American Airlines kicks off in-flight Wi-Fi
updated 09:30 am EDT, Wed August 20, 2008
AA Starts Gogo In-Air WiFi
American Airlines today started offering Gogo, its Aircell-run service for in-flight Internet access. The feature pipes a cellular Internet connection from the ground to a router onboard each plane, which in turn shares its access to all passengers through Wi-Fi. The service is platform-agnostic and provides access to both notebooks as well as handhelds, including explicit support for iPhones as well as certain BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices equipped with the short-range wireless format.
The service has few restrictions and is primarily centered around courtesy; the carrier bans VoIP calls, non-headphone sound, and on-screen content which is likely offensive to other passengers.
American Airlines' service costs $13 per flight and is currently used on Boeing 767-200 planes running flights in either direction connecting New York to Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. More flights will be added in the future, while rival carriers such as Delta have also announced plans to introduce a similar level of in-flight Wi-Fi this summer.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2001
about time
I used Lufthansa's wifi service a few years back, it was discontinued about 2 years ago. It cost $30. You can probably justify that for a transatlantic flight but not for a domestic flight, even coast-to-coast. $13 is very fair and I hope they implement this quickly.
Now if only we could get AC outlets at our seats!!!