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American Airlines In-Flight Wi-Fi Launches Today on Three Routes
Posted by John Mahoney at 12:45 AM on August 21, 2008
If you're flying on an AA 767-200 from NYC to San Francisco, Miami or Los Angeles, you can kick the tires of American's new Gogo/Aircell in-flight wi-fi service for US$12.95 (the rate for flights over 3 hours). It's the same provider Delta will be using as they roll out the service fleetwide starting soon. Let us know how it is from the air, Giz jet-setters.
FORT WORTH, Texas and ITASCA, Ill. - Marking the beginning of the next wireless revolution, American Airlines made history today with the launch of the mobile broadband service, Gogo(tm) provided by Aircell®.
Effective today, customers travelling on American's Boeing 767-200 aircraft can access complete coast-to-coast coverage on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami. American, the world's largest airline and founding member of the oneworld® Alliance, and Aircell, the world's leading provider of airborne communications, have joined together to bring the first full inflight broadband service to the U.S. market.
"We are pleased to provide our customers with the unprecedented ability to stay connected to their family, friends and business associates on the ground via the Internet while travelling at 30,000 feet above the United States," said Dan Garton, American's Executive Vice President - Marketing. "With today's launch, American Airlines makes history as the first and only U.S. airline to offer customers full inflight Internet connectivity, demonstrating once again our industry leadership and focus on our customers."
Aircell's Gogo will be available to customers as a fee-based service in all cabins. Aircell will charge $12.95 on flights more than three hours, which include American's Boeing 767-200 flights. Each paid Gogo session includes full Internet access. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services are not available.
Gogo turns an American Airlines flight into a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling passengers to surf the Web, check any email, Instant Message, access a corporate VPN, and more. Once the aircraft has reached 10,000 feet, users can simply turn on their Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, open their browsers and be directed to the Gogo portal page where they sign up and begin surfing. Gogo is powered by the Aircell air-to-ground (ATG) Broadband System, which runs over Aircell's exclusive nationwide network.
"Today, U.S. air travel changes forever. With Aircell's unique ATG inflight Internet service, airlines finally have an economically viable option for providing the broadband connectivity passengers are demanding," said Jack Blumenstein, President and CEO, Aircell. "American Airlines is the first to bring inflight Internet to market, and today the days of being cut off from the rest of the world while in the air become history."
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
PsychoticLad
Posted 1:09 AM 21/8/08
I can hear it now. Everyone on the planes getting IMs. *bling* *bling*. At least I can get some work done on the plane now.
PsychoticLad
urbanturban666
Posted 1:08 AM 21/8/08
so you can use it on landings? or only at flight level 100 and above?...
urbanturban666
DucatiGuy
Posted 1:03 AM 21/8/08
In no time, it'll be the clitter-clatter of IM chatting that will annoy the hell out of everyone...
DucatiGuy
bjarnia
Posted 1:29 AM 21/8/08
I would kill for this. Have a 12 hour flight to Tokyo in 9 days. Literally.. Kill.
bjarnia
bms
Posted 1:20 AM 21/8/08
$12.95 for a 3 hour flight? The airlines must be hurting. Nickel and dime us on everything now. Crappy food, checked bags, and now wi-fi. They must have been pushing hard for the wi-fi deal so they could recoup lost revenue figuring all the "business" travelers would pay the premium. I don't mind being unplugged for a few hours.
bms
urbanturban666
Posted 1:15 AM 21/8/08
@PsychoticLad: i feel bad for the flight attendants... some ppl wait till the flight attendant is at there seat before they start taking there crap off the tables for food...
urbanturban666
LittleJon
Posted 1:57 AM 21/8/08
On a flight on Fri I realized that my iPhone 3G couldn't use in-flight WiFi (this was hypothetical, as Southwest don't offer WiFi) because you cannot turn off the cellphone transmitter while leaving the 802.11 one turned on. Flight mode disables all transmitters and there's no separate control for the cellphone TX (while you can individually turn off WiFi and Bluetooth).
Of course if on-flight WiFi becomes popular Apple might fix that in a future firmware release.
Not that I'd pay $12 to surf the web or e-mail on a 3.5" screen!
LittleJon
Bluesk1d
Posted 1:50 AM 21/8/08
@bms: No its 12.99 for flights over 3 hours, not per 3 hours. Its cheaper for shorter flights (still like 10 bucks or something outrageous).
