Us Airways Adds In-flight Internet Service

[USA320Pilot]

Coming Soon

ARLINGTON (theHub.com) - US Airways announced today that Verizon Airfone JetConnect service will be available on more than 80 Airfone-equipped Airbus aircraft beginning Feb. 1. Passengers will now have inflight access to e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, games, news, sports, weather and more. Customers using JetConnect can log on and off as many times as they like for a flat fee of $5.99 per flight. JetConnect with e-mail is available at an additional cost.

"In today’s tech-savvy environment, we recognize that our customers want to stay connected while traveling," said Ben Baldanza, senior vice president of marketing and planning. "With power ports at every seat, customers on JetConnect flights can stay connected longer without running down their laptop battery."

To use the JetConnect service, passengers plug their laptop computers into the Verizon Airfone handset at their seat. Passengers use routine dial-up procedures to link to JetConnect and no software downloads or changes to connection procedures are required.

Respectfully,

USA320Pilot

 

[BoeingBoy]

There's slightly more to it than that....

From the announcement:

"JetConnect with e-mail costs $15.98 per flight, plus $0.10 per KB for attachments and/or data in excess of 5KB per message. JetConnect without the e-mail feature is available for $5.99 per flight."

Jim

 

[ua767fo]

Whats sad is that passengers in flight now have better access to real time weather graphics than we in the front seats......whats wrong with this picture??

DENVER, CO

 

[ClueByFour]

Whats sad is that passengers in flight now have better access to real time weather graphics than we in the front seats......whats wrong with this picture??

DENVER, CO

I just had some time in a brand new SR22 a week or so ago that probably had a more whizbang panel than many ATP class aircraft (with the possible exception of the newer boeings and airbi). Change happens. Do bear in mind that the availability and redundancy requirements for jetconnect are probably somewhat less than the required performance of the avionics upfront (in your case) 🙂.

That said, Jetconnect is stupid. It's not real internet access. Connexion (Boeing's in-flight data initative) is real internet access onboard. Further, Connexion can (assuming the FAA allows it to happen) even provide an 802.11b Wi-Fi environment in the aircraft.

Jetconnect is a cheezy pre-canned internet solution, and for an arm and a leg they will let you access a POP3/IMAP box for your e-mail. No firing up the VPN to get to the office. No real browser.

If US had any sense, they'd go for the real deal--more of the "business" travelers that BBB gets wood thinking about would prefer it (Connexion) to the Jetconnect nonsense.

 

[Piedmont4US]

Whats sad is that passengers in flight now have better access to real time weather graphics than we in the front seats......whats wrong with this picture??

DENVER, CO

I just had some time in a brand new SR22 a week or so ago that probably had a more whizbang panel than many ATP class aircraft (with the possible exception of the newer boeings and airbi). Change happens. Do bear in mind that the availability and redundancy requirements for jetconnect are probably somewhat less than the required performance of the avionics upfront (in your case) 🙂.

That said, Jetconnect is stupid. It's not real internet access. Connexion (Boeing's in-flight data initative) is real internet access onboard. Further, Connexion can (assuming the FAA allows it to happen) even provide an 802.11b Wi-Fi environment in the aircraft.

Jetconnect is a cheezy pre-canned internet solution, and for an arm and a leg they will let you access a POP3/IMAP box for your e-mail. No firing up the VPN to get to the office. No real browser.

If US had any sense, they'd go for the real deal--more of the "business" travelers that BBB gets wood thinking about would prefer it (Connexion) to the Jetconnect nonsense.

I don't doubt US and Verizon persuing full internet access someday. It would be a profitable venture if its at the same price for Jetconnect now. Heck it would be a start to push the FC product to new levels if it were to be offered free to FC.

 

[USFlyer]

Does US even pay for this? Or does Verizon cover all the costs?

 

[ITRADE]

FWIW, I had to deal with an emergency rush for a client and had about three hours to get a document out the door and on the way. I spent most of the entire flight (United - except for the 10 minutes I spent wolfing down breakfast) from IAD to SFO emailing back and forth edits and comments.

 

[LOVDPIEDMONT]

How about IFE like the LCCs w/o cost to the pax??