American Airlines (s amr), which has so far been offering the Gogo in-flight wireless broadband on nonstop flights between New York JFK and San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami, says that it will add the service to an additional 300 planes over the next two years. American will install the Aircell system on its domestic MD-80 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft fleets, beginning with 150 MD-80 aircraft this year. I see this as a good way to capitalize on a captive audience with nowhere to go. With service that costs between $7.95 and $12.95 based on the length of the flight, it is one helluva racket. The downside of this good news: We need to update our In-Flight Broadband Cheat Sheet.
Cheap everywhere broadband will happen eventually, but this ain’t it, as you pointed out. The prices here are highway robbery, but I suppose the option is nice to pass a long flight.
I love this service. $12.95 to fill the time on a 5 hour flight to JFK is wonderful. Catch up on reading, email, blogs, whatever. I haven’t tried to stream a movie or music but I imagine short clips are fine. The only thing you can’t do is make a phone call. Thank God!