HotelChatter's assistant editor Jenna hopped an American Airlines flight the other day--and found herself on a Gogo WiFi-equipped 767. How was it?

I used Gogo on AA Flight 15 from JFK to SFO on Wednesday morning. You can't access the wireless on the ground, but once we were at cruising altitude, the signal was strong, fast and consistent.

I had some issues with the connection at first: Turns out, having more than one tab open in Firefox kinda screws with the system when you're purchasing the service. I put in payment info and hit purchase three times and kept getting an activation error message, so I went onto the customer service chat where a lovely staffer (or computerized staffer) told me to either restart Firefox or try my purchase in another browser. Voila, one quick purchasing attempt with Safari and $12.95 later, I was in.

The connection was impressive; I think I was only disconnected once during the flight. And I was even streaming some videos off of Hulu for a bit. It stalled three or four times when I was doing that, but I'd say everything was about the speed of Starbucks' AT&T WiFi.

Verdict: For the six-ish hour flight, it's totally worth the $12.95.

Related Stories:
· Virgin America Launching WiFi on November 22 [Jaunted]
· Delta Gearing Up Its WiFi Fleet [Jaunted]
· Liveblogging an American WiFi Flight [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-11-07T14:01:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/5/192813/694

Virgin America will debut its version of Aircell-provided Gogo in-flight wireless internet on a special "beta" flight above San Francisco on November 22. After the event--which promises the first-ever live air-to-ground video stream via YouTube--the airline will roll out WiFi on one plane a week, until its entire fleet has the amenity by the second quarter of 2009.

Notably, Virgin won't be adding any content filters. Spokeswoman Abby Lunardini tells Jaunted exclusively:

Our policy is to not edit any in-flight entertainment content ... this policy will extend to WiFi content. There will be certain bandwidth constraints (no Skype, VoIP, etc.), but basically, we’re not in the business of editing what people want to watch--and believe we should be giving guests more options rather than fewer when they fly.

Abby also points out that many VA passengers already use laptops in-flight thanks to the carrier's under-the-seat power plugs. There's yet to have been a problem with "inappropriate content" that people carried on via, say, hard drive or DVD, she says.

Pricing will be the standard $10 on short flights, $13 on longer legs.

Later in 2009, Virgin says, the airline will integrate its in-flight entertainment system, RED, and Gogo, offering passengers without laptops or WiFi-enabled smartphones or PDAs a certain level of connectivity.

Related Stories:
· Coming Soon-ish: Virgin's Own In-Flight WiFi [Jaunted]
· In-Flight WiFi Is Here! [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas]]]> pbb 2008-11-05T19:28:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/2/141956/750

Just like that, Delta has as many WiFi-capable planes as JetBlue. This MD-88 (N908DL) is the first of 75 that Delta says will be ready by year's end. The carrier hopes to outfit 330 planes with wireless by summer of 2009.

Technically, Delta can't let passengers surf until it gets what's called a Supplemental Type Certificate from the FAA, but that shouldn't be a problem. (American Airlines already got one for its 767-200s.)

While Delta gets crackin' on the installation, other airlines are presumably trying to catch up. Among those that are promising wireless on at least some planes are Southwest (by Q4, 2008) and Virgin America (by Q1, 2009).

Related Stories:
· Delta's first Wi-Fi-equipped MD-88 [Official Site]
· Dark Horse Delta Announces Massive In-Flight WiFi Rollout [Jaunted]

[Photo: Delta]]]> pbb 2008-10-02T15:00:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/9/102021/7009

Air Canada will be the first Canadian airline to offer in-flight WiFi, after inking a deal with Aircell, the company behind the Gogo brand already available on American Airlines and in the works for both Virgin America and Delta. Guess this means United *won't* be the next carrier to offer internet access at 35,000 feet, despite our speculation.

WiFi will be available on "select flights" on A319 aircraft serving the US; Air Canada says access should be available by "spring 2009." The airline currently has 35 A319s.

The partners still need to secure regulatory approval from Canadian authorities and expand Aircell's air-to-ground network--which currently just covers the US--into Canada.

Related Stories:
· Rampant Speculation: Is United WiFi Coming Soon? [Jaunted]
· In-Flight WiFi coverage [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-09-09T10:20:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/27/121033/266

Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein recently told Information Week that his company has signed up a fourth airline for in-flight WiFi service, but he wouldn't disclose *which* carrier will soon offer Gogo.

But looking around the industry, it isn't hard to make an educated guess: American, Delta (and by extension Northwest) and Virgin America have already signed on for Aircell. Southwest and Alaska Airlines are both using Row 44 for wireless. JetBlue, Frontier and Continental are on the LiveTV tip.

So that pretty much leaves United and US Airways as the only big players in need of a WiFi provider. But US Airways certainly isn't looking to add electronics to its fleet, light as internet antennas may be. We're looking your way United!

Related Stories:
· Aircell Signs Up Fourth Airline for WiFi Service [IW]
· Who's Doing What for In-Flight Internet? [TravelTechTalk]
· In-Flight WiFi coverage [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-08-27T12:11:51-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/26/125159/640

Now that American Airlines has its in-flight WiFi working, we're expecting lots more mid-air liveblogging, like this report from "Big Brother" obsessive Ben at the B-Side Blog:

I've done a lot of flight blogs--or flogs--in my time, but never in all my time have I been able to actually LIVE blog my flights....

Not this time, my friends. American Airlines just introduced in-flight WiFi [six] days ago on selected routes, and yours truly has the luxury of flying one of those special planes.

Ben goes on to tell us about some pre-flight tire repairs, a sassy flight attendant and even some hellish fellow passengers, but our favorite bits are about how useful the wireless connection is:

Let me just reiterate that I absolutely love being able to sit here above the clouds and read Big Brother updates. Best flight EVER.

Related Stories:
· Live Flight Blog: Seriously, This Is Live [B-Side Blog]
· In-Flight WiFi: Our IM Interview with an AA Passenger [Jaunted]
· American Airlines Announces WiFi on Some Flights [Jaunted]

[Photo: B-Side Blog]]]> pbb 2008-08-26T13:00:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/20/151752/004

We didn't get a seat on one of American Airlines's newly wireless planes today, but Jaunted pal Peter Ha did. We last met up with CrunchGear's News Editor out at the Mojave Spaceport in front of the WhiteKnightTwo. Today, we had to chat via IM, which was also pretty awesome:

Jaunted: So it really works!

Peter: Indeed.

Jaunted: Any notables on the flight with you?

Peter: Aircell's CEO and Charles Wilson from AA.

Jaunted: What kind of speeds are you getting? How does it compare to your connection at home?

Peter: So far I'm getting around 1,700 kbps down and roughly 300 kbps up.