Airlines with WiFi

[CheshireTom 1,377]

I know that currently Lufthansa, Singapore and SAS have been fitted with WiFi/laptop power on their BKK/SIN flights and that Austrian and Etihad are due to have it fitted. Anybody got any ideas if there are any other airlines that have got it or are due to get it?

[RearWindow 0]

I know that currently Lufthansa, Singapore and SAS have been fitted with WiFi/laptop power on their BKK/SIN flights and that Austrian and Etihad are due to have it fitted. Anybody got any ideas if there are any other airlines that have got it or are due to get it?

WiFi and laptop power are two totally different things. No one allows the use of wireless devices in flight, but some certainly have laptop power. Or are you just referring to the power outlets on some aircraft?

[CheshireTom 1,377]

RearWindow,

 

I am aware that many carriers have laptop power, however, Connexion allows either WiFi or ethernet broadband speed connections for your laptop on aircraft that have it fitted. Obviously, to take advantage of this on a 10+ hour flight you need either a few batteries or the laptop power that is installed concurrently with Connexion. A great system that will incorporate live TV from next year.

 

This is the link/overview from the Connexion site:

 

Connexion Internet Access

 

Connexion by Boeing

 

Overview

 

Connexion by Boeing is a mobile information services provider delivering real-time, high-speed connectivity to airline passengers, affording them personalized access to the Internet, to their personal and business email accounts (including attachments) and to entertainment content – just as they might have in a modern home or office. It allows travelers to use their own laptop or hand-held devices to connect either wirelessly or through a standard Ethernet connection.

[Hub 203]

RearWindow,

 

I am aware that many carriers have laptop power, however, Connexion allows either WiFi or ethernet broadband speed connections for your laptop on aircraft that have it fitted. Obviously, to take advantage of this on a 10+ hour flight you need either a few batteries or the laptop power that is installed concurrently with Connexion. A great system that will incorporate live TV from next year.

 

This is the link/overview from the Connexion site:

 

Connexion Internet Access

 

Connexion by Boeing

 

Overview

 

Connexion by Boeing is a mobile information services provider delivering real-time, high-speed connectivity to airline passengers, affording them personalized access to the Internet, to their personal and business email accounts (including attachments) and to entertainment content – just as they might have in a modern home or office. It allows travelers to use their own laptop or hand-held devices to connect either wirelessly or through a standard Ethernet connection.

Tom:

 

When I flew CX biz in November I read about this. A quick internet search found:

 

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,...,tfg,tfg,00.asp

 

Hub

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Hub,

 

Thanks for that. I was only aware of the Connexion product and was hoping that Qatar would get it because I still have a shed-load of miles with them to use.

 

It seems to be pretty cool ............. just tell the bosses I'm working online while doing the trip out and save a day's holiday.

 

Tom

[RearWindow 0]

Sorry CTom...

Stateside, Wifi is ground only. There is some talk about allowing Cellular usage on Domestic/International US origin flights, but that will prolly be defeated, by both airline interests AND some Cellular carriers. Hence my comments. I will butt out here.

Edited June 24, 2005 by RearWindow

[Floyd 0]

Awesome you could file your "trip report" on your long haul flight home.

[Emil 0]

From Boeing 2004 annual report.

 

In 2004 they launched service aboard Lufthansa, ANA, JAL and SAS.

 

Also signed definitive service agreements with Singapore, China Airlines and KAL.

 

Reached preliminary agreements with Asiana Airlines and 3 undisclosed customers.

[papalazarou 0]

I was thinking of using the wifi thing on my way back from Changi to London with Singapore Air, just for the novelty of chatting on msn while at 38,000ft. Unfortunately I left my wifi card behind and couldn't but my gripe is that there aren't any laptop power powerpoints in economy so you only get the full benefits if your in Business. If there was an airline that offered it and had powerpoints in economy I would fly with them longhaul all the time.

[Floyd 0]

I travel mostly in coach but do travel in Business now and then, I have yet to see a plane that has those powerpoints. I have the connection cable but have yet to see it on a plane.

Believe they have it on Singapore in business and 1st class and is primary a exectutive class product.

