All hail the laggard! With pretty much every other US-based legacy carrier already on board, we were beginning to wonder if American Airlines even got the memo that in-flight Wi-Fi was in serious demand. At long last, the company has made clear that it plans to equip more than 300 MD-80 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft used primarily in the United States with high-speed Wi-Fi capability (over the next two years). If you'll recall, American announced early on that it was game for trialing the tech, but until yesterday, it had yet to make a commitment large enough to make you consider signing up for its credit card and bankrolling those frequent flyer miles. We're expecting more details to emerge soon, but feel free to start pestering its agents with the whos, whats, wheres and whens.

American Airlines has joined its peers at Continental in offering boarding pass barcodes that you can download to and display on your BlackBerry, iPhone, G1, or whatever have you. Presently the airline is only offering the option on domestic, non-stop flights departing from O'Hare -- LAX and Orange County will start on the 17th. Some eastern yanks might be asking, "What, no JFK or Logan? Where's the east coast love, AA?" Don't get too bent out of shape, boys and girls -- tech-savvy business travelers love their BlackBerrys, so we could see this pop up just about everywhere before long.

[Via Mobilitysite]

We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of in-flight Wi-Fi here in the U.S., and just when it was starting to get to the point where we could finally expect to get our surfing on at 30,000 feet, a whole new controversy springs up that has everyone wanting to shut the tech off again. The issue is people surfing questionable (a.k.a. porn) content while flying the friendly skies, and different airlines are reacting in different ways.

Right now it breaks down like this: Southwest, American, and Delta will all be relying on content filters to restrict what travelers can access. Meanwhile, Virgin, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, and US Air will all let surfers go wherever they like -- though some will be asking stewards and stewardesses to keep their eyes open. Who is in the right? We're inclined to say people are making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. There are far more important things to worry about, like prohibitive fees for checked baggage! [From: MSNBC]

Maybe this airline mechanic at the Baton Rouge Metro Airport was hopped on DayQuil earlier this week -- after all, "they" do say to take caution if operating heavy machinery. Whatever the cause, a mechanic at the Baton Rouge Metro Airport accidentally pressed a starter switch on a commuter airplane she was cleaning, which immediately sent the craft into full-fledged take-off mode -- right into two other planes inside the same hangar.

All three planes were destroyed, ultimately causing $100,000,000 in damages, not to mention nearly killing herself and 14 other workers, according to a report from Baton Rouge's WAFB-TV.

The entire incident took all of about five seconds according to witnesses, who are still dumbfounded as to how the whole hanger wasn't sent up in flames.

We all make mistakes, but we're pretty sure this woman will soon be out of a job. [Source: WAFB]

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and phoning in a bomb threat is certainly desperate enough if you're late for a flight. But be careful about leaving tracks. Read on, crimestoppers...

If you're into soccer – we mean really into soccer – then nothing will stop you from attending an important match. So take, for example, this German reporter, who was tasked with covering the European soccer championship and was late for his flight from Verona, Italy, to Vienna, Austria. What to do, what to do?

The options:

• Print your ticket from home and go straight to the gate (great time saver).
• Call the airline and book a later flight (responsible, yes, but you could miss your deadline).
• Phone in a bomb threat from your mobile phone while en route to the airport (only for a man of action!).

Yes! You guessed it! Option number three wins out!

But wait! When desperate times and desperate measures are in play, it's important to keep your wits about you, and this is where the reporter lost his.

Upon arriving at the airport, he asked about his flight being delayed, even though no public announcement had been made, which made him prime suspect numero uno with the authorities and he was subsequently arrested. How did they know for sure it was him? Why, he left his digital tracks, of course.

A check of his mobile phone's call log revealed he was the source of the threatening call. [Source: Metro via Textually.org]

What if it's not enough to have your own private suite (see image above) on your flight from New York to the Middle East? Leave it to Emirates Airlines, out of Dubai, to top its own first-class offering. The airline has announced its new Airbus A380 jets will be the first in commercial use to provide first-class passengers with an in-flight shower. Sounds like a nice, refreshing way to improve that approximately 12 1/2 hour flight, but be ready to shell out nearly $18,000 for the privilege.

The showers will first be introduced on the airline's Dubai to New York City direct route on October 1, but plans are in place to expand the luxury perk across Emirates' entire fleet of 50 A380s.

The showers cost much more than money, though, according to an environmental watchdog group called "Plane Stupid," which cites the enormous carbon footprint for this kind of over-the-top extravagance. The showers will require an extra ton of water to be transported onboard -- the same as having 12 extra passengers come along for the ride -- and will have carbon cost of 48,455 pounds for every flight.

