Technology is cool.
 

I am writing this from an altitude of 37,000 feet and a speed of appx. 430 MPH. Shockingly, the in-flight WiFi is actually quite speedy. (I haven't tried streaming video on it yet.)

That is all.

flying somewhere?

Flying home from NYC to spend the holiday with the family. Hoping like hell that the 20 minute ground hold we had at JFK doesn't cost me my connection in ATL. We're scheduled to arrive into B21, and my connection is at C38, so I think I'll use the central corridor rather than the B-C side tunnel.

Sidebar: being able to log into delta.com while in flight and see which gate you're arriving at is cool too. :D

What is the cost of the in flight WIFI? I fly delta predominantly, and know the Atlanta hub very well.

Here's the FAQ: In-flight Wi-Fi Access

It's pretty much comparable to any other public hotspot, which is shocking given the rates they used to charge for airphone service. Not sure how many planes of each type have it, when they're all going to have it, etc. I'm on a 757-200 (I'll try to get the tail # on the way out).

Oooh! We're on initial approach!

... aaand we're on final, so I'm going offline.

Complimentary for first class? I fly continental, I wonder if they have it yet...not that I really fly anymore. Last year when commuting to houston and back every week I would have killed for this.

not avialable on internationall flights FTL :(

Well that sure blows.

Fantastic. I fly Delta from time to time so it is nice to hear this is finally being implemented.

I fly whatever is cheapest, usually southwest or airtran. I also have to take non-stop whenever possible for work.

Yeah really, that's when I'd want it the most. It's a boring flight going across the Atlantic (as I'm sure you know much better than I).

Is there a filter? Are they blocking p0rn?

I remember hearing that was a point of contention at one time. Though I don't know what would really stop someone from reading a Playboy in flight.

Chris

As long as they do not start spanking their monkey (or waxing the canoe) anywhere near me they can look at whatever they want IMO.

Actually, waxing the canoe would be OK as long as she is hot. If she wants to spank MY monkey for me, that would be OK too...

Hopefully you got through Atlanta OK. That airport is a clusterfuck if something goes wrong, like a thunderstorm.

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^^ LOL great video. Hilarious because it is all true. Hating people with too many zeroes in their number, hahahaahaaa!!! I'll admit it, we had a rotary dial phone when I was a kid. I used to get impatient and force the dial to spin back faster. Yes, boys and girls, it is called 'dialing a number' because the phone had an ACTUAL DIAL ON IT! LOL.

Youve never been through Charles Degaul have you that my friend is a huge cluster fuck of epic preportions Atlanta had issues about 15 yrs ago but overall i think its one of the better laid out and managed airports if been through in all my years of flying.

After 10 years of doing field service, ATL is my bitch. Amazingly, despite the ground hold at JFK we actually got in a few minutes early, so I had time to grab a bite at the Popeyes next to the corridor escalator in concourse C and still make the first boarding.


You know, I didn't even think to check.

One thing that surprises me on JetBlue is that they do not in any was censor the content of the free video on demand. As an example, they typically have several episodes of HBOs "Deadwood" on the server, which as anyone who has ever watched the series knows, pretty much every episode has at least one scene where the whores in Swearengen's saloon are walking around topless. While they do give you an initial "This program contains content which may not be suitable for all viewers" disclaimer, there's absolutely nothing to stop me from watching in with a six year old kid in the next seat.



No. Or at least, I didn't see anything on my boarding pass that indicated to the contrary. There's certainly no way for the system to know where on the plane you happen to be sitting.

Actually, I've always wanted to load some hardcore porn onto my laptop and watch it during the flight, preferably in view of the screaming children whose mother refuses to discipline them appropriately.

On an unrelated note, one thing about this service really surprises me. The airlines (and the FAA) have historically been paranoid as fuck about electronic devices. You can't have your cellphone on during the flight. You can't use bluetooth mice or any peripheral that connects to the computer via a cable. You can't use your myPod until the aircraft is above 10,000 ft, nor during the approach. And yet we're allowed to have fucking wi-fi transceivers active during cruise mode? Ok, I'll grant you that instrument approach is a tricky affair, but news flash people: They aren't using ILS during climbout, and at any rate, that system operates in the 108-112Mhz band. No consumer electronic device manufactured in the last decade runs anywhere near that frequency. Hell, cellphones were operating at 800Mhz twenty years ago.


I must admit, there have been many occasions when I have said to myself "Here I am, sitting in a comfortable leather chair, sipping a glass of Woodford Reserve and watching the latest episode of Top Gear, while inside a hollow metal tube hurtling through the air at 0.8x the speed of sound six miles above the surface of the Earth. And I accept this as being perfectly normal?"



I'll give a big +1 to that.

Granted, if you're a drooling moron who can't read then I can understand it being a tad frustrating. But Delta has done a great job of placing monitors pretty much everywhere that give you the current status and gate of every outbound flight, and the airport itself is quite logically laid out, with a very efficient train and walkway system to get you from point A to point B (or from point T to point E, in a worst-case scenario.) There are even a few easter eggs for those who really know the airport, such as the hidden tunnel that connects concourses B and C and provides you with two very non-obvious yet publicly accessible rooms that are, despite all odds, nearly silent and a great place to go and relax if you've got some time on your hands.

The thing that is really most awesome, which I think a lot of people who aren't frequent fliers don't appreciate, is that once you're inside the system, you can get from any gate to any other gate in the entire airport (including international, and even if it's a different carrier) without having to exit the secure area and go back through security again.

Now, LAX on the other hand...


I will say one thing- terminal 5 at JFK is fucking awesome. Terminal 3, on the other hand, makes baby Jesus cry.

Of course the system doesn't know where you sit lol. They would give you some kind of complimentary login/pass or something if you were sitting in the good seats.

Man, sometimes I miss flying. I've never drank so much free booze in my life. Actually, never drank so much booze period in my life. Never had to drive myself anywhere at either end. Too young to rent a car in houston and lived 10 mins from the airport in seattle so my roomate picked me up.

they make youpay for the booze now man its kinda pricey and sad, gone are the days of free bear and smoking cigarettes in the back of the plane.