A goofy picture isn't mandatory to gain membership to Gizmodo's Mile High Club, but you do need to run a Speed Test while using in-flight Wi-Fi and send us the results. So either take a screenshot or copy the data and email it to me (along with any in-flight webcam pictures) under the subject line "Mile High Club." Please make sure that you also include the name of the airline you're flying (and, if possible, the cities you're flying to and from).

In exchange for your email, you'll get no membership cards, no tshirts, no cookies, and no invitations to member-only events, but you will receive a "thank you" from me and be able to count yourself as part of our little club. And yes, Brian Lam is our founding member.

Southwest and Alaska Air are nearing tests of a new ad-supported Wi-Fi system. The hardware and software are installed by third parties with the goal to point fliers to an online catalog called the Skytown Center.

Whether you purchased Wi-Fi or not, you could do some shopping on the plane (with the participating retailers and advertisers footing the bill.) But the more tempting benefit is that airlines look to have most or all the costs associated with providing in-flight Wi-Fi covered under such sponsorships. So while there's no guarantee we'll be browsing the entire web for free, it seems a likely scenario that you'll be able to check your email if you're willing to deal with a few extra ads.

The service, powered by JiWire, will be launching this fall. [Marketing Vox via Mashable via Lifehacker]

Aircell to Power Gogo Inflight Internet Service

TEMPE, Ariz., July 23, 2009 - US Airways (NYSE:LCC) is turning aircraft into Wi-Fi ‘hotspots' by partnering with Aircell to provide Gogo® Inflight Internet service beginning in early 2010. Full Internet access including Web, Instant Messaging, email and VPN access will be available for purchase to passengers with laptops, smartphones and other Wi-Fi enabled devices.

"Gogo Inflight Internet will allow our customers to make the most of their flying time by catching up on work or relaxing and surfing the Internet. This is an exciting new option for our passengers that we believe will enhance their travel experience," said Andrew Nocella, senior vice president, Marketing and Planning.

Gogo will initially be installed on US Airways A321 aircraft, flying select domestic routes. A map detailing those routes can be found at www.usairways.com. And later next year, customers will be able to see if Wi-Fi is available on a specific flight by looking for the Wi-Fi icon while booking their flight on usairways.com.

The pricing for Gogo Inflight Internet on US Airways will be announced closer to the launch date. Customers will be able to choose service from Aircell's standard pricing structure, which currently ranges from $5.95 to $12.95, depending on the length of flight and type of Wi-Fi enabled device used.

"Gogo is for anyone who wants to make plane time their time," said Jack Blumenstein, president and chief executive officer of Aircell. "Whether you want to stay connected to the office, your family or friends; whether you want to work, play or learn; Gogo is for you. We look forward to working with US Airways to bring the world to its passengers."

More information about US Airways' new Gogo Inflight Internet service can be found online at usairways.com and gogoinflight.com.

The company claims that they can do this from their radio towers to any aircraft as far as 54 miles.

During the flight last Tuesday, airline representatives plugged in multiple computers and simultaneously made Skype video calls, previewed iTunes online, viewed a web cam of their kitchen back home, played numerous YouTube videos, downloaded an 8.8 MByte email attachment in a few seconds, viewed smooth-flowing video preview trailers and logged onto their VPN at their office. These tasks are simply not possible with the current slow DSL link that the airlines are offering today.

Yes, I think I can pay for this.

There's obviously a cost in maintaining and expanding the air Wi-Fi network, but who should pay for it, the airlines or you? 50-50? Would you pay extra in a ticket to get Wi-Fi access? Maybe it should be free for longer flights?

Your answer in the comments. [Runway Girl]

In practice, that would mean a media server, mostly full of video and music content, would be added to the planes' local networks. Instead of accessing in-flight films and music through a seatback or fold-out screen, passengers could just view it as if it were on a home server, or in a more likely implementation, through a local HTTP interface or set of client apps.

It's an interesting idea, and one that both Aircell and Row 44, two of the biggest providers of in-flight wi-fi, are both actively considering. The main draw is cost, because a bank of hard drives and beefed up router cluster is a tiny investment compared to fitting a plane with individual passenger systems.

