Fly Online

Filed in archive News on September 11, 2009

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Why do most people sleep on airplanes? No, its not jet-lag or the fact that they can't sleep any other time to close their eyes, its because there's no internet for them to use. Nope, they can't work or play online, so the only alternative is to nap.

You might think I'm exaggerating, but the Wifi Alliance says 76% of business travelers would pick an airline based on wifi availability. It goes on to say that 70% of travelers would even pick wifi over food service. We just don't have that option on most flights yet.

But all that might be changing by the partnership of two companies, Row44 and JiWire. These companies plan to implement an "ad-supported" wifi system for commercial airplanes. The question I have is, what exactly do they mean by ad-supported?

The article by MarketingVox even calls the wifi system a "shopping network". Its hard to tell if the system will just be a glorified SkyMall or will have actual wifi capabilities. There's discussion about charging for wifi access but making the shopping network open to all passengers. But how many people will use an ad-cluttered system? Personally, that makes me imagine the terrible days before pop-up blockers.

Alaska and SouthWest Airlines in the the U. S. are already installing wifi on their planes. The new system is being released in the fall, and then we'll be able to see exactly what kind of ad-supported network we'll get.

What would you do online during a flight?