Continental to Offer Inflight WiFi in 2012

 Airlines, Services  Comments Off on Continental to Offer Inflight WiFi in 2012
Mar 232011
 


Continental Airlines plans to roll out WiFi Internet service on flights within the U.S. beginning next year.

Continental is working with inflight entertainment provider LiveTV to offer the service via Ka-band.

Ka-band is supposed to offer higher transmission speeds for browsing content-rich websites, sending and receiving e-mails and downloading files.

Ka-band will utilize ViaSat’s ViaSat-1, which will be the world’s highest-capacity satellite upon its launch later in 2011.

Continental is looking at offering the WiFi service on over 200 domestic Boeing 737 and 757 aircraft.

It is unclear how much Continental plans to charge for the WiFi service.

Continental’s sister company United Airlines currently offers inflight Internet service on 14 aircraft, including on all premium service flights linking New York Kennedy with Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Free Wi-Fi in Air this Holiday Season Too

 Airlines, Services  Comments Off on Free Wi-Fi in Air this Holiday Season Too
Nov 082010
 

Google has joined hands with AirTran, Delta and Virgin America to provide free Gogo Inflight Internet to their passengers throughout the holiday season.

Travelers flying on AirTran, Delta or Virgin America between November 20, 2010 and January 2, 2011 can enjoy free Wi-Fi on any of their domestic flights to check email, watch videos and surf the web from 30,000 feet above the ground.

The three airlines are said to have outfitted their entire domestic fleet (i.e. in the U.S.) with in-flight Wi-Fi.

Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi is powering the in-air Internet access.

Google expects the promotion will provide free Internet service to over 700 planes and about 15 million passengers this holiday season.

This is the second straight year that Google has provided free Wi-Fi to travelers over the holiday season. Last year, Google partnered with Virgin America and some 50 airports to provide free Internet both on the ground and in the air.

AirportRentalCars Relaunches Web Site

 Car Rental  Comments Off on AirportRentalCars Relaunches Web Site
Nov 042010
 

AirportRentalCars.com, a Priceline company, has relaunched its web site in an effort to provide travelers a one-stop place to plan their trips, from car rentals and hotel rooms to real-time flight information, driving directions and the latest weather forecasts.

The goal is to provide air travelers with all the real-time trip information they need before and after they land at their destination.

AirportRentalCars.com offers the following features: Continue reading »

24m Air Travelers Expected During Thanksgiving

 Airlines  Comments Off on 24m Air Travelers Expected During Thanksgiving
Nov 012010
 

A total of 24 million air travelers are projected to travel on U.S. airlines during the 2010 Thanksgiving season (between Friday, Nov. 19-Tuesday, Nov. 30),  according to industry trade association Air Transport Association of America (ATA).

This represents a 3.5% year-over-year increase.

Daily passenger volumes this Thanksgiving season is estimated to range from 1.3 million to 2.5 million. Continue reading »

Southwest to Charge $5 for Onboard WiFi

 Airlines  Comments Off on Southwest to Charge $5 for Onboard WiFi
Oct 282010
 

Southwest Airlines today announced that it’d charge $5 for inflight WiFi access irrespective of the device or flight length.

To offer the WiFi service, Southwest has partnered with technology provider Row 44 and began testing WiFi on four aircraft in 2009.

Southwest now has 32 WiFi-enabled planes in its fleet. Continue reading »

Opposition Mounts to Google’s Bid to Buy Travel Software Firm

 Airlines  Comments Off on Opposition Mounts to Google’s Bid to Buy Travel Software Firm
Oct 262010
 

Major travel web sites including Expedia Inc., Kayak.com, Sabre Holdings and Farelogix Inc. have come together to block Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA Software.

These travel sites have formed a coalition called FairSearch.org to persuade the Justice Department to block Google’s latest deal.

Here’s an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:

Expedia Inc., Kayak.com, Sabre Holdings and Farelogix Inc.—which operate half-a-dozen leading online travel sites—are forming a coalition called FairSearch.org to persuade the Justice Department to block Google’s latest deal.

The companies are also launching a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill, making the case to members of Congress that the deal would allow Google to dominate the online air-travel market by giving it control over the software that powers many of its rivals in the travel search business.

Google responds that buying the service will help it provide more useful information to consumers when they search for flight data. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries