Internet Surfing While Flying Might Be Delayed : Kathika Travel Website

While time on board a plane used to be a special kind of technology free experience when we couldn’t do much in the way of work or staying in contact, that looks like it is going to change soon. Most airlines seem to be resisting the use of cell phones while we’re in the air – something we’re grateful for, because we’re fairly sure we don’t want to hear six different telephone conversations around us while we try to watch an inflight movie.

But surfing the internet is a relatively quiet task, and plenty of airline passengers would be very pleased to be able to surf the web and read their email while they’re in the air. The Gogo service is what’s enabling airlines to start offering internet services to passengers in flight over North America, and it was first operated by American Airlines in August this year. Delta Air Lines and Virgin America are also hooking up to Gogo during 2008. But using VOIP programs like Skype to make telephone calls over the internet will also be off the agenda for the same reason making calls with cell phones is still not allowed.

Problems with Inflight Internet

Although most people have been pretty enthusiastic about the prospect of inflight internet, there’s one major hiccup in the works at the moment: accessing porn online. Airlines (especially, at the moment, American Airlines as the leader of the movement) are worried about passengers viewing inappropriate content while on board. Other passengers have made complaints and now the battle is on: to censor or not to censor?

This week Australian airline Qantas announced that it is only going to offer a limited internet access service when it starts flying its A380 next month. The limited service will include access to email and chat services and a limited selection of “cached internet content”. In fact, Qantas is not directly saying it is an issue related to inappropriate content, blaming it rather on logistical issues. But nobody doubts that the inappropriate content issue is the cause for the decision.

Quite reasonably, advocates for full internet access say that passengers can already watch DVDs or downloaded movies on their laptops completely free of restrictions. We also wonder whether there are really passengers who would choose to check their favorite “inappropriate” sites while in a place so lacking in privacy as an airplane. But we’ll have to wait and see over the next few months or so how the issue plays out as internet access on planes is gradually increased.

photo credit: Jace