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Aug 20, 2008 8:38 am US/Central
AA Passengers Now Have In-Flight Web Option
Airline Charges $12.95 Per Flight Of 3 Hours Or Longer
(CBS 11 / TXA 21)
Effective Wednesday, customers traveling on American Airlines' Boeing 767-200 aircraft can access complete coast-to-coast coverage on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami.
The Fort Worth-based airline announced the feature at the beginning of the year and tested the service on select flights this summer.
The mobile broadband service called Gogo™ is provided by Aircell®.
"We are pleased to provide our customers with the unprecedented ability to stay connected to their family, friends and business associates on the ground via the Internet while traveling at 30,000 feet above the United States," said Dan Garton, American's Executive Vice President – Marketing, in a release.
Some believe the move could create a new stream of revenue for the nation's biggest airline as the aviation industry faces high fuel prices and other challenges. It could, however, create new headaches as passengers retrieve sensitive e-mails and Web sites in confined quarters.
Passengers can use the service for $12.95 per flight of more than three hours.
Several other airlines have been testing or considering in-flight services.
The system will block Internet-based phone calls, giving passengers relief from chatty seatmates.
However, American and other U.S. airlines have said they will not filter sites based on their content, raising the prospect of passengers surfing pornography with kids nearby. Airlines say they already have general policies to address unruly passengers, and those would apply as they do now to passengers who browse adult magazines.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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