Whether we realize it or not, there’s a race going on in the skies above us. With the advent of wireless Internet access creeping into what once our sanctuary of solitude at 37,000 feet has now become a domain for self-righteous dingbats to livestream their flights for all to see.
Leading the way is Virgin America who announced today that they are the first airline in all the land to offer Aircell’s Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service on every single flight. To mark the occasion an air-to-ground Skype video call will take place with thee Oprah Winfrey herself and will air on Thursday the 21st. VoIP calls aren’t allowed on any Virgin America flight, but, you know, you can’t say no to Oprah or she’ll eat you.
A few weeks back I hopped onto my first Virgin America flight with Aircell’s Gogo service on-board. It wasn’t the first time I’ve reviewed Gogo and if you recall I was on the first commercial Gogo flight with American Air. The plan was to interview James Weatherson, Virgin America’s inflight entertainment engineer, while I was up in the air, but there was a scheduling mix up and the interview never went down. So we opted to do it the old fashioned way. Below is my brief conversation with James about Red and where it’s headed.
Come chat with me on Ustream on my Virgin America flight and watch people walk by! I’ll be turning on my camera every hour or so and I’ll be chatting live from 35,000 feet.
I’ll also be IMing with Virgin America’s IFE engineer James Weatherson around 6PM PT today and I’ll post a transcript. He’s in charge of the Red entertainment system on-board all VA flights and we’ll find out what we can expect to see from the in-flight entertainment system this year.
If you have any questions you’d like me to ask him, feel free to leave a comment.
Update: If you feel like chatting on AIM then hit me up at crunchtips, kids.
Update 2: James wasn’t able to join us, so we’re going off the air. We’ll update if he manages to get online. Otherwise, we’ll have an in-person interview later this week.
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Aircell has reduced the price of their in-flight Wi-Fi service Gogo to $7.95 for users who just want to connect their handheld devices. Let’s face it, when you’re stuck in coach on an American flight, you don’t want to pull out your laptop only to have it crushed by the passenger in front of you. Gogo is currently available on American Airlines, Delta and Virgin America for $12.95 on flights longer than three hours and $9.95 for flights less than three hours.
Just a quick update for the transcon flying tech folk. Virgin America updated their online booking system to show you which flights are wired for Wi-Fi so, you know what you’re getting yourself into before you board the plane. Also, starting April 5th, the following routes will all be wired for Wi-Fi: Boston to LA, Boston to San Francisco and Dulles to Los Angeles.
It’s not every day we get a chance to sit down with one of the world’s richest and most industrious men. Actually, Sir Richard is only the 236th richest person in the world according to Forbes. I thought he’d be higher. *shrug* Anyway, we had the esteemed pleasure of taking Sir Richard’s IM interview virginity last week as he was jetting back to his private island, Necker.
CBS’ The Early Show’s Dave Price was also onboard to broadcast weather updates from a Virgin American flight and kept pulling Sir Richard into one segment after another. It got to be really annoying after a while.
Doug Aamoth reporting from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. Today in the B terminal I saw some good-looking New England Patriots cheerleaders, a good-looking Maria Menounos, and then everything went all haywire when two guys in bumblebee tutus showed up followed by Richard Branson dressed like a patriotic psychiatrist’s wet dream.
Virgin America, my favorite domestic airline, is launching service to and from Boston today with three daily routes from LA and two daily routes from San Francisco. This is important for those traveling between Boston and California because all flights to and from Boston are equipped with Aircell’s Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service.
Update: We’ve got a list of all Wi-Fi-enabled VA flights after the jump.
I don’t know about you guys, but $109 for a flight from NYC to the west coast is dirt-cheap. Sure, airline flights are neither gadget-y nor gear-y, but VA has Wi-Fi-enabled flights and Doom on-board. Just book your transcon flight by February 17th and fly by April 1st. Virgin America flies from NYC’s JFK to Las Vegas, San Diego, Las Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
For those traveling between LAX and JFK, you’ll be happy to know that VA is offering flights between June 17th and July 22nd for only $105 each way. Score!
Virgin America
Our buds over at Jaunted just gave us the heads up that Virgin America will begin rolling out Aircell’s Gogo service, which we reviewed back in August, on November 22. The “beta” flight will take off from SFO, VA’s HQ, to JFK. Virgin plans to roll out the in-flight broadband service on one plane per week with a full rollout scheduled by March 2009. Oh, and they won’t be filtering the service either. The RED system will eventually be wired in as well, but we won’t see that happen until later on in 2009.
