Giving the Mile High Club a new meaning
There’s a new mile high club in the making and it’s got nothing to do with what you’re thinking! Several different airlines (Southwest, JetBlue, Lufthansa, and more) are working on testing Internet access on their flights. Some are using local connections to provide the Wi-Fi access. T-Mobile, Verizon, and Aircell are among the providers offering up connectivity. Meanwhile, some airlines are looking into satellite systems.
The upside of satellite Internet access on flights is that it’s faster and allows access even over the ocean. The downside is that it’s more expensive.
So far, expectations are that it will cost about ten bucks per flight for access for any passenger who wants it.
It’s good that it seems it will be a per-use fee rather than a generic charge added to flight costs because it would be unfair to have passengers pay for a service they have no interest in using.
(photo: sxc.hu)
Whether I would use it or not would depend on my flight. If I’m flying for an hour or two, I might be more inclined to just read a book and keep my laptop snugly stashed in my carry-on luggage. However, if I’m flying a longer distance or if I have some work that needs to be done before I arrive, then I wouldn’t mind paying an extra ten dollars to be able to go online and get some stuff taken care of.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
4 Comments
Yes, one of the criteria for joining such a club is how long you can stand to go without it. (Internet access, that is.) But then again, eight hours of access isn’t going to do me much good if I only have a laptop battery that lasts me two hours or so.
Hey, don’t overlook Row 44, chosen by Alaska and Southwest. I don’t think we’re more expensive to the customer, but we ARE striving to build the ‘industrial strength’ solution, both here in the US this fall, and starting early next year, Transatlantic and European networks. The sky is no longer the limit!
I have mixed feelings. While I can see how it would benefit some people for business reasons, preparing a presentation and doing research, I am sometimes grateful for those few hours when I am “disconnected.” I spend so much of my day with either my phone or my laptop; an airplane trip provides an often much-needed break.
I do think that international trips would benefit best. Those trips require several hours and sometimes a good book and a nice nap don’t last long enough. I can’t speak from experience, but I assume that there is also a bit more space than on domestic flights. Concerning the latter, I often cannot find room for my LEGS, let alone a laptop.
@Jody, that’s a good point! I hadn’t even thought of that.