I was recently on a flight to and from Miami Florida and thought to myself, ‘wow, I wish I had wireless internet in-flight to help get a variety of work done.’ I keep wondering why airlines have been lagging to provide wireless internet to passengers the way that airports have done for years now. What gives? With that said, a friend emailed me a link to an article that discusses how American Airlines is starting to experiment with in-flight wireless internet service for passengers starting at a price of $9.99 per flight and up, depending on how long the flight is. This seems kind of steep but I’m happy to see that the airlines are starting to think of new ways to make money. The article went on to say that airlines are looking to entertainment and information services as a way to make more money per passenger while the rest of the fundamental business is going downhill. I think that it’s only a matter of time before the airlines become a media vehicle all of their own. We’re starting to see it with tray-top ads on the food trays and LCD displays on the seats in front of you playing ads unless you pay $9.99 to view the regular cable channels. They still need to figure out the pricing for this because it’s too expensive. But at least they’re moving in the right direction by monetizing an otherwise very captive audience.
