American Airlines has become the first airline to provide an in-flight internet service, called Gogo, for varied fees depending on the length of the flight. I should probably mention that the service is only available on one aircraft at the moment, but American has plans to extend its services to the whole domestic fleet! Say goodbye to that egregious feeling of disconnect that has become inevitable once the cabin door has been closed and you prepare for take-off.
While this is news to me and I'm sure to a bunch of other people, this technology just celebrated its 1 year anniversary. Last night, I was packing for my weekend trip from New York to Denver to attend a friend's wedding. As I was packing, I received a call from my boyfriend who traveled to Denver earlier that day claiming that he was able to have internet access throughout the flight once the aircraft reached 10,000 ft!
In an attempt to understand the extent of personal freedom which I will apparently be offered during my flight to Denver later today, I was curious to see if this wi-fi extended to my cell phone. From what I've researched, I can use my phone as a computer but not yet as a phone. I have heard that there are talks between Skype and American Airlines to make this feature available which would make it possible to both avoid and prevent life interruptions that are currently inevitable on airplanes.
It is clear that wi-fi in airplanes will soon become customary. Without a doubt, the next in-flight development will be to give customers access to their phones and text messages.
Happy travels!
