Gogo Inflight Internet now available between Anchorage and Fairbanks on Alaska Airlines

by Scott Carmichael on

While many of us were eagerly awaiting that availability of Gogo Inflight on our flights, our friends up in Alaska were waiting to get any kind of inflight access. Thankfully for them, Gogo Inflight just flipped the switch on the first of their towers covering the route between Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Passengers on this 55 minute Alaska Airlines flight can now enjoy their online content on their laptop or other Wi-Fi enabled mobile device. Best of all, the service is being offered complimentary to passengers until the remainder of the network goes live later this year. Once complete, passengers will be able to get online for the first hour of their flight over Alaska, then get back online once their plane reaches the lower 48.

Gogo Inflight Internet is available on 1028 aircraft from 9 airlines – access prices start at just $4.95, and are currently on sale until the end of the month – which means you can get an unlimited subscription for just $19.95. For an overview of their various pricing plans, head on over to Gogoinflight.com.

HasWifi.com answers a simple question – will my plane have inflight Wi-Fi?

by Scott Carmichael on

Determining whether your next flight offers Wi-Fi isn’t that hard – most airline web sites have their own widget to help answer the question, but things can always be a bit easier. HasWiFi lets you enter your flight information, and instantly tells you whether you’ll be online for your flight, or whether you’ll need to suffer through another horrible inflight movie.

If you want to make life even easier, you can link the site with your TripIt account, and it’ll pull your upcoming flight information from their service, without having to look up flight numbers yourself.

Search results display the flight number, airplane type, destination and of course whether you’ll actually have Wi-Fi. The site also provides user feedback, in case the information from the airline turns out to be incorrect.

All in all, a very easy to use site. The content is simple enough to be viewed on a mobile phone, and the creator kept things nice and clean. So, before your next flight, head on over to HasWifi, and if you are lucky enough to be able to get online, don’t forget to create a Gogo Inflight account to make getting online even quicker.

Gogo Inflight Internet now available on 1,000 aircraft

by Scott Carmichael on

Today, Gogo Inflight Internet celebrates its 1,000th plane with the airborne Internet service. This is an amazing accomplishment when you consider that two years ago, they were working on installing equipment on their first aircraft.

The plane in question is a Delta DC-9, and Gogo ambassadors will be greeting the passengers and treating them to free Internet access on their flight.

Gogo is now available on one third of the domestic U.S. fleet, covering 3,800 planes on almost every major airline in the nation. Access starts at just $4.95 for short flights, up to $12.95 for flights over three hours.

How to make free calls from a plane using Google Voice and Gmail

by Willy Volk on

Right now, I’m cruising at 35,000 feet on a Delta flight surfing the Web with Gogo’s Inflight internet access. My flight has been delayed, and I want to tell my wife that she can pick me up later. And it occurred to me: I wonder if Google’s new “Call from Gmail” feature would work while flying.

Sure enough, I opened Gmail’s “Google Talk Plugin” interface, entered Gadling editor Grant Martin’s phone number and pressed “call.” As it turned out, he answered the phone — and he could hear me.

What does this mean? Well, it means that, if you’re in-flight, and you have a headset and a Gmail account (and a Gogo Internet pass), you can make free calls from the air (to the US and Canada only) to landlines. This is not new for VOIP (Skype’s infrastructure allows this, though it’s hit and miss), but this is a first for Google.

Is it a win for airline passengers? We’re undecided at this point. While the convenience is certainly nice, do we really need to hear the girl next to us on the plane cooing to her boyfriend via her Gmail account?

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Gogo and Foursquare introduce mile high badge for inflight check-ins!

by Scott Carmichael on

Fan of Foursquare? Starting tomorrow, you’ll be able to earn the new Mile High badge any time you check in on a Gogo Inflight Wifi enabled flight.

With just under 1000 planes offering the Gogo Inflight Internet service on 9 different airlines, it isn’t that hard to get online in the skies nowadays – and once connected, all you need to do is open up Foursquare on your mobile device, and check-in. If you are connected using your notebook, check out these computer based Foursquare check-in apps. A single check in is all it takes to earn the badge.

In-flight connections on Gogo start at $4.95 for flights up to 1.5 hours. An unlimited account is now on sale for $34.95 with a discounted first month for just $19.95.

So, next time you are flying one of the nine airlines offering Gogo on some of their planes, be sure to get yourself online and earn this very special badge. And while you are at it, don’t forget to become our friend on Fouraquare!