Despite the cost and environmental impact, we'd still prefer a high-end shower as opposed to a flight attendant dousing us with water.

From Crave.


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You'd think that being in charge of what "devices" are allowed on an airplane would require TSA (Transportation Security Agency) agents to be on top of the latest technology. Or that at least the head office would send out memos about new and unique gadgets that might confound the agents. But think again. As one man found out, the wild world of consumer electronics can baffle not just one, but several agents all at once.

One poor man missed his flight when a gaggle of TSA agents were unable to identify his fancy new MacBook Air as an actual laptop. The security person monitoring the X-ray machine was apparently perplexed by the lack of a hard drive -- it was the 64-gigabyte solid state memory model -- and ports on the back of the machine. When several other agents were called over and unable to identify the thinnest laptop on earth as a legitimate computer, the frequent flyer was pulled aside into a security cubicle and forced to stand just out of arms reach of his new ultra-light Mac.

Thankfully, a younger, and more tech savvy, agent wandered in and explained to the befuddled security reps that this was the new MacBook air and didn't have a hard drive. After several, progressively dumbed-down explanations the agents let the man go, but it was already too late, his flight was long gone.

Too bad that same tech-savvy security agent wasn't around to help us when we got stuck at Boston's Logan Airport with an Asus eeePC, which also has no hard drive. Security agents pulled us aside and had us wait a good 15 minutes until they figured out it was just an eeePC.

Next time we're sure he'll show up with a little more time to spare.

From Engadget

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Can a security operation do its job and be transparent about its policies at the same time?

That's the challenge for the Transportation Security Administration as it launches its new blog called 'The Evolution of Security,' where in just a couple of days, more than 700 members of the public have already posted comments on issues ranging from the varying sensitivity of metal detectors to the sometimes mysterious application of rules and regulations to people just trying to get to their flights on time.

The blog's goal is to "facilitate an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process." In the early going, hot topics range from "shoes and liquids" to "inconsistencies" -- basically the common concerns of airline travellers today.

The site's motto? "Terrorists Evolve. Threats Evolve. Security Must Stay Ahead. You Play A Part."

TSA Administrator Kip Hawley writes that the blog was created to field questions from the public and provide answers, with the overall goal of getting passengers and the TSA "back on the same side, working together."

TSA personnel can't take the time to answer questions while doing their jobs at airport security checkpoints, so the blog was created as a way to explain policies to the public and take suggestions.

The comment policy is pretty straightforward. The TSA states the blog is for facilitating "an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process." It will not post comments that are vulgar, abusive or off topic, which is common practice for moderated blogs.

Hawley asks for patience and good humor while the blog is in its early stages. Maybe that's good advice if you're standing in a long security line at the airport, too?

From Computerworld.

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Long flights are boring places. Even if you pack a book (or 200), a portable video game system, and a magazine or three, at some point you're bound to get bored of all your available options and want something else to do. With the promise of mid-air Internet access, you could be downloading new stuff or just playing online games whenever you exhaust your carry-on entertainment reserves. But, a debate is growing over whether airborne travelers should be allowed to surf anything they like, or whether their access should be locked down tighter than the PCs at an elementary school library.

The argument is over whether people can be expected to act responsibly with their computer usage online. Will people take the opportunity to make loud, tasteless VOIP (as in calls via Skype or similar services) phone-calls and disturb the entire cabin? Will lonely businessmen start perusing adult sites while sitting in coach class next to unwilling participants who'd rather not see their naughty content of choice? The AP's take is that all this and worse will be happening; people will be doing all sorts of lewd and uncivilized acts with their Wi-Fi connections. However, Ars Technica has a much more realistic perspective, likening mid-air Internet access to what you'd find at any Starbucks; people working quietly and in general not disturbing anyone else.

What's your take? Will Internet access from flights make long journeys better or more irritating?

From Slashdot, AOL Money & Finance, Ars Technica

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It appears as if this whole Wi-Fi on airlines thing is finally taking off (sorry, couldn't help it). Four months after announcing that it intends to put Wi-Fi on some of its planes, American Airlines is starting to reval some specifics on the plan. Wi-Fi access to a broadband data connection will be provided by Aircell (which has also partnered with Virgin) on transcontinental 767-200 flights starting in 2008. The best part is the price, which we were worried about back in August when we heard the first rumblings of this program. How much, you ask? Well, it's going to cost $0. Thats right, it's free.

Not to be out done, JetBlue yesterday announced that it, too, would be offering free Wi-Fi on some of its planes -- as long as you're using it to access your Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, or BlackBerry Mail. This amounts to nothing more than a tease. The airline might as well not offer anything at all.

