American Airlines Plans to Add Wi-Fi to Over 300 Planes

Until now, in-flight Wi-Fi has felt like a novelty. Sure, Aircell, the biggest provider, has been around a little while. We’ve even gotten hands-on with its GoGo service. But when an airline like American Airlines reserves it for just 15 long-distance domestic flights, it doesn’t exactly feel mainstream. Today, though, the carrier announced plans to expand GoGo service to 318 planes, an ambitious plan that will cost $100,000 per aircraft. Although all of these flights will be domestic, you can at least hope to be on a Wi-Fi enabled flight if you’re not flying, say, from New York to California. Currently, GoGo costs $7.95 for mobile devices, $9.95 for flights shorter than three hours, and $12.95 for flights longer than three hours. For the money, the connection isn’t fast: 3.1 megabits per second. Don’t worry, though; this doesn’t mean planes will become as noisy as commuter rail: VoIP calls will still be prohibited. (Ed. note: Amen to that!)