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Briefly: JetBlue Wi-FI plans, FAA lithium battery passenger warning
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MacNN Staff
Join Date: Jul 2012
Status:
Offline
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JetBlue is aiming to become the first airline in the United States to offer free Wi-Fi services to its customers across its entire fleet, it has revealed. The airline has completed installation of Fly-Fi on its collection of 150 Airbus A320 and A321 planes, which uses Ka-band satellites to provide Internet connections of up to 20mbps per device onboard. The first of 60 E190s planes with Fly-Fi onboard made its inaugural flight this week, with JetBlue anticipating it will bring Fly-Fi to all of its passenger aircraft by fall next year.
FAA warns against packing lithium batteries in checked baggage for US flights
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has warned air passengers traveling in the United States not to pack spare lithium batteries in checked baggage, continuing ongoing attempts by US government departments to keep flights as safe as possible. CNBC reports the FAA wants airlines to prohibit batteries from being stored in checked cases as it "presents a risk of both igniting and fueling fires in aircraft cargo/baggage compartments," and to remind passengers at check-in and at the time the ticket is purchased to pack them in carry-on luggage if they need to be brought along for the flight.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Truckee, CA
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Offline
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The airline industry has decreased customer service every decade for 50 years: less service, more arrogant employees, poorer and poorer food (or none at all), more hidden fees, poorer and poorer seating, etc.
WiFi or equal would have been on all planes years ago if the industry was not so intrinsically screw-the-customer. JetBlue can stand out from the pack of a truly bad industry by doing what every airline should already have done. I wonder what else they will do to us to make up for it - - make seating even tighter maybe?
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Senior User
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: in front of my computer
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putting wifi on an airplane is not as simple as just hooking up a router to the cable modem, you know. For instance, every ounce of mass placed on a jet, costs the airline money every single time the plane flies. It costs the airline money to install and maintain that equipment. For the first time since deregulation (1979), we have airlines that are in good financial shape. While consumers certainly benefited from low ticket prices, it was never a sustainable business model to have too many airlines flying too many half-empty planes and going in and out of bankruptcy every few years.
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Senior User
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: SF
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Offline
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I'm not really seeing the problem here. Since they've effectively reduced aircraft weight by the amount of a decent in flight meal the addition of a couple pounds of tech shouldn't be much of a strain, and with reduced seating room = higher passenger density, their profits should be able to recoup the additional fuel costs associated with a couple pounds of tech and the service cost.
Business. Who knows how it works?
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