I'm one of the happy users who has been on a series of intercontinental flights on both Lufthansa and SAS who has used the Boeing In Flight Internet Service and it has worked as advertised. Hopefully Boeing won't mothball it.
The fact that the financially troubled US airlines can't see the value in this for passengers is downright old school thinking. That's the same kind of thinking that the record industry took about downloads as a way to sell music in my view, and we all know what happened there.
My view on this is simple. As each new plane rolls off the assembly line this service should be standard equipment and an available option to the airlines to activate.
Once the service got rolling last year I found that the connectivity is as good as EvDO on the ground with even better upload speeds. VoIP actually works if you have a good headset, but best of all is the feeling of relief when you step off the plane and know you're all caught up on email and blogging.
Having taken my last three trips to Europe this way, like WiFi or broadband in hotels, it's something that the real road warrior today will find makes it easier to be working anywhere.
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