I only read the best stuff while on my flights. Taken just a few minutes ago.
I am currently posting this from 36,239 feet on a Virgin America flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Seattle (SEA). The in-seat map tells me we are over Central Oregon. Today I flew to San Fran and I’m now flying right back to Seattle to test out Virgin America’s in-flight entertainment system. I will post a full review of my experience on Monday, but while enjoying the Wi-Fi, I wanted to talk about it a little bit.
I am currently accessing the internet via GoGo and I don’t have to pay a dime. Virgin America, with Google, is offering free Wi-Fi on all their flights from now until January 15, 2010. Delta Air Lines, with eBay, is providing free Wi-Fi for a week starting November 24th.
The free internet is not only for folks on an airplane. Until January 15, 2010 Google will provide complimentary Wi-Fi in 47 airports across the country, including Las Vegas, Boston, Houston, Miami, and Seattle.
Seattle was supposed to be one of the 47 airports with free Wi-Fi. However, when I was there earlier today, I was excited to do some blogging while waiting for my flight to leave but it wasn’t free. Luckily I have an iPhone (airline and tech nerd) and found that there is a contract issue between AT&T (the current provider) and the airport.
Other airports got the Wi-Fi this Tuesday, but Seattle won’t be seeing it until November 18th. Every cloud has its silver lining; Seattle and Burbank airports will have free Wi-fi forever. I guess I will be ok with no Wi-Fi today for perpetually free Wi-Fi in a few days.
I am no stranger to technology and I fly quite a bit, but every time I have the access to the internet while flying, it feels magical. Some people say the magic of flying is gone but I disagree, it just depends on who you fly.
Internet is the future of airline travel. I feel that all airlines will have internet access in the near future. Once an airline cuts the Wi-Fi for landing, it is only a few minutes to re-connect on the 3G network and be connected once again. Awhile back, I talked about the possibility of having free Wi-Fi on airlines, but Andrew Compart with Things with Wings came up with another possible change that Wi-Fi could cause.
He caught something interesting in the Google media release about the free Wi-Fi, “A recent study conducted by the Wi-Fi Alliance reported that 50% of business travelers take red-eye flights in order to be “reachable” during business hours, and an overwhelming 82% said that being connected through Wi-Fi would help solve that problem.”
He brings up a good question that with business travelers having access to Wi-Fi during their flights, will fewer take red eye flights? Will that affect an airline’s business flying at night? I hope not. For personal travel, I enjoy red-eyes since I am able to sleep and I want as much vacation time as possible.
A year ago, there was barely any Wi-Fi on any flights. Hopefully a year from now Wi-Fi will be so common that there’s nothing left to even write about.. I think I am going to wrap up now, time to play Doom for the rest of the flight back home!
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The sign outside of my first Wi-Fi flight back in May.
Yes! I am coming out and predicting that someday Wi-Fi will be free on at least some airlines. I am not talking first class or business class; I am talking about free Wi-Fi for the entire plane. Let me explain…
Southwest Airlines is the newest airline to announce adding Wi-Fi to their flights. Many other airlines already have some or all of their fleets wireless. It took the industry a long time to start becoming wireless, but now almost all US airlines have at least a few Wi-Fi equipped aircraft. The rapid growth shows capitalism at its best. When one airline has Wi-Fi, it provides an obvious advantage over those that do not. However, when almost all airlines in the United States have Wi-Fi, where does one airline stand out over another?
Think about long-distance on landlines (you remember those, right; where wires connected your phone calls?). It used to be mighty expensive to call based on time of day, then there were flat rates per minute, then you could just pay a monthly fee and call whenever and whomever you wanted. The same phenomenon happened with cell phones. Minutes used to be costly, now companies have plans with unlimited minutes, rollover minutes, etc. As competition grows, so do the benefits for the customer.
