E-mail works its way onto some flights By Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY The days of using your flight as an excuse for ignoring e-mail may be=20 numbered. Eager to lure business fliers eager for Web access, several=20 domestic and international airlines are testing and installing equipment=20 that will provide two-way e-mail or full Internet surfing. United Airlines= =20 last week announced it will become the first U.S. carrier to offer two-way= =20 e-mail on its domestic fleet this year through a Verizon program.=20 Continental Airlines followed with its own announcement. In May, Lufthansa= =20 announced much more ambitious plans to become the world's first airline=20 with high-speed broadband Internet access on international flights through= =20 a Boeing program. Today, travelers are largely cut off from clients, family= =20 and colleagues during flights. Some planes have phones, but the rates make= =20 long business calls impractical. No U.S. airline currently offers laptop=20 users the ability to send and receive e-mail and attachments during flight.= =20 Federal safety rules also ban cell phone use in flight, although the=20 government is about to re-examine that restriction. With all the cutbacks=20 airlines have made in airport clubs, even finding a laptop jack in an=20 airport can be daunting. Before the terrorist attacks, several major U.S. and international airlines= =20 had formed partnerships with Boeing on its new satellite-based program,=20 Connexion, to provide passengers broadband Internet access. But after Sept.= =20 11, amid the collapse of business travel and airlines' struggle to survive,= =20 most plans were shelved. The program requires installation of two antennas= =20 for each jet, a huge investment of time and capital. Lufthansa would not=20 reveal the cost. United's program presents little risk. United, which is=20 in bankruptcy reorganization, has offered Verizon's JetConnect service,=20 with outbound e-mail, on some Boeing 767s since December. United and=20 Verizon call two-way e-mail a boon to the business travelers United is=20 fighting to keep. "The availability of e-mail is critical to business=20 fliers," says Verizon Airfone President Bill Pallone. "Users have said=20 access to JetConnect will determine which airline they'll choose." Verizon, which has 138 stations nationwide in its network, is providing and= =20 installing the equipment on planes. Passengers will access the service by=20 plugging laptops into a jack in seatback Airfones. An onboard file server=20 will provide regularly updated news, stocks, weather, sports and city=20 information. Users will swipe a credit card to pay $15.98 a flight =97 there= =20 will be an extra charge for big downloads =97 for e-mail using Microsoft=20 Exchange or one of two other popular e-mail programs. Revenue will be split= =20 between United and Verizon. But the service will be limited to flights=20 within North America. Lufthansa's "FlyNet" program will be more costly to=20 the airline and passengers but will offer much greater capabilities: full=20 access to the Internet during international flights, including corporate=20 sites via virtual private network. Boeing's satellite-based program is=20 designed to handle fat downloads such as streaming video or big PowerPoint= =20 files. Passengers will use power plug-ins to access it. The service won't be available for a while. Installation of the antennas on= =20 the fleet could take two years. Lufthansa says the service will cost=20 passengers $30 or $35 a flight leg with a credit card, miles or some other= =20 method. Lufthansa this spring offered a free test of the service on=20 Washington-to-Frankfurt flights. Onboard "FlyNet assistants" gave=20 instructions and even laptops to passengers willing to try it. Dozens of=20 passengers on each flight did. When it's implemented, "We hope business=20 travelers will switch carriers," says spokeswoman Jennifer Urbaniak. During= =20 the test, "We had people coming up to our ticket counter in Washington=20 asking, 'Is this the Internet plane?' " No one questions the novelty of=20 in-flight e-mail or Web access, but whether Lufthansa can recoup its=20 capital investment is unknown. The Verizon system is less of a gamble, but= =20 it only offers domestic e-mail. "Putting business extras on planes might=20 make sense for long international flights, but it adds weight," which=20 increases fuel consumption, says Blaylock & Partners analyst Ray Neidl. "I= =20 think the jury's still out." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************