Net Gains? American Adding Internet, for a Price
Starting today, some American Airlines passengers can test out the airline's new internet service on flights from New York to L.A.
The broadband service, provided by Aircell, will offer free access to AA.com and a few other sites. American says it plans to install Aircell in 15 of its Boeing 767-200 planes that fly cross-country.
But this is no free perk for loyal AA patrons who've put up with nickel-and-diming that's just getting worse: The service costs $9.95 for flights three hours or shorter, $12.95 for longer ones if you want to access anything outside the few sanctioned sites.
Though I rarely travel with any Web-enabled gadgets, I like the idea of having the option to get online while in the air. It would be so easy to check ground transportation, verify connections, book hotels and dinner reservations, though I can only imagine the headache of saving some necessary task (say, e-mailing work to say you'll be "sick") till boarding, only to find out the service is down for whatever reason. I'm not saying that'll happen, but we all know cell phones die, computers crash and you never know what to expect, these days, on an airplane.
By Christina Talcott |
June 25, 2008; 6:12 AM ET
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Posted by: Andy | June 25, 2008 9:25 AM
The price differential between short and long flights is not nearly enough.
Posted by: Liz | June 25, 2008 10:41 AM
Are they going to up the price when that 2-hour hop from New York to Chicago turns into a 5-hour marathon of onboard waiting for clearance to take off and then clearance to land?
Posted by: BxNY | June 25, 2008 11:21 AM
Maybe $8.00 for internet service on a 3 hr. flight would be more appealing. What happens when your flight becomes onboard waiting for more than 3 hrs?
Posted by: joyce | June 25, 2008 11:33 AM
I second Andy's comment - I frequently buy a $5 magazine in the terminal and once the ads are pulled out it's about a 30 minute read, so abso-bleeping-lutely, I'd fork over $10 or $15 for flight-long entertainment. ANd if 80% of those on the flight DON'T want to surf the net, they shouldn't have to subsidize the cost for me to get my Blue Fly fix.
Posted by: kbockl | June 25, 2008 1:41 PM
On that three hour flight you only have about 1.5 hours of authorized time to use your electronic devices. Not to mention that it's not hard to read or otherwise occupy yourself for a few hours.
On an international flight, sign me up!
Oh, and make sure to bring some sort of back up power supply or adaptor.
Posted by: M Street | June 25, 2008 1:49 PM
Even if internet service were offered, use of a normal sized laptop is almost impossible with the minimum spacing between seats. If the person in front of you reclines his seatback, a laptop can't be fully opened for proper viewing. I used to take one onboard for viewing DVD movies but found it currently useless for that reason. Flights to and from Hawaii take 5 hours and we usually try to sleep the time away since the in-flight screens are too far away or obscured by the other passengers. Its not worth it to pay for the movies and I guess the internet service will be the same way.
Posted by: Hawaii resident | June 30, 2008 9:08 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Why not? I'll happily pay $5 for a magazine to read on the flight. Why not $10 for internet access?