Airlines offer WiFi

This is something anyone who any sort of intelligence about wireless communications knows – they don’t really interfere with the navigation system like we’ve been told all these years. Now that Delta, American Airlines & Southwest are trying out satellite-based wifi systems, the concern is more around annoying the other passengers than it is about any navigational system.

The spokesperson for Delta Airlines is quoted in the New York Times:

“…said the airline will keep track of how customers use the Wi-Fi technology, then decide whether to set limits on how customers can use the Internet. Airlines can and do block access to pornography sites, for example, and Delta, like American, is blocking access to sites that offer Internet voice services.

“A lot of it will be self-policing,” he said. “If you’re not aware of it, your seatmate will make you aware.” [source]

So, ok, you might annoy other passengers, but what happens when wifi is everywhere, and your flight, which used to be an untouchable block of time, becomes office hours, in which you’re expected to work, rather than relax, read, nap, or like I’ve been known to do, watch a movie or write offline.

Here’s the other hitch – which airlines might be looking at inflight wifi as an additional income source, is it really going to make that much of a difference to the bottom line? The Times piece did some of the math – if every passenger on board a flight paid $12.95 for the 3+ hour trip, they’d make approximately $1500. Great, but will every passenger buy? My guess is no. Sure, some will, but I’d estimate that’s probably less than 1/3 of the passengers.

The others are going to be of the mind that I am for the moment – unless it’s free, I don’t really need to be online that badly, and even then, there’s got to be someplace in the world (or above it in this case) where I don’t have to make an excuse or provide a reason why I’d like to be offline.