Heh. Not really. But I am bummed out because I missed Virgin America’s first “Superfly Wednesdays” from NYC to LA because I’m sick. As most of you know already, VA’s in-flight entertainment system, RED, allows seat-to-seat messaging and this would have been the perfect opportunity for me to send a little message to Jaslene Gonzalez, a previous winner of America’s Next Top Model, and tell her how much I think she’s a biotch (she’s in the middle). But I’d tell Caridee English, also a previous winner of ANTM, how hot she is (the one on the left). I have no idea who Whitney Cunningham (on the right) is, but she was, apparently, a contestant.
There are four more SW’s scheduled so I suggest you jump on a flight and check it out. Mix, mingle and network your little heart out in LA, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
It’s that time of the year, again. School’s out, for some, and it’s time for a vacation with the family. The cost of airfare seems to be quite horrendous as of late so you might as well take advantage of what you can. Virgin America, my personal favorite, is having a short and sweet sale on airfare until May 23, but you’ll have to travel by June 25 to take advantage. They currently fly to Seattle, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, NYC’s JFK, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. You may not have a reason to fly right now, but it never hurts to look because you never know.
I’m sitting in the Virgin America gate at JFK waiting for my flight to Seattle and I come across this tidbit of news. I’m both stoked and bummed at the same time. I’m stoked because this is a pretty rad deal for Mariner’s fans and I grew up rooting for them, which explains my hatred for the Yankees, but I’m bummed because I forgot my DS at home.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Nintendo Fan Network, it’s a network for DS owners at the ballpark that gives you player stats for the home and away teams, MLB updates, and SMS/chat service with other DSers in the stadium. You can also order food, watch live video, listen to radio coverage from KOMO and compete against others in mini-games and trivia. A new feature launching this weekend is Pitch Effect, which will let fans see the trajectory of each pitch, speed and placement.
It was tested last year and fans had to pay $5, which is probably the cheapest thing you’ll find at the ballpark, but its free this season. Awesome. Someone in Seattle want to take me to a game and let me borrow your DS?
Once again, Virgin America is having a bonanza on airfare until the 25th so long as you fly by June 11th. So cash in now and fly on the dopest gadget-friendly airline in the US. Yours truly will be boarding a VA flight Wednesday morning for Seattle and I can’t wait. To refresh, VA flies into and out of Seattle, NYC, LA, SF, DC and SD.
Rather than bore you with a handful of other random gadgets and doodads that run Linux, I’ve decided to focus on one really big thing that’s phenomenal. So I present to you, dear readers, with Virgin America’s in-flight entertainment system, RED. I’ve written about it once or twice before and every flight I take on VA gets better. I’ll be flying to Vegas this weekend for CTIA and I’m as giddy as a schoolgirl because I’ll be taking VA. It’s a completely different experience and its only getting better, but don’t take my word for it. You should really take advantage if they’re servicing your city. If not, then wait it out and try it when you can. It’s definitely worth it and once Aircell’s GoGo network is implemented into VA’s fleet, you won’t find a better airline in the US.
Today, we’re interviewing Charles Ogilvie, the Director of Inflight Entertainment and designer of RED.
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Aircell announced today the completion of the GoGo network. We’re stoked on this because it means unadulterated (no VoIP) in-flight Wi-Fi. American Airlines recently installed the Aircell ATG system on one their Boeing 767-200 planes. It’s currently being tested and should deploy throughout the fleet sometime this year. Virgin America is also slated to roll out the Aircell service this year. We’re all very exciting and waiting patiently for the service to roll out.
Katherine Lee is the new face of in-flight safety for Delta and it’s a welcome change from the monotony we’ve been subjected to for the last couple decades, but are her pouty lips and good looks enough to make you pay attention?
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Go on. Give it a try. You have until March 14.
Virgin America
Airline fares? Yeah, I’m telling you about discount fares on Virgin America because it’s the geekiest domestic airline out there right now. No need to use SeatGuru to find out which seats have outlets because every seat on VA has an outlet. RED is a pretty badass in-flight entertainment suite considering you don’t have to pay for it like you would on other airlines. Oh, and wait until AirCell’s in-flight Wi-Fi service is up and running on VA and you’ll never want to fly anyone else. Well, what are you waiting for? You could be waiting for them to open up shop in your area, which is understandable. I’ll let it slide for now. If you live in SD, SF, LA, LV, SEA*, DC or NYC just be sure to book by 2/22 and fly by 5/21.
*Service to and from Seattle doesn’t start till next month.
Virgin America
Today Continental announced that they will be offering Wi-Fi, but it will be the same crippled mess that you’ll find on JetBlue. It’s not all bad, though. The agreement with LiveTV will also bring 36 channels of live TV directly to your seat via DirecTV. First-class passengers will receive the service (TV) for free while passengers in economy-class will have to muster up $6. The Wi-Fi service I just mentioned will be free. It’s free because it sucks. I’ll wait for AirCell’s service on American or Virgin America.
Press Release
