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Alaska Air to test wireless Web on its flights
Alaska Airlines said Tuesday it will be the first U.S. carrier to test a satellite-based in-flight wireless Internet service next year and may equip its entire fleet.
There have been several moves across the industry to offer passengers Internet access while they’re traveling.
Seattle-based Alaska plans to install Westlake Village, Calif.-based Row 44’s broadband service on one Boeing 737 jet next spring.
Row 44’s system is designed to work over water and across international borders. Alaska Airlines said the service is intended to work on all its routes, which include flights within the lower 48 states and to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico.
If it works, Alaska may add the service to all 114 of its aircraft.
Customers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as laptops or smart phones, will connect to the system through wireless hotspots in the aircraft cabin. A dome-shaped device mounted on top of the plane will house the antenna that receives and transmits satellite signals.
Virgin America adding Web access ’sometime next year’
Virgin America will introduce wireless Internet access across its entire fleet starting next year.
The carrier said it has reached a deal with AirCell to provide the service starting “sometime next year.”
Once it’s available, customers “will be able to access the Internet either through their Wi-Fi-enabled
personal devices or through the Red In-flight Entertainment system at every seat,” the airline says in
a press release.
“The cost of the service on Virgin America will be announced at the time of service roll-out,” AirCell
says in a press release. The Rocky Mountain News writes “AirCell CEO Jack Blumenstein has previously said wireless Internet services could be offered at around $10 a flight.” American has already announced a deal with AirCell to test Internet access on some of its flights. The Rocky Mountain News says “Virgin America plans to launch the service for its entire fleet, while American said it would first test the service on 15 Boeing 767-200 aircraft that primarily fly transcontinental routes. The potential values of the deals weren’t disclosed.”
Pittsburgh upgrades, expands free Wi-Fi
Pittsburgh International Airport has expanded and upgraded the free
wireless Internet offered there, airport officials tell The Associated Press . Free Wi-Fi was first offered in 2003 in the airport’s food-court area. It was since been expand to the airside terminal and will now be added to Pittsburgh’s landside terminal as well. Airport officials say the bandwidth has also been upgraded to increase the speed and reliability of the connection.
Too Sexy to Fly?
This morning, Matt [Lauer] interviewed Kyla Ebbert, a 23-year-old college student who works as a waitress at Hooters. Two months ago, she boarded a Southwest Airlines flight from San Diego to Tucson. Before the flight took off, she was escorted into the jetway by a customer service representative, who asked her to change her clothes.
She didn’t have any other clothes with her — she had no luggage — so the customer service rep told her to go home and change, then get a later flight. She said she had an appointment that she couldn’t change, so after getting a lecture on appropriate attire, she was allowed to re-board the plane. But once back in her seat, she had to cover her legs with a blanket for the entire flight.
Kyla wore the same outfit to the show this morning. Too Sexy To Fly?
At first, when she appeared on the set, it didn’t seem like her outfit was so inappropriate. It was clear that her skirt was pretty short, but it didn’t seem worthy of getting a lecture from a customer service representative on how to dress.
But when she sat down, we learned just how short that skirt was — when she flashed our national television audience. Yeah, that skirt was short.
So there are a lot of questions here. What is appropriate dress for flying? Who should decide what is appropriate? Should airlines have a dress code? And without a dress code, can an airline block someone from flying?
Southwest did, in fact, let her take the flight, but apparently not without embarrassing her and making a scene. It seems like unless there was a particular incident or complaint from other customers, then she should have been allowed to fly without any issues.
But as we learned this morning, that skirt was indeed pretty short.
| October, 2007 | |
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