So far, efforts to bring the Internet to the air have failed. And pretty miserably, we might add. Connexion and Lufthansa (among other international airlines) teamed up a few years ago, but the service was shut down last December since no one seemed willing to pay for it.

Will these new efforts succeed where past ones have failed? In the case of American Airlines, we'd say there is a strong possibility, since it's offering access to any site, just like on the ground! And it makes a lot of sense to focus only on long-haul flights, since a long 14-hour flight to Tokyo is exactly when you need to be getting online.

Let's just hope people don't start using Skype or other Internet phone services and yap away the hours.

From CrunchGear

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This whole in-flight Wi-Fi thing is really taking off (induce pun groans now). Alaska Air is the latest company to announce it will be testing wireless broadband access on its jets.

Starting in the Spring of '08. Alaska Air will outfit one of its Boeing 737's with a system from Row 44, a company that specializes in Internet service for the commercial aviation industry. If it all goes well, the airline will outfit all 114 of its craft with the service which allows Wi-Fi enabled devices like PDA's and laptops to access the internet, e-mail, and even an on-board library of entertainment content.

There's no word on whether Alaska Air's system will allow access to VOIP communications like Skype as Virgin America's will, but it is highly likely. So even if in-flight cell calls don't become common place, we still may need to listen to every phone addict with a Skype account (by the way, we really love Skype, seriously... just not on our planes).

From Engadget

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Electronic ticketing lets you view, change, and process your reservation at kiosks, online, or over the phone -- all without having to worry about losing the ticket. However, 16% of travelers still insist on receiving mailed paper tickets ahead of time, forgoing e-tickets for the security of good 'ol paper.

Bad news for that later group: paper tickets are set to be retired by June 1 of 2008, forcing everyone to get with the times.

The move to eliminate paper ticketing is largely a cost-cutting measure and will result in savings of approximately nine dollars per passenger. Meanwhile, a whopping 50,000 trees per year will be spared the saw. This cut won't entirely erase paper from the flight process, as boarding passes must remain physical documents due to security concerns.

Sorry, trees, you're not entirely safe yet, but at least between this and AT&T's shift away from 300 page bills, we're saving some of your brethren.

From BetaNews

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Air travel in the United States generally feels like a trip back in time: Specifically, a time before humans had developed electronics, fabrics that weren't beige vinyl or fully-formed legs.

Virgin Airlines aims to change all of that with the stateside launch of Virgin America Airlines this week. Sir Richard Branson is bringing his famous taste for mile-high luxury to our shores (or air space, rather), having developed a new fleet of planes decked out with nearly everything the modern traveler could ask for -- 110 volt AC current, Ethernet and USB ports (for charging iPods and phones), and QWERTY keyboard input for its Linux-based computer terminals. Engadget has an intense hands-on with photos to drool over.

Virgin America comes to a sky near you on August 8.

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American Airlines and Lufthansa are the latest to jump on the in-flight Internet bandwagon. American Airlines has signed up with Aircell to start offering broadband access at 30,000 feet sometime next year. It will initially begin rolling out the service on trans-Atlantic flights on its fleet of 767s. Annoyingly, prices for the service were not announced yet, which is what we laptop-addicted users want to know.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa is working with T-Mobile to bring back Wi-Fi to its planes. The German airline previously offered Internet through Connexion, but the service failed because, surprisingly, not enough people were using it (and Boeing decided to stop footing the bill). Lufthansa will also be offering text messaging, e-mail, and data access for cell phones, but not phone calls. Lufthansa's service will be launching in 2008 as well.


From Engadget and Engadget

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First Air France, then European low-cost carrrier Ryanair... and now JetBlue. The ability use your mobile phone while your plane is in flight may be coming to the US.

JetBlue has made no official announcement other than admitting it is examining the possibility of offering text messaging services. Jet Blue has stated that it has misgivings about offering voice services on flights, but that text messaging might be an attractive option. Of course, this still all has to get past the FCC.

We would welcome text-messaging capability using our own cell phones on U.S. flights, but the offering pales in comparison to the full in-flight Wi-Fi service provided by Connexion by Boeing, which was shuttered at the end of last year. Still, an article in the Financial Times, which highlights JetBlue's in-flight mobile initiatives, as well as those of other airlines, says that Southwest Airlines is considering more robust mile-high Wi-Fi offerings.

It's ironic that the discount carriers are way ahead of the traditional carriers in terms of in-flight services (after all, JetBlue had TV in every seat way before the more established airlines). It also sounds as though JetBlue is busy trying out initiatives to lure back customers, many of whom are still miffed by the airline's collosal series of delays and cancellations during a big blizzard back in February.

From The Financial Times

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