With Wi-Fi on the airlines, it is a bit more complicated; airlines don’t run the Wi-Fi, independent companies do. Some airlines like American, Delta, and AirTran are using Aircell’s GoGo tower-based Wi-Fi service, but Southwest is using Row44, which is a satellite-based system. Either way, Wi-Fi companies are competitive businesses that have to charge the airlines, so the airlines would need to absorb the costs to provide free Wi-Fi.
I know, with airlines charging fees for everything today, why would an airline ever be willing to absorb the costs? I think we are in a unique time. I don’t expect all these fees to be around forever (at least I hope not). All it would take is one airline. One airline to announce they have free Wi-Fi. It might be years from now when this happens, and it might take a few more years for other airlines to follow. However, this is how things have become cheaper and free in the past. With so many airlines in the US, it is feasible that one might want to come across as a “high-tech”, “medium frills” airline.
Hopefully I am right in this one, but if I am not, I am still willing to pay $13 to access the internet on a flight!
Mark and his wife on an AirTran Boeing 737's wing.
I wrote about Mark being on AirTran for 30 days near the begining of the his journey and wanted to catch up with him at the end of his long journey. He was able to connect while over Ohio to answer some questions I had for him:
TheAirlineBlog.com: Where are you right now (“in an airplane won’t cut it” 🙂 )?
Mark Malkoff: I’M IN THE AIR USING GOGO WIFI HEADING TO CANTON, OHIO FOR A TAILGATING PARTY ON THE TARMAC. I’M HANGING WITH THE PRO FOOTBALL HOF AND HOF LEGEND ANTHONY MUNOZ.
TAB: What is your favorite picture taken during this whole experience ?
MM: I REALLY, REALLY LIKE THE PHOTOS OF MY WIFE AND I HAVING OUR ANNIVERSARY DINNER ON THE WING OF A PLANE. AIRTRAN SET IT UP AND CATERED THE MEAL. IT WAS QUITE INCREDIBLE.
TAB: Tell me a little bit about the person sitting next to you right now.
MM: THE PERSON CURRENTLY SITTING NEXT TO ME IS MY CAMERA PERSON. HE MOST LIKELY SMELLS BETTER BECAUSE HE GETS TO SLEEP IN A HOTEL A NIGHT THAT HAS A SHOWER WHERE AS I SLEEP ALONE ON THE PLANE AND HAVE TO USE BABYWIPES IN THE AIRPLANE BATHROOM.
TAB: Who is the most interesting person you have met on this experience?
MM: IT WAS FUN SITTING NEXT TO FOOTBALL HOF LEGEND FRANCO HARRIS ON A FLIGHT TO PITTSBURGH. I LATER FOUND OUT THEY HAVE A STATUE OF HIM IN THE PITTSBURGH AIRPORT. WE TALKED THE ENTIRE FLIGHT AND HE EVEN TAPED A VIDEO WITH ME. I SHOULD ALSO MENTION THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS ARE ALWAYS GOOD TO TALK TO. THE STORIES THEY HAVE ARE ENDLESSLY ENTERTAINING.
TAB: What is the most interesting conversation you have had?
MM: FOR ME PERSONALLY IT WAS TALKING TO THE PILOTS ONE ON ONE. THEY REALLY BROKE DOWN MY FEAR OF FLYING INTO TERMS THAT HAVE FOR THE MOST PART CURED MY ANXIETY. MY MAIN ISSUE WAS TURBULENCE. ALL OF THEM SAID THE SAME KIND OF THING, “IT’S LIKE BEING IN AN OCEAN AND GOING OVER A WAKE. IT’S LIKE DRIVING OVER GRAVEL.” SO WHENEVER TURBULENCE HITS I DON’T LIKE IT, BUT I’M ABLE TO TOLERATE IT.
TAB: Do you prefer the Boeing 737 or the Boeing 717?
MM: I LIKE THE 737.
TAB: Will you ever eat pretzels ever again?
