Wi-fi came to domestic flights a couple of years ago, but it’s just now coming to us here in Alaska. Alaska Airlines now offers the in-flight service between Anchorage and Fairbanks on their wi-fi equipped planes (the 737-800s and 737-900s).
On my flight to Seattle, though, I noticed the “wi-fi” sign on the outside of the plane, so I decided to give it a try. Wow! It worked!
Once we took off, I signed onto the Gogo network on three devices: my HTC “Desire” from GCI, my iPod Touch and my MacBook Pro. Right now, the internet connection is free, compliments of the Honda CRZ.
I checked in on “Foursquare” from the flight and earned the “Mile High Badge”. Then, I tweeted my way down the coast of Alaska. By the way, you should follow my twitterfeed. My friend Mindy O’Neall followed my progress and dubbed me one of the “Skypeople”. I like that.
I filled up my tray table completely with my electronic gear–thank goodness the nice folks next to me didn’t want to get up and roam around the plane. The flight attendants were very nice and efficient. But truthfully, I was so distracted playing with my electronics that I barely had time to notice. I looked up in time to snag a cheese plate for $7 (C+) and a little “mini” Scotch for $6 (A-).
Granted, the speeds were pretty slow over Yakutat and Sitka. And the connection went dead as soon as we entered Canadian airspace south of Ketchikan. I had to sign back in as we began our descent into SeaTac–and the speeds were much faster at that time.
So–high marks to Alaska Airlines for enabling the inflight wi-fi. Don’t count on downloading any movies from Netflix on the flight–there just isn’t enough bandwidth. But–it’s a start. And a good one at that!
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