You’ve been there before - staring outside the plane window wondering nervously regarding an email you’re expecting. Your laptop’s open but you can only play Solitaire and wait till you get access to a Wi-Fi.

JetBlue came up with the beginnings of an answer to this problem. JetBlue’s BetaBlue flight is now equipped with email and instant messaging of Yahoo and BlackBerry. At least you can check your email and send some instant messages while you are above the clouds.  

There’s a slight problem though. BetaBlue does not have enough power outlets. Well, you might want to stay at the lavatory for 30 minutes or so but I doubt if you’ll manage that. The connection isn’t superb. Maybe not yet, but at least, you can send instant messages.

The system isn’t perfect. But at least air-to-ground wireless service has debuted and will be adopted by other airlines pretty soon. When the system becomes better, passengers will doubtless spend their time accessing the Web while on the flight instead of looking out at the window staring at the endless line of clouds. Busy people will be able to maximize their time in-flight and catch up with some deadlines before landing at their destinations.  

Tags: instant messaging · jetblue · web2.0No Comments