet access on a two-to-four-hour flight and 45 percent would pay that amount for a flight longer than four hours. The airlines plans to turn their planes into the equivalent of a wireless hot spot once the aircraft reaches its cruising altitude but service will not be available on takeoff and landing. While the technology could allow travelers to make phone calls over the Internet, most carriers say they have no plans to allow voice communications."

No Voice?

[gambit3]

"most carriers say they have no plans to allow voice communications."

and how could they limit that? wouldn't it all be packets at that point?

Re:No Voice?

[gEvil (beta)]

"most carriers say they have no plans to allow voice communications."

Funny that most airlines have had in-seat phones on planes for over a decade...

Don't hold your breath

[Opportunist]

Yes, we'll see the first planes with this service in 2008. On lines that are heavily contested and where competition is high, so passengers will choose carrier X over Y because they can get internet access. Don't count on it being available on domestic flights where only one or two lines have already split the market up between them, or on lines that are overbooked anyway.

Not to mention that the first planes to be fitted with this will take off in 2008 (allegedly). That doesn't mean that every plane there is will suddenly become equipped with it. Usually, such things take a long, long time.

Re:No Voice?

[Asic Eng]

and how could they limit that?

By telling you "voice communication will not be allowed".

wouldn't it all be packets at that point?

Not at the point where you talk into the microphone. It's pretty easy to detect, and given just how annoying it is to sit next to a person talking into their cell phone ... it wouldn't take long for your seat neighbour would complain to the stewardess.

Two things...

[Anonymous Coward]

1) This has been tried before - Lufthansa? United? Wasn't popular.

2) If they don't provide power plugs at the seats, it'll be a 1-2 hour internet experience before the blasted battery drains...

Note: American Airlines, to its credit, provides power to about half the seats in coach.

Note to self: sell tickets when the first networked FPS game occurs and the staff, well, melts down :-)

Re:Don't hold your breath

[morgan_greywolf]

Correct. And given that most of us choose flights that are not nonstop (i.e., flights with layovers) due to their cost usually being much lower than nonstop flights (though this is not always the case), you probably won't wind up on too many domestic flights that are more than 4 hours anyway. So unless you travel overseas, you're probably not likely to see this very much in 2008.

...not during takeoff and landing, but...

[DriveDog]

...what about during waiting time on the ground at the gate after the door is shut or sitting on the taxiway? If not then, then they're missing a big opportunity to pacify some agitated customers.

Re:Worst nightmare

[FinestLittleSpace]

I've always been interested why people have a bigger issue with people talking on the phone than talking to a friend on a plane/train.

Admittedly if it's loud, it's annoying, but what's so different about a phone than a face to face conversation?

Re:No Voice?

[porcupine8]

Pretty easily: "I'm sorry sir, I'm going to have to ask you to turn that off to avoid disturbing other passengers."

Re:Worst nightmare

[porcupine8]

For the same reason that it's ok to talk to your seatmate but not to your friend sitting three rows away. You talk quietly to someone sitting right next to you, but for some reason many people seem to feel it's necessary to project into the phone inches from their mouth. I think it has something to do with the fact that cel phones, unlike receivers on traditional phones, don't actually reach to your mouth anymore, so people subconciously feel the need to make up for that - plus, of course, if your signal isn't so hot you might actually NEED to speak up. Either way, it's far louder and more annoying.

I don't get it

[SL Baur]

We've been told that notebook computers with wireless internet and cellphones interfere with the avionics and are dangerous and must be kept off the entire flight. Now internet access from planes is O.K. What has changed?

Just asking.

-sb (dreading the horribly long flight across the Pacific he faces to go home for Christmas)

Re:No Voice?

[yesteraeon]

Correct me if I'm wrong but one really easy way around this would be an encrypted VPN connection. They could probably block VPN connections. However, I'm betting a lot of the market for such a service would be people staying in touch with their offices. For many of these people, the value of an internet connection that doesn't allow VPN is significantly reduced. And obviously I'm just speculating, but the number of people willing to pay $10 might go down significantly once they know about restrictions such as no VPN and no VOIP.

No room anyway

[SoundGuyNoise]

Call me when there's even enough room to open my laptop to a viewable angle.

Re:No Voice?

[jandrese]

Chances are it will be satellite based internet anyway, making it useless for interactive games (you could play a card game or something like that, but FPS/RTS/etc... are right out thanks to the high latency).

I've always wondered just how much money the airlines make from those seatphones. I've never seen anybody use one, ever.

Re:Worst nightmare

[jcuervo]

Admittedly if it's loud, it's annoying, but what's so different about a fart in the bathroom to a face to face fart?

If I farted on my girlfriend's face, she'd be pissed.