The Captain Has Turned Off the “No Streaming” Sign
by John Paczkowski
Posted on August 5, 2008 at 6:01 AM PT
Airline passengers will soon have a new option for getting wired at 30,000 feet.
This morning, Delta Air Lines said it will offer wireless Internet access across its entire domestic fleet by mid-2009. Though much larger in scale, the service is identical to the one used American Airlines (AMR), which Walt reviewed earlier this year.
Provided by Aircell’s Gogo, Delta’s (DAL) in-flight broadband will offer 3.1Mbps-connectivity for $9.95 on flights three hours or less, and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours. Not an unreasonable price. According to a 2007 survey by Forrester Research, 26 percent of leisure travelers would pay $10 for Internet access on a two- to four-hour flight and 45 percent would pay that on a flight longer than four hours. For business travelers, the percentage is quite a bit higher.
“Time on an airplane was either time lost or time found,” said Tim Mapes, Delta’s vice president of marketing. “This is going to totally change the dynamics of what a business trip is. Our customers are demanding of us the same type of wireless service they have on the ground.”
And they may even be able to use it, if they can get their laptops past The Department of Homeland Security …
Comments
If you get your laptop past Homeland Security, then you won’t be able to read the screen because the lid will be tilted half closed by the reclining passenger in the seat in front of you.
I see more fights on flights between recliners and avid surfers or harried businesspeople.
Posted by Dennis Fazio at August 5th, 2008 at 1:02 pmSo… if you aren’t allowed to use cell phones, but you have a broadband connection and a soft-phone or Skype… can you use that?
Posted by Jeff Gordon at August 5th, 2008 at 5:21 pm