Free Wi-Fi on Virgin America courtesy of Google
No, don’t get too excited. This only lasts until Jan 15th 2010.
airlines
Southwest shows off ‘green’ airplane that saves 9500 gallons of fuel per year
Southwest has unveiled a ‘greener’ Boeing 733-700 airplane that will serve as a test for potentially fleet-wide changes. The plane uses: recyclable carpet, lighter seat covers, lighter life vest pouches and seat foam .
The weight reduction is about 5lbs per seat and about 500lbs total for a savings of 9500 gallons of fuel per year. Well done Southwest.
Review of Virgin America’s in-flight WiFi service
I finally got a chance to test out Virgin America’s in-flight WiFi service for myself on a Boston to Los Angeles flight and found that it performed quite well. Download speed (which is what most folks care about) was well over 1Mbps in all of my various speed tests; in some cases, I got as much as 2.5Mbps. However, those folks looking to do some more serious work that involved uploads should be cautioned – I barely got 300kbps and those uploads tests stuttered in more than a few cases.
Virgin America uses Aircell’s GoGo service and while I find that $12.95 for a cross-country flight is a bit pricey (especially on top of the $20 they charged me for my 1 piece of luggage), business users shouldn’t blink for this chance to be more productive. I was also pleased that the staff announced prior to take-off that WiFi coverage could be spotty as we crossed Canada briefly, so we were duly warned.
If you’re on a VA flight, and you need to get on those addictive Interwebs, then you should be pleased with this service.
Delta to offer WiFi on all US domestic flights
Delta will join the airline club that will offer wireless access on its flights. So far, it’ll be on all US domestic flights, and you can expect to see it starting later this year, with the rest of the fleet getting the WiFi treatment by next summer. Fees will be $9.95 on flights of three hours or less; $12.95 on longer flights.
Continental also announced the same thing earlier this year, although surprisingly American isn’t going to try competing and will only offer WiFi on very few planes.
Ok, you can bet I’ll be trying to get flights on Delta and Continental from now on.
Shower on Emirates Airlines’ Dubai-London flight
Well you’d have to be in first-class, but Emirates Airlines will offer showers on their London-Dubai trip in Dec for the mere price of $9,381 (well at today’s exchange rate anyway). The shower last for 5 minutes on EA’s new Airbus A380 planes. Oh, btw, other amenities include flat beds, massage-equipped suites with remote controlled doors, a work desk and a mini-bar. A freaking mini-bar. I wonder how mini it is…
via Born Rich