MM: I’VE CONSUMED MY WEIGHT IN PRETZELS. I THINK I MIGHT TAKE A FEW YEARS OFF FROM EATING THEM.
TAB: At this point do you have the SkyMall magazine memorized? Off the top of your head describe the Litter Robot (no cheating).
MM: I HAVE ALMOST THE ENTIRE SKYMALL CATALOG MEMORIZED. THE LITTER ROBOT I’M FAIRLY CERTAIN IS WHAT I REFER TO AS THE CAT SPACESHIP. IT WAS DEVELOPED BY NASA TO SEND CATS INTO SPACE WHERE THEY CAN NAP IN ZERO GRAVITY.
TAB: What is your favorite airline related joke?
MM: IT’S A BAD JOKE BUT MY DAD HAS BEEN TELLING PEOPLE THAT MY CAREER IS “TAKING OFF”.
TAB: This is not your first stunt like this; you lived in Ikea, lived in a Boeing, what’s next?
MM: NEXT IS A THIRTY DAY PROJECT WHERE I SLEEP IN A BED IN MY APARTMENT. I’M GUESSING IT WON’T BE AS INTERESTING.
Pretty amazing journey Mark has had over the last 30 days.
My laptop on the AirTran flight - 2min ago - looking of course at TheAirlineBlog.com
I am currently on a special media promotion AirTran Boeing flight over 10,000 ft in the air while posting this, not even sure where we are flying to (but that is ok, because we have the internet to entertain me). That’s right folks, welcome to the next generation of airline amenities.
AirTran Airways is working with Aircell’s Gogo Inflight Internet to upgrade all 136 of their Boeing 737’s and Boeing 717’s by mid-summer to have wi-fi service. Having this service on every flight, frequent fliers don’t have to wonder if their flight will have internet or not. After hitting 10,000 feet, you can open your laptop or turn on your wi-fi enabled phone and be taken to the Gogo page where you can use your credit card to get access to the service. It takes less than 3 minutes to get set up and logged on to the internet and it isn’t slow. Talking with Thomas Weigman, Executive VP with AirCell, he stated it is a 3G network able to easily handle up to 80 laptops with no problems (a more extensive interview about the future of airline internet will be posted in a later blog entry).
Pricing isn’t too bad either. $7.95 for handhelds, $12.95 for over 3hr flight, and $9.95 for less than 3hrs. Considering how much more productive you can be, that is quite the deal!
This should be the start of a new trend. The concept of Wi-Fi has been around for a few years and it is about time for an airline to dive in headfirst. With business travellers, people wanting (or needing) to check their email constantly, or for something to cause some distraction, this is a perfect solution.
Kevin P Healy, the Senior VP for AirTran’s Marketing and Planning reassured me that AirTran is blocking certain sites, like porn, and Skype-type sites. Meaning you won’t have to hear someone yelling into their laptop during your 5hour flight across country. When asked about if there are any policies in place for when AirTran might shut off the internet (ie an emergency situation), Mr. Healy stated that there are none currently in place, but it is up to the Captain to make that decision and he has a switch in the cockpit to shut down the internet.
Although new and exciting, it seems about time to be able to access the internet from a plane, when I can access it almost anywhere now-a-days on the ground.
This puts an end to the everyflight.com advertising campaign, from which AirTran got more than 30,000 suggestions. Although I am a bit disappointed that slip n slides will not be on every AirTran flight, I think having Wi-Fi is much more beneficial.
My 5.5 hour flight back to Seattle leaves early tomorrow morning and man I wish this WiFi was already live on the plane. Oh well, soon enough it will be.
UPDATE:I found out that my flight back home tomorrow WILL have the internet tomorrow! Expect some more 40,000 feet postings.
MEDIA: Lots of pictures of this experience – Today Show video (which was a live feed from the plane – and you can kind of see me in the background with being mostly blocked by the reporter’s head).
MULTI-PART BLOG: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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