My Office in the Air – JetBlue FlyFi Coming SOON

November 26, 2013

For a few years now I’ve been asking JetBlue personnel about their answer to GoGo Inflight Internet in the air. I thought it was silly that I travel all over the country – and mostly on JetBlue routes – to speaking gigs and conferences, but I was unable to surf the Internet in flight. This is about to change. They announced that FlyFi was coming about eight months ago, then it was said to be launching in Q3 according to this article in Engadget, now it’s going to be a reality.

According to an email from JetBlue corporate communications, the JetBlue FlyFi service is going to launch soon, following a special press conference in the air on December 11, 2013. That day, a JetBlue plane filled with journalists and other media professionals will do a round trip jaunt from JFK to JFK in New York City and presumably allow all those on board to test out the new wifi service called JetBlue FlyFi.

To quote the note…

JetBlue Airways, New York’s Hometown Airline™, took to the skies in 2000 with a mission to bring humanity back to air travel, and along the way reinvented what it means to travel.  On December 11, we are introducing the fastest WiFi in the skies, called FlyFi.

For this group of media, there will be JetBlue, LiveTV and ViaSat executives on board to pull the curtain back on FlyFi while the Airbus A320 flight does its two-hour flight around the region.

What does this mean for passengers? What does it mean for commerce? What does it mean for communication?

All good questions, but I’m going to try and get perspective and some answers from JetBlue when I go on that flight in two weeks. I’m wondering if it will be included with your ticket price or be an add-on. I wonder if JetBlue Extra-Speed or Extra-Space tickets will come with Extra-Web. And I wonder if the new connectivity will have any measurable effect on the existing satellite television service on board JetBlue planes.

If you have questions you’d like me to ask, please share them here in the comments.