But there are some obvious drawbacks. The proposals talk about hosting media for playback on phones and laptops, which could create a compatibility nightmare for the airlines and passengers, and will create an IT nightmare for cabin crew. Then there's the matter of keeping all these gadgets charged: demanding that passengers all use DC adapters to keep their smartphones and laptops charged would work, but it's not exactly elegant.

Having locally hosted media as an option would be a nice additional perk for wi-fi users, and for airlines that don't already have entertainment systems built into their planes it could well be a cheap way to offer their passengers something to do during long flights, but as a total replacement for kickass system like Virgin's? Maybe not. [NYT]

All 100 of Virgin's daily flights will have Wi-Fi, costing $12.95 for flights > 3 hours, $9.95 for flights < 3 hours, $5.95 for red-eyes and $7.95 if you just want to use your cellphone/PSP. Virgin's already our favorite airline just for being a nice airline, so being able to get Wi-Fi on all flights just makes it better. [Virgin America]

That's right, AirTran is winning on two fronts. AirTran will be the first carrier to offer Wi-Fi on every single flight (granted, they're a smaller airline, so it's a much smaller feat than Delta is facing). And they charge a (slightly) reduced rate of $8 for using just your iPhone or BlackBerry on Wi-Fi, not the full $10 that's the going rate for flights under 3 hours.

Still, that little airlines like AirTran are ponying up is good for competition in one sense—the day before, Delta announced that half of their fleet had Wi-Fi and the rest will by September, a little ahead of schedule. And American Airlines is busy outfitting their fleet, too.

But the NYT raises a few sobering points about in-flight Wi-Fi: There's basically no evidence there's huge demand for the pricey service (nerds don't constitute huge demand and even some of them are skeptical, see point #1). Meaning the $100,000-per-plane systems could hobble the already gimply airline industry even more.

Also, many flights, unlike Virgin, don't have electrical outlets. Not to mention all the other stuff, like crappy bandwidth and the like. Still, I think the first flight I'm on with Wi-Fi, I'm going to at least try it. [NYT via ZDNet]

Southwest is using a satellite-based system from Row 44, and not the cellular connection used by most other airlines with Aircell's GoGo service. So if you find yourself on that one (and soon to be handful) of Row 44-equipped planes, you can surf for free. [USA Today]

The service, provided by Aircell's GoGo (no surprise since they pretty much rule the spectrum), will initially be available on 13 Boeing 757s that fly between New York and California to provide web surfing, email, IMming and corporate VPN access. Hopefully United will roll out the service to those of us not flying coast-to-coast shortly thereafter.

What do you think, is $13 a fair price? I believe it is, though I'd like to see that cost go down on shorter trips (a pricing option that Virgin has already implemented). [United]

So when you're heading home for Christmas or the Festival of Lights, you might have the joy of checking in with your boss ever few seconds, rather than enjoy No Reservations for the upteenth time. No porn though, as Delta is one of the airlines who have vowed to block adult sites so flight attendants don't have to. [Press Release, Photo Cubbie in Vegas/Flickr]

I love the internet as much as the next guy. Be it news, emails, or just videos of some dog lipsyncing to Thriller, I can't get enough. And there's nobody—and I mean nobody—who reaches for his smartphone faster when the plane lands to thwart his cold sweats and shaky hands than me. But while we may have felt oppressed without access to internet from 30,000 feet, we're far worse off with it.

I want you to look back for a moment all the way to high school. Remember that one time you left, say, your math book in your locker the night before the test? It was too late to return; the school was locked. So all you could do was sit back that evening, watch some reruns on television and await your inevitable sub par performance without guilt. And isn't that what life is really all about?

Without mobile Wi-Fi, flights are one of the few socially acceptable circumstances of procrastination. It's not your fault that the spreadsheet isn't done or that you didn't get back to that client, friend or family member. You were in the air! You were helpless! All you could do was...hang out...and maybe read some sort of Oprah-approved, paper-bound manuscript.

And in case anyone here forgot, we can still get work done without the internet. There is, after all, a use for laptops that aren't connected to the world's information. But the beauty of this work is two-fold: One, without access to extended materials, most of what can be accomplished is limited to, dare I say, reasonable levels. Two, without access to communications like email impeding actual work, most of what can be accomplished will be far more productive.