[Hub 203]

I travel mostly in coach but do travel in Business now and then, I have yet to see a plane that has those powerpoints. I have the connection cable but have yet to see it on a plane.

Believe they have it on Singapore in business and 1st class and is primary a exectutive class product.

Floyd they have them in cx biz. The converter from Radio Shack I bought for $30 US didn't work though but they work for other people.

 

Hub

[Dingo 0]

SAS have them (power) in Business. In Eco Extra I think they share one between two seats. Monkey class "no have".

[echster 1]

From today's LA Times:

 

Boeing Is Well-Equipped as Airlines Race to Offer High-Speed Web Access

 

The plane maker has invested $1billion to develop a satellite-based system aimed at attracting business travelers.

 

By Peter Pae, Times Staff Writer

 

34,000 FEET OVER THE ATLANTIC — An hour into a recent Los Angeles-to-Munich Lufthansa flight, Boris Kushnir flipped open his laptop and e-mailed the parents of his nine teenage fencing students en route to an international competition in Kiev.

 

"You don't know how excited they were to know I was telling them this from an airplane," said Kushnir, a fencing instructor at the Beverly Hills Fencers' Club.

 

Later, he chatted by e-mail with a friend in Russia and then surfed the website for the fencing competition. Kushnir paid about $15 and spent two hours on a direct network connection while airborne.

 

Traditionally, airplanes have been one of the few places where the Internet has been kept at bay. But more airlines are hoping to differentiate themselves in the lucrative business-traveler market by offering high-speed Internet access.

 

And that may be good news for Boeing Co., which has invested more than $1 billion to develop the Web technology, analysts said.

 

The aerospace giant launched its Connexion by Boeing system last year. Since then, Deutsche Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines Ltd., SAS' Scandinavian Airlines, Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co. have added the service on 64 aircraft flying 100 routes daily. Six more foreign airlines will add it by next year.

 

Boeing is also installing its Internet system in all of its new 787 passenger jets slated to fly in 2008. Boeing has 266 orders for the plane.

 

Some airlines also want Boeing to install its Internet system on Airbus' upcoming double-decked, 555-passenger A380 that will fly in late 2006.

 

Airlines pay Boeing a one-time equipment fee for the Internet package — which includes the antenna, wireless routers and a computer server. Boeing and the airlines then share the Internet fees paid by passengers.

 

"We see it as a several-billion-dollar-a-year market," said Laurette Koellner, head of Connexion by Boeing.

 

Lufthansa has been the most aggressive in rolling out the service: Forty-two of its 78 wide-body, long-haul airplanes are outfitted with Connexion equipment. By next year, Lufthansa expects most of its wide-body fleet to have the high-speed Net service.

 

"We don't have a single monopoly route, so every passenger has a choice," said Thomas Winkelmann, Lufthansa's vice president for the Americas. "This is one way to distinguish ourselves from the competitors."

 

Lufthansa charges $9.95 for the first 30 minutes of Internet hookups and 25 cents for each minute thereafter. Or passengers can pay $14.95 to $29.95 for unlimited access on long-haul flights. Lufthansa said one to two dozen passengers use the service on each flight and on average they spend about three hours surfing the Internet, paying bills and logging on to their companies' networks.

 

Boeing won't have the market to itself, though. This month UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and Verizon Airfone Inc. received Federal Aviation Administration approval to begin offering a rival Internet service using a ground-based cellular phone technology.

 

Boeing's system relies on orbiting satellites that beam signals to an airplane's antennas to provide a connection for passengers with wireless-enabled laptops. Boeing has also sold the service to cargo ships. This month Boeing won its first maritime order from Bahamas-based Teekay Shipping Corp. to equip 50 ships with the service.

 

The airborne service, though, is still a novelty. A Lufthansa employee stood in front of the gate for a recent Munich-to-Los Angeles flight to tell passengers with laptops that Internet service was available.

 

But one frequent user onboard Lufthansa Flight 452 said the price might be too high and has kept passengers from using it. "I think [the cost] needs to be lower," said Thomas Kolbusch, managing director for Coatema, a coating machinery maker in Cologne, Germany.

