American Airlines Is Expanding Its WiFi Offerings

March 31, 2009 at 9:16 AM | by kjb | 1 Comment

Passengers aboard American Airlines have been enjoying in-flight WiFi on transcontinental flights, but for short hops, there�s been no option. With only a few WiFi planes in the mix, it�s been difficult to score one of the magical airplanes. However, your odds of getting the WiFi option is about to increase greatly.

Apparently, American has enjoyed the additional revenue from wireless access, so they are expanding their current offerings across 300 of their planes. It looks like maybe they won't be our worst domestic airline for two years in a row.

Later today American Airlines is expected to announce their timeframe for in-flight WiFi. So far we know that they are going to start with their fleet of MD80s, and hope to get the necessary hardware installed by the end of 2009. After these planes are good to go, they�ll start on their collection of 737s�it looks like this will be a goal for 2010. Pricing will remain at about $13 for longer flights, $10 for shorter ones, and just $8 if you�re only connecting with your iPhone. Not too shabby, since just checking your bag is going to set you back $15.

If American is anything like Delta (they already have 77 planes and counting), we think they can reach their ambitious goal by the end of the year. Hopefully once the airline is fully equipped we can use the service to order drinks and snacks right to our seat, or something else a little cooler. We have already begun to dream of flight attendants Tweeting between beverage services.

Related Stories:
·American To Add Wi-Fi Service To Domestic Flights [USAToday]
·American Airlines Expanding In-flight Wi-Fi To Entire Domestic Fleet [Ft. Worth Star Telegram]
·American Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: yyz-yxe]

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