So sure, with internet access coming to planes, the business world may benefit from an extended level of communication. Some merger may go through, or it may not. Some presentation may have more polish, or the presenter might just be more tired because of it. But since when did I sign up to fly in a cramped office with a bunch of people taking life too seriously? It may be called "business class," but we all know what it's really meant for: Drinking.

Besides, I'm more than happy to give up the prospect of in-flight porn if it means you do too.

P.S. Brian, I'm not sorry for calling you a dufus. But I am sorry that those devil horns look more like cat ears—not that it's necessarily a bad look for you.

Hunched over his MacBook in coach "like a T-Rex," Siler was able to complete a battery of tests. The upload rate wasn't shabby; 257 Kbps was enough to let him upload a Flickr gallery, for one thing.

Since Speakeasy.net reported a respectable 658 Kbps download speed, it was no surprise that Siler reported A-OK on the all-important mid-flight pornage test. He was able to stream some nice naughty material, as you can see (artfully blacked out by me) in the screengrab above. (That's Wes, holding his ticket, in the Photo Booth shot next to it.)

The porn access should come as good news for people who fear that other mid-air nemesis, the Chatty Cathy: At least porn will keep some passengers distracted from voice chat, which worked all too well in our quick test. Truth be told, the only thing that didn't work was video chat—iChat just kept choking and crashing. Hey, something was bound to fail as Siler hurtled through the sky high above Nebraska at an air speed of 581 miles per hour.

If you've had any interesting in-flight Wi-Fi experiences, by all means share them in comments. [AA; Thanks Wes!]

Update: Here's how REAL it is—Siler just took a screenshot of this article while in the air and IM'd it to me:

So unhappy that the flight attendant union began putting pressure on American to block porn content on their just-launched service (would you want to be the person to come between some crazy perv and his porn on a cross-country haul? Me neither). Delta is now planning to nip a potential flight attendant strike before things get out of hand. The filter, according to Delta, will be limited only to "sites that few, if any, would question are inappropriate to be viewed on an aircraft." [Atlanta Journal Constitution via Electronista]

NOTE: Other international airlines have had in-flight net access, but this is the first international to use Aircell's Gogo service, which is being adopted quickly by US airlines.

Canada’s Largest Airline Selects Aircell’s Gogo Service for Inflight Wi-Fi

(Sept. 9, 2008 – WAEA Conference and Exhibition) – Aircell®, the world’s leading provider of airborne communications, and Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, today announced that they have reached an agreement, whereby the airline intends to offer the Aircell mobile broadband service, Gogo™, to passengers on trans-border flights expanding Aircell’s North American footprint and making Air Canada the first Canadian airline to offer inflight Wi-Fi.

Under this agreement, Air Canada will roll out the Gogo system on select flights, initially installing the system on its Airbus A319 aircraft that fly across the border into the United States. The airline expects to begin its initial deployment by spring 2009.

The Gogo system on Air Canada’s trans-border routes will be available first in the U.S. and powered by Aircell’s existing U.S. network, making Air Canada’s initial rollout fast, economical and simple. Air Canada and Aircell expect that the Gogo service will eventually provide passengers with seamless coverage from key Air Canada cities such as Montreal and Toronto to every Air Canada market in the continental U.S. Additionally, Aircell looks forward to the licensing and roll out of a Canadian Air-to-Ground network that will facilitate Air Canada’s future fleet-wide deployment.

“Air Canada has long been recognized as a leader in cabin merchandising and we are pleased to have Gogo selected as part of that marketing strategy,” commented Jack Blumenstein, President and CEO, Aircell. “Adding Air Canada as Aircell’s newest airline partner and first international customer will mark yet another milestone for our company. As we continue to grow our U.S. network and explore our international expansion plans, Air Canada will have the distinction of being the first.”

“Air Canada prides itself on connecting Canada and the world and an important element of staying connected today is having use of the Internet. That is why Air Canada is taking a major step forward to becoming the first Canadian airline to provide its customers inflight, online access through Gogo. In cooperation with Aircell, and pending Canadian regulatory approvals, we plan to eventually offer internet access system-wide so customers can email, work and surf the net while flying, and more fully enjoy what is already a superior travel experience,” said Charles McKee, Vice President, Marketing, at Air Canada.

[Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas]