Aircell offers short haul, 24-hour Gogo in-flight internet passes

It's a technology lover's dream come true: in-flight internet. Knowing that all too well, Aircell has decided to expand its pricing options for its Gogo services, which are currently available on select flights from Virgin America, AirTran, Delta and America Airlines. In order to better serve more customers on flights of varying lengths, the company has today announced two new options: a Flight Pass for short haul flights and a 24-Hour Pass for those doing a same-day return or connecting on multiple short haul flights. The former will run WiFi addicts $5.95 for flights lasting approximately 1.5 hours or less, while the latter will provide 24-hour access on a single airline for $12.95 (though it's only available initially on AirTran and Delta). If you're doing an unfathomable amount of cruising the friendly skies, there's even a 30-day unlimited pass for a single airline that'll set you back $49.95. Now, if only Gogo would get going on more planes, we'd happily take advantage.

[Via Gadling]

[Zach G. @ Jul 15th 2009 1:33PM]

If each 30 day pass were to come with a complementary beard as epic as that man's, that is the best deal EVER!

[Leo @ Jul 15th 2009 2:21PM]

and a Dell Latitude C640 too! :)

[Mark @ Jul 15th 2009 1:36PM]

Just make sure you remember to wake me up before you gogo.

[Magallanes @ Jul 15th 2009 1:40PM]

yeah yeah.

[dsteve303 @ Jul 15th 2009 1:48PM]

LOL. CHANDLER SAID THAT TO ROSS IN FRIENDS WHEN HE WAS GUNNA GO TO ASK EMILY TO MOVE IN WITH HER IN SEASON 4.

[Monkey with glasses @ Jul 15th 2009 1:37PM]

Rip off if your limited to one or those airlines only, imo.

[greg @ Jul 15th 2009 1:37PM]

Not bad pricing. Guess airlines have learned from the whole Airphone thing. Now come to aerlingus already!

[NeoJew @ Jul 15th 2009 2:37PM]

Yah, I think it's actually cheaper than what the MGM Grand wanted to charge me for in-room internet last month.

[BloggerN00b @ Jul 15th 2009 1:41PM]

does more miles count to free internetz at some point?

[ilovethewaggle @ Jul 15th 2009 1:47PM]

For a 1.5 hr flight or less, maxed out at 1.5 hrs, there's about 10-15 minutes following take off and 20-25 min before landing that all electronics must (supposedly) be shut off. giving you an hours worth of internet access for 6 bucks. I'm not sure if that's entirely worth it unless you've surely got a serious deadline.

[NeoJew @ Jul 15th 2009 2:38PM]

But on a 6 hour flight I would pay any amount of money for the sweet relief of Internetz.

[lowbot @ Jul 15th 2009 3:28PM]

I spent 7.95 on a 2.5hr Airtran flight and Id say it was worth it. After an hour or so I got bored with my reading materials and paid for the wifi for my iphone. I surfed the web for quite a bit and was even able to stream music. I ran a few speed tests and got about 1.2mbps down and 256 or so up. Not too shabby. Latency wasnt bad either.

8 bucks to entertain myself on a boring plane wasnt too bad. Heck, the magazine I bought was 6 or 7 bucks. Most of it is available free online.

Also, the article summary is wrong. Every AirTran flight has wifi now.

[hamerhead_12 @ Jul 15th 2009 1:48PM]

I saw this on my flight. When I connected, I saw the price, and turned my laptop off.

I know it doesn't make money, but free internet would be a GODSEND :D.

[murmermer @ Jul 15th 2009 1:52PM]

what are the connection speeds they are offering?

[krische @ Jul 15th 2009 3:23PM]

In the air, Speedtest.net recorded top speeds of 1465 kbps (downloads) and 317 (uploads).

from http://www.pcworld.com/article/153308/wifi_in_the_sky.html

[Rob @ Jul 15th 2009 1:57PM]

The price isn't to bad, its the 5 GB limit that really sucks.... oh wait, what company are we talking about?

[HasH @ Jul 15th 2009 1:58PM]

I am in..

[webterractive @ Jul 15th 2009 2:03PM]

Air Canada has one of it's airplanes as a guinea pig for Air Cell cannot wait to try it but then again it's only internet.

[Dragotequila @ Jul 15th 2009 2:03PM]

Wait, is he using a C610? I hope that's not the laptop they are testing with.

[tylerstempinski @ Jul 15th 2009 2:06PM]

I think us First Class Flyers should get it free.
Anyone with me? But then again, when your tickets are $1000+, what's another $12.95? Lol.

[cg006 @ Jul 15th 2009 2:26PM]

with such an Old Ass Dell laptop, i will be surprised if it last at least 30minutes on battery

[Matthew Newton @ Jul 15th 2009 2:27PM]

that guy has to be running windows 2000 on that piece...

[DJSwan @ Jul 15th 2009 3:05PM]

thought i'd be the only one commenting on the decade old dell business class notebook... that thing doesnt even support wifi without an external card

[MiniMe @ Jul 15th 2009 2:55PM]

I am curious to know about the traffic break-down stats. Will percentage of the port watched in flight be comparable to that going over the land lines? That is a highly intriguing question.

[EricW @ Jul 15th 2009 4:35PM]

If this article is about commercial airlines offering in-flight wi-fi, why is the picture on the story of a beard flying in a private jet? That jet looks just like those in my company's fleet. Which are sweet as hell, BTW. And ours have their own ethernet jacks in the wall next to each seat for in-flight internet access.

[Bryan Greenwood @ Jul 15th 2009 5:24PM]

I fly twice a week, exclusively on Airtran. For a month now, every single plane has offered in-flight internet. As such, I've been paying $9.95 per flight. With the new pricing, I can opt for the monthly pass as save myself a good $30!

Not only that... but the in-flight internet is amazingly fast on Airtran. I look like a superstar being able to respond to emails and send deliverables while flying. When I get home, I know that I am caught-up on emails and I've met my target deliverable dates.

Compare this to my colleagues that are losing upwards of a full 8 hour day while they are in-flight without internet. And, they have to work for hours when they get home just to catch up!

Life it good!

-B

[interspectrum @ Jul 15th 2009 5:32PM]

If the airlines are smart and roll this out fleet wide, this would be a great way to get frequent fliers locked onto your airline. For $250 a year you get unlimited usage on airline X. You most likely will not by a subscription on more then airline and thus will be more likely to only fly them.

I fly ALOT and would love to have it on all my flights cause I could get some real work done and chat with the office. I hate 3 and 4 hour flights because my productivity goes into the toilet and I will have to work later into the night to get my work done.

[Michael @ Jul 15th 2009 6:24PM]

That guy up front is trying to enjoy the internet on the XV6700. He should have brought a book.

[drmoomoo @ Jul 15th 2009 6:27PM]

Does it work on the ground, too? 50 bucks a month is cheaper than I pay for rip-off Charter.

[Lord Nibbler @ Jul 15th 2009 8:16PM]

And when they say "select" they mean SELECT... I flew Virgin Airlines 3 times in the past 6 months... each round trip meaning I was on 2-5 planes... and NONE of them had the in-flight internet they've been plugging all over their website. Disappointed? Yes... but the free in-flight booze, food, and entertainment made up for it.

[dosguy @ Jul 15th 2009 10:22PM]

As long as they don't start yakking on cellphones, I'm OK with it.