Bluesk1d
urbanturban666
Posted 1:50 AM 21/8/08
@bms: id pay 12$ for inflight wifi... there used to be a time when 12$ would buy you a 3 minute phonecall and that was about it...
urbanturban666
aubreyAubrey
Posted 1:48 AM 21/8/08
@bjarnia: Well, maybe not kill, but I too would pay good money for that 21 hours of flight to Bangkok in 13 days.
aubreyAubrey
SeattleTed
Posted 2:24 AM 21/8/08
I used to think that picture was funny. Now, it hurts.
SeattleTed
AndrewGene
Posted 2:06 AM 21/8/08
@LittleJon: Well you actually can if you have a jailbroken iphone. Just use BossPrefs to turn off everything but wifi. I'd pay $12 for sure! On a lot of flights that is going to be right around a $1 an hour. Not too shabby if you ask me.
AndrewGene
samsonsu
Posted 4:04 AM 21/8/08
@LittleJon: I have the same concern. For iPhone and maybe many other PDAs, you must leave flight mode in order to use wifi. That sounds to conflict with generic rules of using such devices on a plane.
samsonsu
purple-pillows
Posted 4:04 AM 21/8/08
so now i dont have an excuse for why i cant check my email when i am on the plane, this will also open the door to VoIP, i thought i wanted that ability but after flying more and more i realized other people + airplanes + phone conversations = awful
purple-pillows
berribrand
Posted 3:50 AM 21/8/08
I hate working on a plane. Even if I am on a business trip. It sucks and is totally uncomfortable. I am one of those people who needs to have a desk in proper order to get working. Still, this could be a nice thing to have to connect my PSP to my home PS3 and entertain myself endlessly.
berribrand
tobedetermined
Posted 4:16 AM 21/8/08
The picture is awesome. By the way, is it stereotyping to show a bunch of Indians with laptops?
tobedetermined
rlreif
Posted 4:13 AM 21/8/08
@LittleJon:
you dont even have to jailbreak... just put the phone in airplane mode, then seaparately turn on wifi..
i get no cell service at my cabin, but have wifi... i do this to keep using some functions without the 'searching for service' killing my battery
rlreif
Hat Trick
Posted 4:52 AM 21/8/08
@bjarnia: Unfortunately this is only for North American service--access is via towers on the ground. Anything over the ocean is satellite which is heavier (more equipment) and costlier.
Hat Trick
bms
Posted 5:23 AM 21/8/08
@urbanturban666: @Bluesk1d: I understand your positions, but its hard for me to swallow what in many places if a free service. I am not saying the all wi-fi should be free and that we all deserve free network access. But 12 bucks for a 3 hour flight is pretty steep, just like those $3/minute sky-phone calls.
bms
gymtonic
Posted 6:34 AM 21/8/08
look at the guy in the back, is he eating a WiiRemote?
gymtonic
ideaman2020
Posted 6:26 AM 21/8/08
I've said it before.
If you really can't afford to be disconnected for three hours, you should be on the corporate jet, not flying coach with the rest of us losers...
ideaman2020
Hat Trick
Posted 8:24 AM 21/8/08
@bms: Actually, ground-to-air internet access isn't a free service anywhere. WiFi on the ground is free in many places because the millions of dollars in infrastructure for connectivity has been there for a while and an incremental hotspot costs very little. These guys spent millions to build a network covering North America. But that said, if $12 is too steep for you, don't pay and wait until you get on the ground to connect.
Hat Trick
thetunecatt
Posted 4:00 PM 21/8/08
So I just flew in from Miami and tried out this service. I was pretty excited to see it and I remembered hearing about it on here. I didn't know it would be on American so soon though. I paid my money through a painstaking process where I ran into a bunch of errors. It took about 10 minutes in order to get my account setup. Something must have been up with the credit card processing.
After that I started using the internet and tried a speed test. I got a horrible result! 149kbps down and 58kbps up. I dont know if this is normal or not, but it was horrible! There is no way this is worth anything more than for using the internet in desperate times. Dont go thinking you can jump on and hit youtube or hulu. It just wont work!
I also noticed my connection going out in various times over the flight. I assume that is when the plane went out of cell tower range. I think they should have gone with the satellite connection plan. At least then we would have a steady connection. Count me unimpressed.
thetunecatt
sheyingshi
Posted 1:41 AM 22/8/08
Yeah, that sound like a real deal. Blazingly slow connection for an exorbitant amount of money, then the twit in front of you puts his seat back and you're waiting for your page to load with your monitor in your face.
No thanks. I'll read a book.
sheyingshi
NightyNight
Posted 4:13 AM 21/8/08
@LittleJon: Dude, you most definitely can do that. Turn your phone on Airplane Mode, then go to wifi and manually connect to your network. You'll see an airplane and a airport wireless symbol. =D
NightyNight