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American Airlines Adding Wi-Fi To Domestic Flights

300 planes will get wireless Internet by 2011

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 31, 2009

The service will help American Airlines further increase amenities while generate much needed revenue. The expansion follows a trial period in which the broadband service was offered onselect flights. The service was installed last August on 15 of American's Boeing 767-200 aircraft, primarily on nonstop flights between New York JFK and San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.

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.

According to airline officials, Gogo turns an American Airlines flight into a Wi-Fi hotspot, enabling passengers to surf the Web, check e-mail, send instant messages, access a corporate VPN and more. Once the aircraft has reached 10,000 feet, users can simply turn on their Wi-Fi enabled devices — such as laptops, smartphones and handheld PDAs — then open their browsers and be directed to the Gogo portal page where they sign up and begin surfing.

Gogo is powered by the Aircell air-to-ground (ATG) system, which uses three small antennas installed outside the aircraft and connects to Aircell's exclusive nationwide mobile broadband network.

Aircell's price for the Gogo service ranges from $7.95 to $12.95 based on length of flight and whether the device is a handheld PDA or a laptop computer. Aircell's pricing plans are:

• Long Flight Pass: $12.95 — Standard price for flights longer than 3 hours

• Short Flight Pass: $9.95 — Standard price for flights 3 hours or less

• Mobile Flight Pass: $7.95 — Mobile device pricing for customers using a handheld device on Gogo-equipped flights of any length

"The passenger response to Gogo Inflight Internet has exceeded even our own high expectations, with many people becoming frequent users who rely on it to stay connected to the office, friends and family in their travels," said Jack Blumenstein, President and CEO, Aircell. "We are excited to help American Airlines expand Gogo to the majority of its domestic fleet, enabling more of its passengers to turn flying time into 'me time.' With Gogo, flying becomes whatever you want it to be — productive, entertaining, informative, you name it."

Each paid Gogo session includes full Internet, e-mail and VPN access. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service use will not be available, according to the airline.

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