August 5th, 2008
Surf the Skies with Delta Airlines and Wi-Fi
Airlines have hit fliers with a lot of extra charges these days. They charge for food, drinks and checking bags, and recently even charging for pillows and blanets.
Today however, Delta Airlines announced a service that few people should complain about paying for: Wi-Fi. Delta Air Lines announced today that they will be outfitting their domestic aircrafts with Wi-Fi over the next year.
Customers will be provided a consistent, convenient internet experience using the Gogo Internet service for between $9.95-12.95 and will allow connecting of any Wi-Fi device. The system, Gogo, will enable Delta customers traveling with Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, to access the Internet, corporate VPNs, corporate and personal e-mail accounts, as well as SMS texting and instant messaging services.
Delta plans to have 330 aircrafts complete by summer 2009. Beginning with the 133 MD/90 aircraft, which is the most common in Delta’s fleet, the Wi-Fi capability will eventually be placed in all the jets the company operates, Boeing 373, 757 and 767-300.
Virgin, American, JetBlue, and US Airways also have announced similar plans. However, Delta seems to be pursuing the most aggressive rollout policy of all. So far American only expects to have Wi-Fi in 15 domestic planes, and JetBlue has yet to announce any widespread plans.
One thought to ponder - the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure last week approved a bill to permanently ban the use of cell phones in-flight. However, with a laptop, Aircell’s Wi-Fi and a program such as Skype, could passengers get around the cell-phone ban???
Delta Air Lines operates service to more worldwide destinations than any airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 312 destinations in 61 countries. Delta has added more international capacity than any major U.S. airline during the last two years and is the leader across the Atlantic with flights to 44 trans-Atlantic markets. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers 393 weekly flights to 47 destinations. Delta’s marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on more than 16,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 500 worldwide destinations in 105 countries.
Mahalo,
Angelica Friedmann
Hawaii Aloha Travel
1800-843-8771 x21