American Airlines Previews Wi-Fi. But Skype Gets Blocked

Chances are you'd feel differently about all the new airline fees if you were getting something new for your money--especially if that something were to help ease the tedium of a long flight. Starting today, American Airlines will begin testing that premise with a sneak preview of Wi-Fi connectivity aboard two flights--one from JFK to LA and one in the return direction--allowing passengers to send and receive emails, download and send attachments, and surf the web while aloft. If it works, American says it will roll out the service (possibly in a couple weeks) called Air Cell's "GoGo" on all of its 767-200s that fly on longer routes, such as New York to San Francisco, LA and Miami. Today's experiment will be free, but after that, the charge will be $12.95 per flight.

One thing you will not be able to do is use internet voice services like Skype; those will be blocked, in keeping with the federal ban on phone calls. (In Europe, by contrast, inflight cell calls are permitted by law, but not all airlines have the necessary hardware yet.) Otherwise, there are no limits on content. "It's exactly the same as if you were at a Wi-Fi hot spot at an airport or at your local Starbucks," says Americans Doug Backelin. He adds that the service will be able to handle a full planeload of users. Eventually, it should be on most domestic flights--the service works only in the continental U.S. and so it won't be offered on international routes.

American may be the first legacy airline to introduce Wi-Fi, but JetBlue has been testing a different service aboard a single plane since last December. And Virgin America says it will soon introduce the Air Cell service on all of its 15 A320s.

All business and first class seats in American's fleet have built-in power ports, and if you are consigned to a seat in coach, you can still plug in your laptop--power ports are scattered around the economy section.

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