After a brief testing phase, American Airlines has formally expanded the availability of Internet access on some longer, nonstop flights.
Passengers will pay $12.95 to use the wi-fi service, which for now will only be available on certain flights connecting New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. Only flights using Boeing 767-200 aircraft will have the service.
"Today the days of being cut off from the rest of the world while in the air [have] become history," said Jack Blumenstein, chief executive of Aircell LLC, which provides Internet services for American and other airlines.
The enticing catch for this new service is that the Internet access will be unfettered. Although the airline will block Internet-based phone calls, passengers will be able to surf any area of the Internet they want, including adult websites, presumably.
The airline has already anticipated complaints about this though, and they issued a statement saying that they'll police porn surfing based on the same rules they have for other unruly passengers. In other words, discretion will be the key.
The oil crunch has put the airline industry into a tailspin, with most major airlines adding all kinds of new fees and charges.
In June, American Airlines started charging passengers $15 for their first piece of luggage and $25 for their second piece. Nevada's world-famous brothel, The Bunny Ranch, responded to the fee with a promotion that paid visitors back that money.