 

Kolbusch flies about 200,000 miles a year and bills his company for the Web service so he can e-mail colleagues and empty out his e-mail box before landing. That way he can "relax at the hotel knowing [he's] done with work." Kolbusch spends about five hours per flight using the service.

 

He also talks to his wife while flying by using a voice-over-the-Internet phone service through his laptop computer attached to a headset.

 

"The first time, it bothered the guy sitting next to me," Kolbusch said. "But I've learned to talk a little more quietly."

[Tahoe_Bill 0]

The TG A345 aircraft have (electric) power at all of there seats. Between New York and Bangkok the cabin crew was having problems with the Video on Demand (VOD) system. I contemplated plugging in my portable DVD player. However when I looked at the plug and it looked like the standard British outlet (having a standard US/ Thai power cord) so I decided to sleep instead.

 

Prior to takeoff from BKK on the return trip the guy sitting across the aisle from me asked the flight attendant “where can I plug in my laptopâ€? After she said she said the she didn’t know. I pointed out to the guy where the outlets were and I told him that I thought that an adapter would be needed. He promptly plugged in his computer (although since the receptacle was still a “virginâ€, he said “that it just took a little brute force).

 

No current WIFI access on TG but the Communications screens of the VOD system states that it will be available in the future.

[Feileacan 32]

Just got this newsletter from China Airlines

 

June 25, 2005, Taipei, Taiwan ¡V Imagine sending and receiving e-mail on board an aircraft and performing on-line stock transactions, all while cruising at 36,000 feet. That dream is now possible, thanks to China Airlines and Connexion by Boeing¡¦s advanced technology.

 

China Airlines has launched a groundbreaking new service that allows passengers to broadband access the Internet while on board selective CAL flights. In cooperation with Connexion by Boeing, China Airlines has installed its first-ever high-speed Internet service, on a Boeing 747-400. Passengers carrying personal computers with wireless network cards can now enjoy the convenience of Internet while flying.

 

By installing antenna on aircraft, the Connexion system brings high-speed broadband Internet to CAL passengers via satellite and ground operation centers. By the end of 2005, more features will be available, including web TV channels and more entertainment options.

 

To promote the new service, China Airlines will offer a 30-minute trial on board the aircraft by the end of September to serve passengers with different needs. China Airlines also designs flexible rate plans for the new service. Passengers will have the option of paying for a full sector, or they can pay US$9.95 for the first half hour, and US$0.25 for each additional minute. For the full sector rate, a sector of less than 3 hours will cost US$14.95, a sector of 3-6 hours will be US$19.95, and a sector of more than 6 hours will cost US$29.95. Passengers can choose to pay by credit card, and Chunghua Telecom users can choose to pay by direct billing to monthly statement.

 

The first CBB-equipped aircraft will be dispatched on various China Airlines routes. Starting from October, all aircraft serving the Taipei-San Francisco route will be equipped with this state-of-the-art technology.

 

By the end of 2006, all 13 of CAL¡¦s B747-400 passenger jets will be installed with the new service. At that time, passengers travelling to destinations including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Anchorage, Vancouver, Amsterdam and Japan can enjoy in-flight Internet service.

 

Currently, only six other airlines offer in-flight Internet service: Lufthansa, SAS, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines and Korean Air. China Airlines becomes just the 7th carrier in the world to provide this cutting-edge technology.

[papalazarou 0]

Coming back to my current favourite topic of laptop powerpoints in economy. SAS told me they have powerpoints in all the seats on the Copenhagen to Bangkok route. I found this rather suspect as their website implies this facility is only available to flexible economy ticket holders. I sent them an email to get something in writing - they haven't responded as yet.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Coming back to my current favourite topic of laptop powerpoints in economy. SAS told me they have powerpoints in all the seats on the Copenhagen to Bangkok route. I found this rather suspect as their website implies this facility is only available to flexible economy ticket holders. I sent them an email to get something in writing - they haven't responded as yet.

According to their website power is only available in biz and economy flex (full Y fare).

 

SAS WiFi

 

Tom

[Big_Brian 179]

Just watch that Bluetooth.