Not that long ago, being on a flight meant you were out of touch--if only temporarily. In-flight phones seemed like a great idea, but calls were expensive, it was often hard to hear over the noise of the engines and it was awkward to have a confidential or personal conversation within earshot of dozens of passengers. I'm happily part of the majority of road warriors who believe that cell phones should be permanently banned from any aircraft that's in flight. So thank you, FCC, for nixing the idea whenever it comes up.

At the same time, I'm happy that broadband is back on planes. I never used Connexion, Boeing's much ballyhooed satellite-based in-flight communications system that disappeared with just a whimper in 2006, but I liked the idea of being able to send and receive e-mail when I was on a flight, especially if I needed to know about a last-minute change in my itinerary or be apprised as meeting or schedule details at my destination were firmed up.

New e-mail opportunities in the air
Several airlines are making onboard e-mail possible, using a variety of technology types and price points.

JetBlue is leveraging the broadband spectrum it already uses for in-flight DirecTV; the service is free, but it's restricted to e-mail and text messages. Continental is offering a similar service on some flights.

Southwest Airlines has just begun offering Wi-Fi access using satellite-based service provider Row 44. For now, Wi-Fi is free on Southwest's four beta-test aircraft. (There's no word yet on how much it will cost after the formal launch, but rumor says it'll be about $10 per flight.) Meantime, Southwest has partnered with Yahoo to offer an in-flight home page with destination-relevant content and a flight tracker; the homepage loads when you launch your browser. Alaska Airlines has said it will begin offering in-flight broadband throughout its fleet, also using Row 44, but hasn't given a date for launch.

AirCell, a company that develops broadband capability for airlines, has set up an air-to-ground network in the U.S. Users include Virgin America (on all aircraft beginning this summer); Delta (which also says all aircraft in its domestic fleet will offer it by summer); Delta's partner airline, Northwest; and American Airlines, which has installed it on 15 domestic flights in the Lower 48. American will expand availability if there's enough demand, a spokesperson said. United Airlines says it expects to outfit 13 transcontinental Boeing 757s using AirCell's "Gogo" service later this year.

Fees for Gogo range from $9.95 to $12.95 per flight leg, depending on length. That means the longer the flight, the more you pay. For now, speed is comparable to a slow DSL connection, but that may change as more airlines sign on with AirCell. Passengers have unexpurgated access to the web--no sites are blocked, with the exception of VoIP (voice over internet protocol) calls.

Air-to-ground networks have a drawback besides pokey speeds: They don't work when the plane is out of tower range--over large bodies of water, for example. You also have to be wary of shoulder surfers, but that's a story for another time.

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