AirTran brings Gogo in-flight WiFi to every single flight

Listen up, jet-setters -- AirTran Airways just got a lot more attractive. Starting this summer, this very airline will become the "world's first" (Virgin America will have its comparatively small fleet of 28 fully equipped by Memorial Day) to equip all of its aircraft with in-flight WiFi, and when we say "all," we mean "all." Much like the half dozen other Aircell airline partners, AirTran is also utilizing Gogo technology, but it's doing so across its entire fleet of Boeing 737 and 717 aircraft. If all goes to plan, all 136 AirTran planes will be broadband-enabled by "mid-summer," and as with other Gogo-equipped planes, patrons will be asked to pony up $12.95 for access on flights over three hours and $9.95 for jaunts that are three hours or less. Of note, "handheld devices" can hop online for just $7.95 regardless of flight length, though we get the idea that VoIP calling will still be disabled.

[TX.Toast @ May 12th 2009 12:26PM]

Air.

[ShinyaAoki @ May 12th 2009 12:28PM]

This is maybe the only case where I am FOR porn filtering. For godsakes PLEASE filter out the porn.

[TRS @ May 12th 2009 12:37PM]

lulz
yea, very valid point.
this is awesome tho, every airline should do this. and most likely will profit from it charging like 12 bucks per customer who uses it. pretty convenient too, and will make trips much more fun and better for business type people. only thing is...most computer batteries wont last much longer than 3-4 hours of internets surfing...is there a power plug? :O

[reuthermonkey1 @ May 12th 2009 12:38PM]

pls don't filter the porn. what else is my smartphone to be used for?

[Ben @ May 12th 2009 12:40PM]

I know at least AA flights have had power plugs under the seat for as long as I can remember. Need an adapter though ....

[Oren @ May 12th 2009 3:02PM]

How is getting porn from the internet any different from having some porn pre-loaded on your laptop (or handheld DVD player, or iPhone, or PSP .....). In all those cases, the flight crew will tell you to cut it out and that's the end of the game (remember, it's a Federal felony to disregard the instructions of crew members).

Porn filtering is a whole lot of nothing.

[psych1.md @ May 12th 2009 12:32PM]

That's hawt.

[Noah Lieske @ May 12th 2009 12:36PM]

Great news. Thanks for updating. Noah Lieske

[iNNeR_KaoS @ May 12th 2009 12:35PM]

That's Tran-tastic.

[Al @ May 12th 2009 1:01PM]

I'm tran-sexual!

[dagwud @ May 12th 2009 2:25PM]

That must have been some Tran-sformation.

[Ed T @ May 12th 2009 12:42PM]

Great, now I get to sit next to some dipstick teenager who will text for three hours. That's almost as bad as Mr. Corp Slave who sits there and thumbs his Blackberry for the entire flight. Do people have lives anymore?

[Roger @ May 12th 2009 12:46PM]

Why do you care if they're texting? Read a magazine, watch a movie, sleep, whatever...just mind your own business.

[Gipionocheiyort @ May 12th 2009 12:47PM]

Because reading a copy of skymall for 3 hours is preferable to texting or working?

What kind of life are you having on an airplane? And how come I never get invited to any of the parties that you are apparently having up there?

[3waygeek @ May 12th 2009 12:49PM]

I'll be flying AirTran next week for a long Memorial Day weekend-- maybe I'll get a chance to try it out. They're a good low fare airline, and I use them whenever I can. For example, when I booked next week's trip last week, I managed to get a round trip from Atlanta to Ft. Myers, FL for under $150. Not bad for a holiday weekend.

[jezzzzy @ May 12th 2009 2:03PM]

Not sure what they mean by "this summer", but I assume it won't be ready by next week.

[KeegdnaB @ May 12th 2009 12:50PM]

I'm flying AirTran next week. They've been doing this promo call everyflight for a while to build up to this. Basically they set up this site everyflight.com for people to suggest ANYTHING they'd want to have on every flight. It was pretty obvious from the beginning that they were using it to announce Wifi, as that was the #1 rquested thing (followed by personal TVs)

[Carl @ May 12th 2009 1:22PM]

Hmm.......I'm gonna have to search AirTran first for my flights this summer. Glad I hadn't booked them already. Nice phones will only be 7.95 too. I think I can swing that. But i'll probably just watch some top gear episodes anyways. Don't really need internet THAT bad.

[TheAirlineBlog.com @ May 12th 2009 5:21PM]

Yea don't NEED the internet, but heck it sure is better than the inflight magazine...and $8 is almost the cost of a car magazine anyhow!

