Wireless

Wi-Fi Internet access could help airlines win over customers who are looking to stay connected while en route, a recent survey concludes.

According to a study published this week by Wakefield Research for the Wi-Fi Alliance, about 75 percent of frequent business travelers surveyed said they'd choose an airline based on whether the flight has Wi-Fi or not. Half of respondents said they'd even consider moving their reservation by a day to get on a flight that offered Wi-Fi. And more than 70 percent of those surveyed said they'd rather have Wi-Fi access on board a flight than a meal provided by the airline.

Since last year, several airlines have been adding Wi-Fi to their planes. Delta, American Airlines, Virgin America, Alaska Airlines, and AirTran are just a few that have already begun to offer the service. Southwest Airlines announced earlier this month that it plans to offer Wi-Fi on its planes starting in the first quarter of next year.

Typically, these services cost about $12 or $13 per flight. The survey did not take into account the cost of the service. But given the popularity of Wi-Fi hotspots in airports and in various restaurants and cafes, the price doesn't appear to be a major barrier.

The survey included 480 frequent business travelers, of whom 150 had used in-flight Wi-Fi in early August. About 95 percent of respondents said Wi-Fi access on a flight would make them more productive. And about half of those responding said they had often taken red-eye flights so they could be reached during business hours.

But the Wi-Fi Alliance emphasized that in-flight Wi-Fi is not just for business travelers. Other travelers also use the service. About 72 percent of those surveyed say they use it to check personal e-mail. About 49 percent say they use the in-flight Wi-Fi to surf the Web. And about 35 percent use it to stream video or music.

Update at 7:35 p.m. PST: Photos from the flight and a few extra observations have been added.

For an aviation geek like me, the simple act of flying is more then enough reason to get on a plane.

So when sassy airline Virgin America offered CNET the chance to test its new Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service, I jumped at the chance. And yes, I'm writing this 25,000 feet or so (we're still climbing) above the Northern California coast. We're cruising on an hour-long demonstration flight out of the San Francisco International Airport. Check out the slideshow for more shots.

After passing 10,000 feet, I was able to find the sky-high Wi-Fi signal and create an account within minutes. The service works faster than I expected--not as quick as my cable Internet service at home but zippy nonetheless. Yahoo and CNET loaded relatively quickly, and CNET's Kara Tsuboi was able to stream videos. I went straight to blogging, so I didn't take much of an online tour, but it looks promising.

So far the service is available on one of Virgin America's uber-hip Airbus A320 aircraft. That plane (registration N638VA, "My other ride is a spaceship") will begin flying scheduled service on Thanksgiving Day. The service will be rolled out to the airline's entire A320 fleet by the second quarter of 2009.

Of course, the Wi-Fi service will cost you. You'll pay $9.95 for flights of three hours or less and $12.95 for flights more than three hours. I think that's a pretty fair price (particularly if you're on a company expense account) for the privilege of browsing, chatting, and e-mailing while aloft. And don't worry about your laptop battery dying. Virgin America has USB and electrical power connections in every row, both in first class and economy.

The service is available through Aircell, which powers the in-flight Wi-Fi technology. Radio towers through the continental United States transmit EV-DO Rev A signals to the planes. Three antennas on the outside of the aircraft pick up the signal, which is then transmitted throughout the cabin. Aircell is also working with Delta and American to provide Wi-Fi service.

Thankfully, cell phone service in the air is still an no-no due to FAA regulations. VoIP services also will be banned, but you will be able to text if you have a Wi-Fi-enabled cell phone. What's more, Virgin America says it will not filter Web sites.

Virgin America is teaming up with YouTube for its big coming-out party for its Wi-Fi in the sky service.

The California-based airline will launch its Gogo Inflight Internet service on November 22 in a flight over San Francisco. To show off how robust the in-flight Internet service is, the company is planning to stream a live video feed from the plane down to the ground to an audience attending the YouTube Live concert in San Francisco.

The Gogo service will be available to all passengers on a single Wi-Fi enabled plane starting November 24. And by the second quarter of 2009, the company expects to offer Wi-Fi on its entire fleet of planes.

As part of the YouTube live video feed demonstration, 30 Rock's Keith Powell will be part of the show. He'll be filming a segment in-flight for his Web mini-series with co-star Katrina Bowden. After the flight, guests will then go to the YouTube Live event.

CNET Reviews editor Kent German and CNET TV correspondent Kara Tsuboi are planning to be on hand for the event, so check out their blog posts and video of the event. It should be cool.

Virgin America isn't the only U.S. airline to launch in-flight Wi-Fi. American Airlines debuted its in-flight Internet access service in August on 15 of its 767-200 airplanes. Delta Air Lines has said that it will outfit its planes by the middle of next year with Wi-Fi.

American and Delta area also using the Gogo service from Aircell. The cost of the Gogo service is $9.95 on flights of three hours or less, and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours.

Other airlines, such as JetBlue Airways, has been testing its Wi-Fi service on routes between San Francisco and New York. Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines are also testing in-flight Wi-Fi. And others such as United Airlines are considering offering Wi-Fi, but it hasn't announced tests or a commercial launch.

American Airlines passengers will now have Wi-Fi access on some flights.

The airline said Wednesday that it has finally launched its in-flight Internet access service via Wi-Fi on 15 of its 767-200 airplanes. The service, called Gogo, will be offered on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami. The cost is $12.95 per flight. Passengers will be able to sign up when they boot up their browsers.

The airline will be restricting the use of voice over IP services, such as Skype, and it will still restrict the use of cell phones in flight.

Gogo is a service offered by Aircell, which is also providing Wi-Fi access to Delta Air Lines planes. Earlier this month, Delta said it was outfitting all of its domestic fleet with Wi-Fi by the middle of next year. Virgin America, which is also using Aircell's Gogo service, will launch its service by the end of the year, the company has said.

And JetBlue Airways is testing its Wi-Fi access on routes between San Francisco and New York. Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines are also testing in-flight Wi-Fi. And others such as United Airlines are considering offering Wi-Fi, but it hasn't announced tests or a commercial launch.

Aircell's pricing is uniform across all the airlines that use it. The company charges $9.95 for flights of three hours or less. And it's $12.95 for all flights over three hours. Initially, American Airlines will only be offering Wi-Fi on coast-to-coast flights.