American Airlines will be first to offer in-flight Internet access

[stephen_s]

Surfing the Internet and checking e-mail during an American Airlines Inc. flight may only be a few months away.

The Fort Worth-based airline installed its first Aircell LLC wireless Internet system last week on one of its Boeing 767-200 airplanes.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...t.2927f43.html

[Loonbeam]

Called to see if they are blocking VOIP. Could not get an official answer, it was still a pending policy decision. Fees have not been set either, right now its a free test if you get that plane.

[Ned]

As I reported in my post, Internet and Communication Services: Which ones should the airlines provide? on 1/14/08, American Airlines, will not be permitting cell phone conversations, VOIP, or SKYPE, but will allow IM and email.

Originally Posted by Loonbeam

Called to see if they are blocking VOIP. Could not get an official answer, it was still a pending policy decision. Fees have not been set either, right now its a free test if you get that plane.

[Loonbeam]

Thats what I thought, but I called to confirm, and the rep there indirectly indicated they are going to see how features affect demand (and therefore revenue) before making a 'final' decision.

I also got the impression that the version being loaded onto the plane is not the final design for the system, so its possible not all the blocks are implemented yet.

[Ned]

American ran a survey of their elite frequent fliers, and a more general survey of their customers, and found that they overwhelmingly didn't want voice communications on the planes. Moreover, if they would add such items as VOIP and Skype, they would quickly shrink the available bandwidth on the plane to next to nothing, or would have to charge a hefty fee to bulk up the bandwidth, which could end up being financially counter productive.

Frankly, most business fliers, to whom I've spoken, are salivating at the prospect of email, and IM, and web, but not being able to get away from the phone for a few hours, or having to listen to someone else's converstation is leaving them cold.

Right now Air France is not planning to block VOIP or Skype, but have said they intend to monitor the situation closely to see if voice communication access is worth it, financially, and from a passenger morale standpoint.

Originally Posted by Loonbeam

Thats what I thought, but I called to confirm, and the rep there indirectly indicated they are going to see how features affect demand (and therefore revenue) before making a 'final' decision.

I also got the impression that the version being loaded onto the plane is not the final design for the system, so its possible not all the blocks are implemented yet.

[Loonbeam]

Oh I suspect it WILL be blocked at one point. My gut feeling is that they are wording things carefully in case generation one of this tool does not work as expected (what a surprise THAT would be!)

[AaronK]

It appears that Southwest is jumping on the bandwagon as well...

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix....933&highlight=

[Ned]

Row 44 has received high marks for their products in testing thus far. They are set to provide high-speed Internet, video entertainment, and cell phone support. Being completely against passenger voice communication access in flight, I am concerned about their full service proliferating among airlines.

Southwest has said their customers with a wi-fi enabled devices will have full access to the Internet, including e-mail, music, shopping, and virtual private networks (VPN) via a high-speed connection. I am concerned about the "music" and other potentials of the service they are offering. They have yet to state they intend to have a policy of not permitting voice communication in flight, nor have they stated a policy of requiring headphone or earphone usage for all audio entertainment. I contacted them this afternoon, and they told me they haven't made up their mind about those issues.

[AaronK]

I posted a comment on their blog asking the same thing Ned.

[Ned]

Great idea Aaron. I'm going to follow your lead. Have some rep!

Originally Posted by AaronK

I posted a comment on their blog asking the same thing Ned.