Virgin America joins American Airlines and Delta in the ‘airlines that offer in-flight Internet access’ club. You can’t make calls on your phone but you can check your email at 35,000 feet in the air. I’m sure they’ll block VoIP applications like Skype.
(On) Monday, Virgin America plans to become the latest airline to offer in-flight Wi-Fi Internet, a service with a problematic past that still promises far-ranging flexibility in entertainment.
The San Francisco-based carrier has scheduled the service for one Airbus A320 aircraft, joining American Airlines as the only carriers in the world to offer full Internet access.
Dubbed Gogo, the service lets passengers browse the Web, use e-mail and instant messaging, download video and connect to secure networks through three wireless access points on the plane. Voice calls over the Internet are not allowed. The cost is $9.95 to $12.95 a flight, depending on route length.
The main reason I liked to fly, besides dealing with security, was that for a couple of hours no one could contact me. Now that option has been taken away from me. Although I do like the option of watching TV on my slingbox instead of staring at the trey-table for hours.