More and more airlines are offering passengers the ability to connect to the Internet while in-flight. Its a concept that's long overdue, but it has finally arrived.Southwest and Delta were the first to do so - but Wi-Fi is only installed on some of their planes. Just recently, however, AirTran announced that by the end of July, all of their planes will be Wi-Fi enabled. Virgin America too announced that by May 25th, all of their planes will enabled.
The price to connect via a handheld device or laptop will be $7.95 to $12.95 a flight, depending on the device and the length of the flight.
Jack Blumenstein, CEO of Aircell - the Chicago-based provider of the wireless service of more than 1,000 jets, says that "a typical narrow-body jet can be equipped with the 125 pounds of necessary equipment and fiber-optic cable during an overnight stay at an airport for about $100,000."
$100,000 per plane is a hefty investment, but remember that millions of people fly every day. Imagine an airline getting 50,000 people a day to buy into a $12 internet fee. That's $600,000 a day.
The only catch is that Virgin America is the online domestic airline that provides an electrical outlet to plug your laptop into while in-flight. For other airlines, you just gotta make sure your battery will last long enough.
Those 5 hour coast-to-coast flights will be tough.
It's better to arrive to the airport early and wifi than pay such a hefty fee to connect to wifi. Same as paying $10/day at hotels when you can pay for the monthly aircard and use anytime w/o additional charge or time restraints. The airline fee is a double charge if you're already paying for a wireless feature on the laptop and/or PDA, why pay to use their wireless too? For it to really be a great sell, plugs are essential. Most laptop batteries only last one hour.
ReplyDelete