Monday, 01 June 2009

• Internet Service to Become the New Standard on Domestic Flights

  
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  Ever been bored on a plane, wishing you could make use of the laptop stowed in your bag to send e-mail or browse Facebook?  Me too.
  
  I’ve often wondered when someone would come up with the technology to offer internet on flights. I’m no tech expert, but it seemed to me that at the rate everything else is going, sooner or later the service would be offered.
  
  And now, it is. Or, rather, a handful of planes offer the service, but many more planes will offer it soon.
  
  According to Aircell, the company that has installed most of the Wi-Fi connections on planes so far, 1,000 domestic airplanes will offer Wi-Fi service to passengers at the end of 2009.  By the end of 2010, 2,000 planes will have internet connection.
  
  The service won’t come without a price though, which probably means my laptop will stay unused during flights.
  
  An article in The New York Times says there is really no evidence more than a handful of passengers will use the service, with the price for connection as much as $12.95 a flight.  Passengers most likely to use the service are business travelers.
  
  Delta currently charges passengers $12.95 for flights longer than three hours and $9.95 for flights shorter than three hours.  Passengers who travel with phones that have Wi-Fi capability are also able to connect for $7.95 on flights of any length.
  
  Virgin America, another airline that currently offers the service on some flights, says that overall about 12 to 15 percent of its passengers use the Wi-Fi connection.
  
  The cost for airlines to install the Aircell system is about $100,000 per plane, and many airlines are hoping to soon integrate the Wi-Fi with seatback entertainment.
  
  Would you pay to use Wi-Fi on planes? What do you think of internet becoming the new standard for flights?
  

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