Lufthansa to add in-flight broadband by 2008 for long-hauls

Lufthansa is apparently continuing the airborne scramble to get customers connected, announcing that with the help of T-Mobile it will be reinstating its broadband service (formerly from Connexion) to its long-haul flights by 2008. While other airlines throughout Europe are racing to offer in-flight calling for shorter trips, Lufthansa says that "the vast majority told us they don't want this feature," which makes sense, since no one likes a loud-talker in an enclosed space. Instead, the Cologne-based company is rolling out a service which will allow broadband connections for laptops, text-messaging on phones, and wireless email (and data, we assume) on hand-helds, similar to recent offerings we've seen from other carriers. Of course, Lufthansa's passengers could still be annoyed by chatter if someone gets clever and decides to rock Skype on a trans-atlantic trip -- unless the airline has plans for blocking VoIP. Only they know for sure.

[Ellianth @ Aug 1st 2007 11:56AM]

Pwned? How exactly?

[BoZs13 @ Aug 1st 2007 11:59AM]

ever heard of ettercap or something similar?

easy ownage

[Ellianth @ Aug 1st 2007 12:02PM]

No I haven't. Care to explain what that is? I'd search for it, but then I'd probably end up reading a bunch of Wikipedia articles. I can't not click the links.

[Firebird @ Aug 1st 2007 12:50PM]

I think the joke is that the lady in question has 'pwned' someone in her in-flight broadband-powered multiplayer video game of choice. Quite possibly World of Warcraft, judging by the fact that she appears to be half asleep.

[BoZs13 @ Aug 1st 2007 1:40PM]

Ettercap is an open source software Unix tool for computer network protocol analysis and security cracking. It is capable of intercepting traffic on a network segment, capturing passwords, and conducting man-in-the-middle attacks against a number of common protocols.

I use it extensively, although this picture might have a little more to do with gaming I guess. Sorry, when I think ownd I think hacking first for some reason and not gaming. I don't know why, I love gaming as well.

[Tim @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:15AM]

Bound to happen. Putting the Sky in Skype eh? Anyone? No? Oh never mind.

[Dave @ Aug 1st 2007 4:59PM]

What they don't show in that pic is when that jerk in front of her moves their seat back, she won't be able to see that screen at all. Why can't airline seats just be locked upright? The amount of discomfort inflicted on the person behind you is so much greater than the relief of three inches of reclining.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 1st 2007 12:43PM]

Wow.

A little Enemy Territory would definitely help kill the time!

[Michael @ Aug 1st 2007 12:57PM]

Is it just me or does that look like a Southwest plane?

[gregger @ Aug 1st 2007 1:43PM]

Yeah, I totally saw the color scheme and no frills arm rests and thought "Hey! That's SWA!" Southwest has better service than Lufthansa in my experience... I think I'd rather fly them to the EU.

TTFN

[kaztm @ Aug 1st 2007 12:54PM]

What's that black base she has under the laptop?
Cool gadget or just a bulky tilter?

[TQ @ Aug 1st 2007 1:08PM]

looks like a cooling deck or a laptop case

[Chuckles McGee @ Aug 1st 2007 1:05PM]

Mmmm, in-flight broadband= in-flight porn

[itsme92 @ Aug 1st 2007 2:55PM]

I hope I'm not sitting next to you on my Oakland-Philadelphia flight next week.

[ethana2 @ Aug 1st 2007 5:11PM]

Yeah really. Same here. That could be the most awkward trip ever. "Uh, could you, uh, stop looking at, uh..."

[TQ @ Aug 1st 2007 1:36PM]

yea this is a definate plus for long flights. although before long it'll give our superiors an excuse to bother us while traveling >_>

[ASLAM @ Feb 16th 2008 3:49AM]

Verizon DSL, FIOS, ATT DSL, BT Broadband, Talk Talk Broadband, Comcast Cable net, Tiscali Broadband, Time Warner Cable, AOL Broadband.

[Sam @ Aug 1st 2007 1:47PM]

Considering that the internet access will likely be satellite-based, the latency will make VOIP almost unusable.

[ethana2 @ Aug 1st 2007 5:26PM]

They need planes designed for everybody to sleep on.

"This is Frontier Flight 889 service from Anchorage to Denver, before you go to bed, we need to outline the security features of this plane....

.... also keep in mind that if the provided sound-insulated headphones are uncomfortable for you, please let us know so we can make your trip more enjoyable. Also note that while they are for use with the laptops you brought, we request that they stay in your bunk after the flight. Also, your laptops, cd players, and phones must be powered down while we are below 20,000 feet. If you do not have your own music, you may plug into the jack next to your bunk; we provide you wireless internet, as well as XM and Sirius via your bunk's audio jack. Keep in mind that as we have limited bandwidth, the speed of individual connections is limited to 256 Kbps...

...Thank you and enjoy your flight."

[ahazan80 @ Aug 1st 2007 7:18PM]

Is this a terrestrial based system? cuz that's almost useless. i don't need internet on my 2 hour flight to miami. i need internet on my 26-hour flight to Jakarta

[Craig McDonald @ Aug 1st 2007 7:37PM]

I've flown Lufthansa longhaul many times before and it'd be nice if they paid more attention to upgrading their planes so they actually have LCD tvs behind seats (rather than old-school monitors in the aisles)!!

I can't believe their announcing in-flight wifi when every longhaul flight I've travelled with them, the in-flight entertainment is still stuck in the '90s!!!

[political forum @ Aug 1st 2007 9:10PM]

I wonder if this might cause some electronic interference for the plane. Like when they tell you not to use your cell phones some time on the plane.

- ted
my [url=http://www.politicsforumpoliticalworld.com/]political forum[/url]

[Marbles @ Aug 3rd 2007 4:18AM]

In 2005 I took a Lufthansa flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt and we had wireless Internet access. It worked well enough, but it would drop off all the time. So latency intensive tasks would probably fail. It was also very expensive. The information brochure detailed the system as using satellite based tech. Being able to IRC and surf 10km's in the air over Russia was an interesting experience.