Alaska Air WIFI challenges continue

Tech Flash is reporting that Alaska's WIFI service is popular but pricing issues remain. They say Alaska's fee is likely to be $15 per flight which I fear will prevent most users from taking advantage of the service. Although $15 does not seem to be excessive, budget conscious flyers will recognize that a few hours away from the internet won't do them any harm. I'd argue the optimal "price point" for in flight online services is somewhere between $5 and $10 which are still very high by the standard of free WIFI now available in many airports but represent a premium cost that consumers are "comfortable with" in flight as this is in the neighborhood of the cost of a snack box s and even on some flights beverages.

If the Airlines don't hurry up I think this market could literally dry up as ubiquitous broadband reaches most areas in the USA and customers choose to take a nap rather than worry about the few hours of non-connectivity between the WIFI at home, the Airport, and the destination hotel combined with their EVDO or broadband smartphone access.

http://www.techflash.com/Alaska_offers_details_on_in-flight_Wi-Fi_42973362.html

PDX Free Wifi Rocks ... and so does MFR Free Wifi

It is important to acknowledge when a business brings good technology to the table and I'm just throwing out kudos again to my two favorite Oregon Airports: PDX in Portand and MFR in Medford serving all of Southern Oregon and some of Northern California.

Both MFR Medford and PDX Portland have free wifi throughout the terminal complexes, and this makes travel so much nicer as you have a chance to catch up on some email, surf the web, or ... blog about how great free wifi is to have in an Airport.

Sure, eventually widespread use of cellular broadband will make airport wifi less important, but paying many airports the $9.95 "daily fee" for 30-60 minutes of Wifi is painful for reasons that are hard to articulate well given that the advantages clearly are worth that cost. I can only hope that the free Wifi airports see something back in terms of advertising support for the Wifi (seems rare), or an increased chance of business travellers who like this service (hard to measure, but seems somewhat likely).

More In Flight WiFi Launches

Another in flight WIFI service is available and the New York Times is reporting that it is not allowing Skype calls:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/business/14essay.html

I don't see this as a big deal though it's not clear to me why they'd care much. Perhaps a security issue because it's easier to screen text such that TSA could identify suspicious activity more easily using automated routines at the ISP level.

In any case this is a great boon to business travelers who now can have uptime throughout the flight, especially at the critical time right before and after key meetings and conferences.

United's iPOD chargers from Panasonic Avionics

United Airlines is starting to install chargers for iPHONES and iPODS in planes. This appears to be a mild transition to the real power supplies that many laptop users would really benefit from on planes, but it is a good step in the right direction, especially because other airlines are experimenting with onboard WIFI - clearly the holy grail of in-flight services. As much as I enjoyed watching six movies on my recent flight to Hong Kong from San Francisco, I think I would rather have been computing.

In fact a clever approach to in-flight WIFI would bring targeted advertising to travelers for the locations they were approaching. For example if, as I flew to Hong Kong, I had been presented with attractions and restaurant ads this would have had a huge influence on me. This type of targeting would probably more effective on long international flights than short "family travel" experiences, but as an advertising environment it is hard to imagine a richer "win - win" situation than travelers getting relevant information about things to do and see at a location hours before their arrival.

WiFi in Airports

This is information gleaned from an old article in USA Today. For more updated information try this Wi Fi in Airports website: http://www.wififreespot.com/airport.html

In 2005, and I think still, only a small number of companies control most airport Wi-Fi. Here are some:

Wayport. San Jose and Austin. Limited coverage in Oakland, Calif. Airports: AUS, BUF, DFW, OAK, SJC.

Cingular. Denver, Seattle, and Philadelphia. Airports: DEN, PHL, RDU, SEA.

ICOA/WiSE are now merged
ICOA: GEG, BTR SMF, MHT, SAV, FYI, GRK, CHS, ORF, BQK, AZO.

WiSE: ELP, LGA, BWI, CHA, OMA, PBI, ANC, SAN, JFK, IAH, BUF.

SBC. PSP, CLE, BUR, LIT, EVV.

Concourse Communications.
A private contractor for cell and Wi-Fi installations. BNA, DTW, EWR, JFK, MSP, YOW.

T-Mobile. Another veteran hotspot provider with over 5,700 coffeeshop, bookstores, and retail locations, they also offer airport-wide coverage. Airports: SFO, BUR, BWI, GSO, PVD, FSD, TYS, AUS, DFW, DAL, ORF.
Sprint PCS. KCI, SLC, HOU, MEM, MKE, SDF, OAK.

Opti-Fi. Full coverage: YEG, DSM, PHF, ELP, SBN, MOB, MLB, TVC, ALB, YQQ, YHM, YQT, JNU, JAC, ASE, YQG, TOL.
AirTran only: ATL, BWI, DAY, FNT, MDW, MEM, MIA, MKE, ROC, JAX.

Airport's own WIFI networks: These airports rolled their own WiFi, and deserve alot of props for doing it! OWD, FRG, BOS, PDX, LAS, MFR, YUM, ISP, ASE, SAT.

This list is old and NOT INCLUSIVE! Many Airports are adding this great service - be sure to send them a note thanking them if they provide free WiFi!

High Flying WiFi - the downside?

This report suggests that on board flight internet might create a host of new problems, leading to "turbulence" of the human kind. I'm skeptical. On the contrary this will be so effective at keeping kids occupied, keeping nervous people focused on other things, and for most of us just turning a few hours of mildly stressful cramped seating into productive time.

Bah and Humbug - bring on the high flying WIFLY ASAP!

AA to provide on board WIFI

A gigantic hat tip to American Airlines AA.com for the decision to provide WIFI to passengers in flight. Crunch Gear reports today that this plan is in the works and it appears WIFI on AA flights will be available soon.

Free WiFi a winner at Regional Airports

Jaunt is noting how free WiFi is taking off at many regional airports. This even as large airports still try to eek out a few bucks charging relatively large fees to connect to their WiFi networks (usually 9.95 for the day). I don't have data to back this up, but I'm confident that the big players would do well to offer free ad supported WiFi. I simply don't pay for the WiFi when travelling, struggling instead to read my email over the Treo rather than pony up ten bucks just to surf and pick up some email for a few hours between flights.

I'm guessing enough other folks do that same that the airports would be far better off looking to the potentially high revenues they could obtain using open networks with some sort of interstitial advertising injected every 5 minutes or so, or even the less intrusive "menu" system where people would browse in some sort of window surrounded with relevant ads. If I ran a nice lounge at a major airport in Concourse A you can bet your iPhone I'd want to run ads for this in Concourse B, and the people I'd want to target would be those who are reading up email or surfing away, killing time before flights.

So hey big Airports, get with the program!

Airport WIFI Roundup

Here's a great list, from Travelpost, of Airport WIFI at over 200 Airports. Kudos go to the Airports that choose to provide free WIFI to travelers, including these fine Oregon Airports:

Portland, Oregon Airport PDX
Medford, Oregon Airport MFR
Eugene Oregon Airport EUG