Air Travel
SMS on Planes
Reporters are conflating text messaging, instant messaging: I keep seeing articles like this one from the Washington Post, in which it states that Aircell's in-flight Internet service won't allow voic ....... read more
Sun,
14 Dec 2008
Stephen Fry, Five Miles High
Actor, director, genius Stephen Fry uses American Airlines Internet service: I admit to being an unabashed fan of this British performer, who also happens to write quite well about technology, and who ....... read more
Sun,
14 Dec 2008
Delta Launches In-Flight Internet Next Week
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the newspaper's local airline Delta will put Wi-Fi in planes starting next week: Just six planes will be equipped initially with Aircell Gogo service, whi ....... read more
Fri,
12 Dec 2008
Delta Hasn't Changed Plans for Planes
Gizmodo and Engadget are engaged in the usual echo chamber of blogging: Some of us, you know, make a few phone calls to see what's going on--i.e., reporting--instead of regurgitating press releases. B ....... read more
Thu,
11 Dec 2008
Actual Numbers on Paid Airport Wi-Fi Usage
I've been trying for years to get real numbers about paid airport sessions and usage from Wi-Fi providers: Then the Miami-Dade airport authority just goes and reveals them all. Cool. A local paper rep ....... read more
Wed,
03 Dec 2008
Weekend Remembrance of In-Flight Internet Past
I was digging around my basement looking for a USB extender and came across this gem: Anyone remember Tenzing? Anyone? First folks to put Internet access (sort of) on planes? Well, I do. Tenzing was a ....... read more
Wed,
26 Nov 2008
Interview with Aircell CEO on BoingBoingTV
My interview with Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein is now available: Through a variety of happy accidents, I wound up interviewing Blumenstein for BoingBoingTV while we were on Virgin America's inaugural ....... read more
Tue,
25 Nov 2008
Observations on Gogo Internet from Virgin American Launch Flight
Yesterday was the party flight, today the light of day: For a couple hours on Saturday evening, I was on the hottest flight in the air--well orchestrated by Virgin America to bring together bloggers, ....... read more
Sun,
23 Nov 2008
Live from Virgin America's Inaugural Wi-Fi Flight
This is a first for yours truly: I'm blogging from somewhere above 10,000 feet on Virgin America's press event flight to kick off its commercial launch of Internet in-flight Internet service. The flig ....... read more
Sat,
22 Nov 2008
Virgin Announces Launch Schedule
Virgin America has formally announced their in-flight Internet launch and plans: Virgin put out the news a few weeks ago that they'd have a press event flight on 22-November to show off their in-fligh ....... read more
Wed,
19 Nov 2008
Airport News: Boingo Buys Opti-Fi; FreeFi Adds Oakland
Boingo Wireless acquires Opt-Fi Networks and its 25 airports: Boingo already operates 30 airports (mostly in North America) as part of its Concourse Communications networks. The purchase of Opti-Fi fr ....... read more
Mon,
10 Nov 2008
Exhaustive Summary of In-Flight Filtering
Hats off to Harrit Baskas, MSNBC travel writer, for this thorough examination of in-flight filtering: Baskas didn't just make a couple calls, she did the footwork (uh, by phone) to find out precisely ....... read more
Thu,
16 Oct 2008
Southwest Unveils Internet Trials
Southwest Airlines will try out Row 44's satellite-backed Internet service on one plane this year: The discount carrier plans to equip one 737-700 with Row 44's Ku-band satellite Internet service by t ....... read more
Wed,
01 Oct 2008
In-Flight Providers Lobby against US Call Ban
In-flight call providers form lobbying group to dissuade formal ban on in-flight calling: FlightGlobal reports that OnAir and Aeromobile have formed the Passenger Communications Coalition--Peacekeeper ....... read more
Fri,
26 Sep 2008
Clarity on Qantas' Plans: OnAir and Aeromobile
Trade mag Flightglobal gets the full story on Qantas' in-flight calling, texting, and Internet plans: A few days ago, it seemed to come out that Qantas had dropped Aeromobile (its test partner last ye ....... read more
Wed,
24 Sep 2008
Sorry, Qantas, No Unfettered Broadband
Qantas backs off from earlier plans, changes provider for in-flight broadband: The Sydney Morning Herald somewhat erratically and incompletely reports that Qantas has delayed and modified its in-fligh ....... read more
Thu,
18 Sep 2008
In-Flight VoIP Ban: Against FCC Rules? Highly Desirable?
Think-tank wonders whether banning in-flight VoIP constitutes a violation of FCC rules about blocking services: The Progress and Freedom Foundation's Barbara Espin uses the ban on in-flight VoIP by Am ....... read more
Tue,
16 Sep 2008
Air Canada Goes GoGo
Aircell has snagged our neighbor (neighbour?) to the north, adding Air Canada to its signed-up airlines for in-flight broadband: Aircell will bring Gogo Internet to Air Canada starting in spring 2009 ....... read more
Tue,
09 Sep 2008
American Launches In-Flight Broadband Pilot
Welcome back, mile-high Wi-Fi: American Airlines has turned on Internet service in its fleet of 15 767-200s today. These aircraft ply routes between New York's JFK and three cities: San Francisco, Los ....... read more
Wed,
20 Aug 2008
Leading Travel Writer Reams Out In-Flight Internet
Joe Brancatelli pokes beneath the surface of claims that in-flight Internet is imminent: I've covered some of the same ground, but veteran travel writer Brancatelli connected the dots by checking with ....... read more
Tue,
19 Aug 2008