Flying with Wi-Fi

Warren Adelman's colleagues know him as "Thumbs": Like many executives, he is adept at checking e-mail on his BlackBerry and does it almost constantly.
Unable to do so during flights, however, Adelman welcomes business trips as "an opportunity to decompress a little bit from the constant flow of e-mail, perhaps catch up on a book."
"It's one of the few downtime environments you get in this day and age," said Adelman, president and chief operating officer of GoDaddy.com, a registration company for Internet domain names.
An invasion of his sanctuary is imminent, though, as airlines around the world plan to provide in-flight Internet services.
Last week, JetBlue Airways began offering e-mail and instant messaging on one aircraft. Broader high-speed services, such as Web surfing, are to come next year on some flights of American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines.
And in-flight entertainment provider Panasonic Avionics Corp., a unit of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., has been testing Internet offerings with Australia's Qantas Airways.
Airlines see airborne Internet access, which typically uses Wi-Fi technology deemed safe for flights, as producing both revenue and a competitive edge against one another and over trains, buses and automobiles.
Frequent fliers say the temptation to go online would be overwhelming, though they are divided over whether they would welcome -- or regret -- the service.
Jay Pease, a regional marketing director for Exstream Software, said he needs to rest during trans-Atlantic flights. But he often has trouble sleeping, and he worries that "the temptation would be there to say, 'I'll just log on and surf the Internet for a while.' "
Jon Carson, chief executive with online fundraising company cMarket, said that with all the interruptions on the ground, "I get some of my best work done on the plane."
Good decisions and breakthroughs arise from "the kind of deeper, reflecting thinking" not possible when messages continually arrive, he said.
Adelman's colleague, GoDaddy General Counsel Christine Jones, disagreed.
"I would seriously turn cartwheels," said Jones, who admits to responding to e-mail while sitting in church. "The carriers that don't offer it will start hearing from their customers, your frequent fliers, 'Hey guys, you have to get on board with it.' "
Robert Tas, chief executive of online advertising company Active Athlete Media, said he usually winds up reading printouts of articles, reports and other things he could read online. With Web access, he could dig deeper into items of interest.
"Reading time is still important," Tas said. "Having the Internet would allow me to do it more efficiently."
Frequent travelers said catching up with e-mail in the air frees up their time at their destination -- in the hotel or back home with family.
"If I ended up feeling bad about it and resenting it, I would turn off my computer," said Andy Halliday, chief executive of the collaborative tribute site Tribbit.com. "It's still a choice. Right now you don't have that choice."
Tim Winship, editor at large for the Web site Smarter Travel, predicts those magazines and books people save for long flights will start piling up again.
"The net effect of bringing Internet access onto airplanes is that there will be less reading accomplished," Winship said.
Jim Lanzone, chief executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp's search company Ask.com, spent a recent 10-hour flight from San Francisco to London reading magazines and Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up." He also watched TV shows on his iPod.
He doesn't mind that Internet access would cut into all that.
"If I had something on deadline, I'm not going to be able to relax anyway," Lanzone said. "I can enjoy DVDs, music and books more because I'll be able to get things off my mind."
Source: indystar.com