Virgin America's Xmas Present: Free WiFi

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Virgin America, partnering with Google, reported it will offer free wireless Internet access on all its flights from Nov. 10 to Jan. 15 as “a holiday gift.”

Porter Gale, vice president of marketing, said inflight WiFi was a key factor for business and leisure travelers choosing their airline. Currently Virgin America uses Gogo Inflight Internet service which ranges from $5.95 to $12.95 per flight.

Google’s role in this a little more difficult to pinpoint. Marissa Mayer, vice president of search projects and user experience at Google, said, “As millions of people pass through airports this holiday season . . . we wanted to give our users a gift — one that makes their travel easier and more convenient.”

Google has enough chutzpah and cash to do plenty of magnanimous gestures, but I’m interested to see if Virgin adopts some Google technology in the near future. And as TechCrunch points out, at least now we’ll know how well the inflight service bandwidth holds up when everyone is on it.

Tags: Google Inc., Virgin America, Wireless LANs, Wi-Fi, Wireless And Mobility, Internet, Barbara E. Hernandez

Bay Area resident and award-winning business journalist Barbara E. Hernandez has covered tourism, real estate and personal finance. Her clients include the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post.

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Google And Virgin America To Offer Free WiFi During The Holidays

WebProNews - 34 days 20 hours 10 minutes ago

Virgin America has partnered with Google to offer free in-flight WiFi to all of its passengers during the holidays. From November 10 to January 15, 2010, passengers on all Virgin America flights will be able to access email, shop online and visit social networks free of charge. In May Virgin became the first airline to offer Gogo Inflight...
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FareCompare - 34 days 19 hours 46 minutes ago

Want free WiFi? Want free WiFi on an award-winning airline? Then you want to fly Virgin America. From Nov. 10 through Jan. 15, Virgin America and Google are teaming up to offer free in-flight WiFi. Go ahead, check your email, see what’s doing on Standard Upright Position or Daily Puppy - the internet is your oyster. And we
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As the title states, Virgin America will be offering free wifi on all flights between November 10 and January 15. Apparently it’s sponsored by Google. Very cool
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CNET News - 35 days 16 hours 34 minutes ago

Travelers flying on Virgin America over the holidays will get free in-flight Wi-Fi thanks to Google, the companies said Monday.Google and Virgin America are teaming up to offer free Wi-Fi Internet service for all Virgin America passengers traveling between November 10, 2009, and January 15, 2010.The Gogo Wi-Fi service, which was rolled out to...
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Gizmodo - 35 days 19 hours 34 minutes ago

How's this for a nice gift from Google? They're paying for Virgin America to make the Wi-Fi on all its flights free from November 10th to January 15th. The service, normally $13 per flight, will now be open to all. It's good news for Virgin travelers, and it will make booking flights to CES a bit easier, decision wise. Whether or not the...