Engadget reports that American Airlines will be testing the Gogo in-flight WiFi service on unspecified round-trip flight from New York’s JFK and Los Angeles’ LAX beginning on June 25. The service will be free for passengers during the testing, but will eventually run users $12.95 for flights greater than three hours and $9.95 for trips under that threshold.
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The Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist Walt Mossberg takes a test flight on a business jet equipped with Aircell’s Gogo in-flight WiFi service to give the service a test run. It is a data only service and he used Dell and Apple laptops, a BlackBerry, a Windows Mobile phone and an iPhone (all WifI equipped) to perform all the most common online tasks.
Gogo launches in 2008, likely in July, on select flights on American Airlines and later in the year on Virgin America. The Gogo service will cost a flat fee of $12.95 for flights of three hours or longer, and $9.95 for shorter trips.
Following in Singapore’s contrails, United has announced that it would become the first U.S. airline to offer in-flight iPod and iPhone connectivity. The carrier will offer the service as part of its in-flight entertainment system, letting users charge and connect their devices to the in-seat 15.4-inch widescreen LCD monitors.
The OAG Industry Awards (formerly the OAG Airline of the Year Awards) recognize the most highly regarded and innovative airlines and airports, based on the votes of consumers who use them the most: frequent business travelers from around the globe. Singapore Airlines was voted “OAG Airline of the Year”, and the country’s main international airport, Singapore Changi, voted Best Airport when the 2008 winners were announced in London earlier this month.
WSJ.com reports that JetBlue’s LiveTV unit will buy Verizon’s Airfone network which includes 100 air-to-ground US communication towers and Airfone’s corporate and government aviation clients on Jan. 01. This news comes on the heals of JetBlue’s announcement to expand it’s BetaBlue service of in-flight email.
JetBlue’s in-flight WiFi service started with only allowing passengers to check email via Yahoo Mail or BlackBerry Mail or chat with friends via Yahoo Messenger but that limited service is being expanded to include email via Gmail, AOL Mail, Hotmail and Windows Live Mail. JetBlue has also partnered with Amazon.com to offer a customized in-flight version of Amazon.com for shopping.
From Wired Magazine’s playlist from issue 16.06…
Imagine: An airline you look forward to flying. Flights on VA are inexpensive (first class is almost affordable), and in our experience, lines are comparatively short. Hungry? Press a button on your seat-back console and a sandwich arrives. Bored? Play Doom. Think the guy in 18B is cute? Text him. Here’s to a company whose services feel like they were designed by actual humans for actual humans.
For those who have flown Virgin America, would you agree?
