Reporters on a plane: JetBlue's inaugural 'e-mail flight'

(Credit: JetBlue)

Hello from John F. Kennedy International Airport, the establishment that some say is responsible for more New Yorkers' headaches than all the bars on Macdougal Street combined!

In a few minutes I'm scheduled to hop on board the inaugural flight of "BetaBlue," the JetBlue test flight equipped with access to Yahoo and BlackBerry e-mail and instant messaging. At present, I'm in the terminal at JFK waiting for the flight--which will touch down at San Francisco International Airport about six hours later

So here are a few of the things I'm hoping to explore...

-- Will the Wi-Fi actually work, or will the infrastructure falter when several dozen enthusiastic nerds attempt to log on? JetBlue has Wi-Fi in its JFK terminal, and it's notably less stable when there are more people attempting to use it.
-- How will the fact that there are no power outlets on the plane affect the experience? That's another luxury that we have here in the terminal. Some of JetBlue's competitors, like Virgin America, already offer in-flight Wi-Fi.
-- More excitingly, will anyone try to "hack" BetaBlue's Wi-Fi to provide access to more services?
-- Will I stay awake? Planes are for sleeping!

All right, there's my boarding call...see you at 35,000 feet.

[mike93704]

Anyone else checking in?

Hey! Anyone else following along on this inaugural cross-country flight with e-Mail?

We hope we can get continual udpates from the flight along the way.

Any delays yet on the flight?

[meh130]

This is progress?

Yahoo email? Whoop de do.

Back in May of 2004 Connexion by Boeing provided in-flight wireless broadband on airplanes. With Connexion, you were not limited to Yahoo email. You could make Skype calls and video conference from your seat using your laptop.

Connexion by Boeing was discontinued in December 2006, but Panasonic will offer a similar in-flight broadband capability with its eXconnect offering.

[mike93704]

Progress

Hah! The inability of the guy sitting in the next row to gab continuously over Skype for most of your 5-hour flight IS progress! You'll certainly appreciate the text-only atmosphere in contrast to the alternative -- a planeful of one-way coversations dorwning out the engines.

But seriously, it isn't as advanced as Connexion -- which was perhaps priced too high for the casual flyer, or required too much bandwidth (and, thus expense) to enable its usage.

This is just a test to provide minimal online access for the average flyer (who might be carrying a wi-fi capable phone or other device) rather than the road warrior whipping out a laptop to download video presentations and conduct onboard teleconferences.

I'm also hoping that they will soon add more access tot eh internet. But don't forget, Connexion didn't succeed with its model.

[Stephen Russell]

The Captain is asking the hacker in D-3 to stop

Heck I can fly this plane better then he can!

[Orlando719]

JetBlue is actually first to WiFi in flight.

Virgin America does not yet offer in flight WiFi like this reporter claims. JetBlue is the first in the world to provide inflight internet (even if it is only Yahoo email). I hope they succeed. How can anyone complain about this, especially since they're providing it for free? JB is the best airline and they never gouge you.

[mike93704]

First?

Sorry, you're behind the times by over three years. Connexion by Boeing started in May, 2004 with in-flight broadband. It was also free at first -- as is most tech during beta-testing -- but airlines eventually started charging a fee for the service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion_by_Boeing

As for JetBlue being the greatest and never gouging you ... well, I like JetBlue, but I know there are hundreds of people leftover from a few bad delays earlier this year that would respectfully disagree with you.

[mike93704]

betaBlue in the air, yet?

Hmmm, no updates yet? Flight must be over the midwest by now.

Calling BetaBlue! Calling BetaBlue!

[mgvisions]

sorry caroline- not quite

jetBlue is the FIRST with wi-fi. Virgin America
is planning to offer it just as soon as they figure it all out.