Four pieces of great inflight WiFi news from Gogo

by Scott Carmichael on

Inflight Internet provider Aircell released not one, but four different pieces of good news yesterday afternoon. We’ve translated all the PR-speak into the stuff you need to know if you want to stay up to date on the latest developments of Internet in the skies.

American Airlines widget

American Airlines is taking its rollout of the Aircell Gogo inflight service pretty serious – taking a page from the early days of WiFi on Virgin America, American Airlines developed a simple WiFi tracking widget.

The tool allows you to check whether your flight will come equipped with the Gogo inflight Internet service. Of course, the target we all want is that these tools won’t be necessary, and that every flight you get on will have the service, but until then, lets be grateful for this handy widget.
One millionth user

In October, Gogo welcomed its one millionth subscriber. I remember taking one of the first ever Gogo enabled flights last year, and in those 12 months, Aircell installed the Gogo service on over 600 commercial planes.

This is an amazing accomplishment, and to show how fast the growth is – the two million mark will be reached in January 2010. With over 100,000 new users each week, it is pretty obvious that the Gogo inflight service is highly popular.

Buy one get one on AirTran

Gogo customers who purchase an inflight Internet session on AirTran get an early Christmas promo this Holiday season – after buying one session, you’ll get a coupon emailed for a free session.

The promo ends December 31st, and is applied to any Gogo flight pass of $12.95 or less. It is not valid on discounted or free sessions.

Air Canada begins WiFi trials

Starting today, Air Canada will begin a trial offering WiFi on select Toronto-Los Angeles and Montreal-Los Angeles flights. The service only works over the continental US, but with these long flights, that means it’ll be available for the majority of your trip.

The trial lasts till January 29th, and after that period, Air Canada will analyze customer feedback and determine how to proceed with a fleet wide rollout. Eventually, Aircell hopes to extend the reach of their network into Canada using the Canadian ground network licensee.

Free Wi-Fi tomorrow on Delta Airlines – for a good cause!

by Scott Carmichael on

Tomorrow, October 31st, Delta Airlines and Gogo are offering free Wi-Fi on all their flights.During the sign-in procedure, simply use promotion code GOPINK.

As if that were not cool enough, Aircell (the company behind Gogo) will donate $1 for every free session that day (up to $10,000) to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

This is the fifth year Delta has supported breast cancer research with their Pink Plane. Last year, Delta raised half a million Dollars for the foundation through donations and pink product sales.

During the month of October, all Gogo proceeds from Wi-Fi sales on the Delta Pink plane will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

So, if you are flying a Wi-Fi equipped plane on Delta tomorrow, you’ll get free Internet access, and you’ll help support a great cause.

Free WiFi on Virgin America this Holiday season

by Scott Carmichael on

Flying during the Holiday season is probably not high on the list of things you enjoy doing. Busy airports, bad weather and grumpy passengers make the whole experience a little depressing.

Thankfully, if you are flying Virgin America, you’ll have access to WiFi on all their flights. And if you fly Virgin America between November 10th 2009 and January 15th 2010, you’ll get free access!

The free access is provided courtesy of Google. No credit card is required to get online, and once connected, you’ll be able to access a pretty speedy connection, though if half the plane is taking advantage of the freebie, you’ll obviously notice a bit of a lag.

To learn more about this promotion, and to see the Virgin America destination map, check out the “Free Holiday WiFi site“.

Enjoy free Gogo inflight internet on your next American Airlines flight

by Scott Carmichael on

If you are lucky enough to be flying an American Airlines aircraft outfitted with the Gogo Inflight Internet service, then how about trying it out for free?

The service is live on the entire AA 767-200 fleet, select MD80’s and is slowly being rolled out to their 737 fleet.

To get online for free, simply connect your laptop, PDA, smartphone or other compatible Wi-Fi device to the Gogo signal. Once you have signed up for the service, use promo code AATRYGOGO in the payment field.

Once online, don’t forget to check out the latest news from your favorite travel blog, or to follow what we’ve got to say on Twitter!

For more information on the AA inflight Internet service, or this promotion, head on over to the AA Wi-Fi on board information site.

Inflight Internet on Delta arrives just in time for the Holiday season

by Scott Carmichael on

A mere 4 months after the initial announcement, Delta Airlines and Aircell are kicking off the launch of the first 6 aircraft with inflight Internet access tomorrow.

We have been covering Aircell and their Gogo inflight Internet service for some time now, and I’ve been quite impressed by the speed at which they are getting the equipment installed on aircraft. The first Delta planes with broadband Internet access will be on 5 of the MD-88 shuttle fleet and one 757.

Aircraft with the service can be recognized by a “Wi-Fi hotspot” decal next to the boarding door.

If this good news wasn’t enough to make you happy, Aircell also let me know that access to the service will be free till the end of the year. You’ll find the Gogo Inflight Internet equipped aircraft on Delta Shuttle routes between LaGuardia and Boston, as well as LaGuardia and Washington Reagan. The 757 will be flying regular domestic flights, so make sure to check for that decal!

The current schedule for adding inflight Internet to the Delta fleet is to have 10 aircraft in operation by the end of the year, and to have the entire fleet outfitted by the end of 2009. Once the Delta branded fleet has been outfitted, engineers will begin work on the Northwest Airlines fleet, which is now part of Delta.

2009 is going to be a fantastic year for those of us who need more than an inflight movie to stay entertained, and once Internet is more readily available, I’m convinced that some people may even change their airline loyalty to pick an airline that has invested in this kind of service. So far, 4 airlines have commited to the Aircell Gogo service (American Airlines, Air Canada, Delta/Northwest and Virgin America).

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