David
www.TheAirlineBlog.com

[Theodore Wirth @ May 12th 2009 1:25PM]

Great news but praised be the Lord for the VOIP restriction! Chronic cell phone gabbers need not despair. The can still use the digital equivalent to Tweet their little minds out.

[Bob @ May 12th 2009 2:37PM]

yea, they're blocking Skype and video chat. People are pissed and trying to find a way around it, but the fact is the overwhelming majority of people DO NOT want chatty cell phone users on planes.

[MRCUR @ May 12th 2009 1:38PM]

This is fantastic. I'll probably be flying AirTran a lot from Harrisburg to Orlando in the coming months and now I'll enjoy the flight a lot more.

[ch @ May 12th 2009 2:34PM]

COD4 Online at 30,000 feet!
YES SIR!

[Ranger Rick @ May 12th 2009 2:58PM]

Win.

[Daniel @ May 12th 2009 7:01PM]

"Mile High Club" as it was meant to be played...

[tonman23 @ May 12th 2009 2:37PM]

darn, my looooooooong trip this summer is all continental and royal jordanian :(

[The Angry Intern @ May 12th 2009 3:53PM]

nice, but I'll never fly AirTran again. They lost my suitcase for 4 MONTHS once, with me calling or emailing every day trying to figure out either where it is or how I can get a claim put in. The number was usually busy or nobody answered and I rarely got a response to emails other than some bullshit corporate canned response. Finally 4 months later, someone calls me to start the claim, they go into the warehouse to check one last time and surprise, there it was, where it was the whole time. I got a free round trip ticket with an upgrade to their equivalent to first class...I didn't check a bag when I flew that trip.

[TheAirlineBlog.com @ May 12th 2009 5:22PM]

I dunno, I was kind of hoping for the cowbell myself. Or maybe the slip and slide.

David
www.TheAirlineBlog.com

[TheAirlineBlog.com @ May 12th 2009 5:25PM]

I had the great opprotunity to preview this service on AirTran this morning. It was amazingly fast. I was able to upload 20MB of photos very quickly. The Today Show was on the plane and they were able to do a live feed to NY via the internet on the plane. Out of the 40+ people who were on the promotional flight, no one had issues connecting up. Very exciting stuff for sure.

David
www.theairlineblog.com

[Adam @ May 12th 2009 5:56PM]

A horse is a horse, of course of course... "Boeing 717"... its a freakin DC-9, a design about twice my age :P

[KeegdnaB @ May 12th 2009 6:58PM]

a brand new 737-7/8/900 is still a 737
a design barely younger than the DC9.

you sir, know nothing about airplanes. I would suggest you fly on one of northwest's DC9s that are 30+ years old. You would never know that they were that old because of the remodeled interiors based off *gasp* the 717. You're calling a modern, efficient plane trash because it's based off a proven design that's held its own since the late 60s.

I probably don't even need to mention [but will anyway] the fact that a plane's age is irrelevant when it is properly maintained. Those Northwest DC9s have lasted as long as they have because Douglas built them like tanks. The only reason they'll eventually be phased out is because they aren't as fuel efficient, and will not be cost effective to have heavy maintainance checks done.

[sean @ May 12th 2009 6:14PM]

How fast will this wifi be?


Net Essentials LLC.

www.netessentialsllc.com

[the real Brad @ May 12th 2009 6:16PM]

Now all we need is for Continental, Northwest, etc. etc. to hook us up with wifi and power plugs.

[the real Brad @ May 12th 2009 6:16PM]

I NEED to set up a petition for this!

[KeegdnaB @ May 12th 2009 7:00PM]

Northwest was bought by Delta. they will have Wifi installed.
Right now it's being installed on the existing delta fleet and will be done later this year. The northwest planes will start getting it installed after that.

[dosguy @ May 12th 2009 8:48PM]

Just one step closer to the day when they begin allowing cell phones on planes. Just one day closer to the day when the first ignorant cellphone yacker gets thrown out at 30,000 feet.

[Mike @ May 13th 2009 12:36AM]

Go-go in flight does NOT disable VoIP calls... I just flew Virgin America First Class to NY from LA and I had no problem using Skype on my iPhone to make phone calls throughout the flight.

[nick b. @ May 19th 2009 1:03PM]

It will be interesting to see who else, besides airline companies, will benefit from in-flight WiFi. http://bit.ly/s8Vw3