They won't have wireless internet for a while, though, right?
I loved the two times I flew Lufthansa last summer--the wireless was an awesome thing to have. Too bad they nixed it.
They won't have wireless internet for a while, though, right?
Right. Waiting for regulatory approval. I really, really don't understand why wireless internet hasn't become available on flights. It seems like something so many people would use.
...for planning terrorist attacks!!!
Is that an American inshallah?
http://sgtgrumpy.blogspot.com/2007/10/inshallah.html
(my apologies to anyone who read this in the other thread.)
And I guess we don't need to call it "wireless internet" since each seat has an ethernet port.
I really, really don't understand why wireless internet hasn't become available on flights. It seems like something so many people would use.
See comment 1. Boeing launched Connexion by Boeing with Lufthansa as a launch customer. It failed because the uptake was too low. It was an awesome, service though, while it lasted.
Do you really to have your last words before the plane crashes recorded in the Unfogged comment box?
It failed because the uptake was too low
Well, yes, but they were charging something outrageous per flight for the service.
The killer app on that system would be a networked first-person shooter like Halo. "No camping, 24E!!! Noob..."
a networked first-person shooter like Halo
They have Doom but I too was wondering whether they have seat-to-seat deathmatch. God, that would be great. Then again, given that both first person shooters and airplanes give me motion sickness, I'd be barfing every five minutes if I tried to play.
"good looking to me" sounds like a too literal translation of foreign idiom, e.g. translating "me gusta" as "it is pleasing to me"
I suspect "inshallah" is one of the keywords that would lead to your spending the flight in the company of a spectacularly unattractive air marshal.
But by all means, try it and see.
You could have the first ten minutes of Saving Private Ryan on the overhead, Call of Duty on your screen and Ogged barfing next to you to get a real D-Day experience.
Are you kidding? Air marshals are teh hott!
I thought maybe it was some chat room lingo that I wasn't up on, like the days before I knew what "teh" meant.
The Lufthansa wasn't outrageous, as long as you were on the plane for 8 hours or so. I mean, $20 I think got you full access for the flight, and maybe $5 for individual hours. Of course, you were limited by battery life, unless you were in first class. I'm very excited about the presence of AC power on the VAm planes, possibly more so than the possibility of internets. Planes, I think, are nice in that they force an occasional respite from connectivity.
slol, you mean you don't?
Now that you mention it, I guess it has a certain appeal. Pwning from beyond the grave.
$20 I think got you full access for the flight
That's what I remember. That's pretty damn high. I'll bet that if they did $10 or less and asked you whether you wanted it included when you bought the ticket, a lot of people would say yes.
included when you bought the ticket
Well exactly. You get stuck with all kinds of stupid surcharges when you buy the ticket anyway, you think you care about another $10 or $20 for wireless?
What I want to know is, will Virigin America stop making rudeness and ill will a job requirement for working behind a counter at SFO?
I flew Virgin Atlantic for my recent Euroscapades. The red uniforms are a very nice reference to the Pan Am hey day of stylin' in the skies, but I could not steel myself enough to approach one of the flight attendants and say, "Virgin, eh?"
The in-seat entertainment options were colossal. I did better with TV (Flight of the Conchords, Arrested Development, Simpsons, Extras) than with film (Fracture, Shooter, The Namesake, one or two others that didn't quite hit the golden mean of trashy in-flight entertainment.)
The networked trivia competition was better on Song Airlines, R.I.P.
Mile High Club after only one chaperoned date? You work fast, Flippanter.
24: True, but even I don't own a time machine. We shall see what the Great Pumpkin brings for Samhain.
If I recall correctly, Flippanter's chaperoned date isn't until the weekend. Very fast indeed.
The St. Louis airport is a fucking tease. They had all of these HUGE signs up touting NEW! WI-FI! IN THIS TERMINAL! that made it sound like it was free, like in certain other civilized airports like Sarasota and JFK. But no! When you went to log on, it was that stupid $8 a day Boingo shit. That's just cruel.
And then! I got on my flight and they had signs up about their new updated planes with power outlets in coach. Power outlets that were only available on even numbered rows. Guess where I sat.
I watched Hot Fuzz twice on the way back from NYC.
Bonus tip: wear red to the airport and you can get on the plane as soon as boarding begins.
re: 28
Hot Fuzz, twice? I wasn't a big fan of it, don't think I could have sat through it twice. I'm generally into Pegg and/or Frost's stuff but Hot Fuzz was a disappointment.
Singapore Airlines also had the wireless internet service, and I used it a few times. It was very cool. I don't remember exactly how much it was (and I guess I wasn't that price-sensitive), but I don't remember it as outrageous. Singapore Airlines also has power outlets in every seat in a lot of their planes now.
Planes, I think, are nice in that they force an occasional respite from connectivity.
Seriously. Read a book, people.
(However, if you choose to read People, please do not loudly announce every new Brangelina development to your traveling companion. Some of us go out of our way to not know these things.)
Funny, the GF just returned from NY on a VA flight and was dismayed to have spent the entire 6 hr flight trying to avoid some obnoxious attorney who'd apparently worked at her firm ever-so-briefly. He recognized her in the airport (how she has no idea, since they never worked together) and then on the plane proceeded to use the VA inseat 'CHAT' to harass her, trying to talk to her. When she didn't accept his invitation to talk, he didn't take the hint and came over to her. She nearly called the attendant to get him away.
So, IMHO, maybe this isn't such a treat for ladies who aren't up for unsolicited attention.
(BTW, I'm unclear on the protocol on board - she said the attendant first approached her and told her 'her friend' wanted to talk to her online, and when she declined, the guy still managed to send a message to her, blowing any shot of enjoying an inflight movie.)
29: I had already paid for it, and I was bored and couldn't concentrate on my (unsuitable) reading material. Why not?
33: I found The Secret quite intolerable, too.
I'm confused, Moira. She didn't accept, so he came over, but he sent her a message anyway? In any case, I blame lawyers, not technology.
I spent my total of 18 hours on trains this weekend (a) listening to music, and then (b) curling up on the seat having deep thoughts about stuff. It was kind of awful, but also really great.
Damn that was a played-ass joke I just made. Now I feel bad.
33: I found Looking At Philosophy too dense as well.
She declined once, through the attendant, and then he nonetheless sent a message - it popped up during her movie, or, in this case, all OVER her movie - which was basically 'so-and-so in Seat ___ sent you a message! accept or decline invitation?' and so she declined, thinking this would send the guy a clear enough message. A few minutes later he appeared in the aisle, tipsy, and shouting. He apparently had some beef with her law firm and wanted to let her know all about it, her and the entire half of the plane within ear shot.
On the bright side, Moira, this reminds me of a charming story a philosophy professor once told us: he (an older gentleman) and a colleague were in the locker room after a rousing game of squash, and in response to the loud, thudding music being played, he averred that "there's no such thing as privacy anymore," and his colleague responded, "Yes there is, because that's a violation of it."