In Flight Internet

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Aircell has everything but service. Earlier this year, American Airlines wired 15 of its Boeing 767s, but the internet access has yet to be turned on for commercial use. It's barely been tested. According to American, Gogo was used in June on two "dress rehearsal" flights and tested on two additional flights last week. Yet the airline won't publicly commit to a date when it will finally begin what it describes as a "three- to six-month trial to customers."

"This thing should have been working months ago," one frustrated American executive told me last week. "Obviously, there's something wrong."

Why the delay? Aircell isn't talking and refused repeated requests for an interview. Instead, its public-relations agency referred me back to its press releases, most of which said Aircell would be operating by now.

(August 20 update: American Airlines finally announced the Internet trial would start today. American claims passengers can now buy Internet service on its 767s, which fly between New York and three cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami.)

Aircell's deals with Delta and Virgin America are also less than meets the eye.

Earlier this month, Aircell and Delta claimed the airline's entire fleet of 330 domestic aircraft would be wired by next summer. Delta even told some reporters that it would have 75 planes equipped by the end of the year. But that rollout schedule seems overly aggressive. The Federal Aviation Administration, which must issue a certificate for each type of aircraft that Aircell wants to wire, says the company's application for the MD-80 series planes that Delta uses has just been submitted. The spokesperson I talked to said Aircell's application wouldn't even be addressed "until the fall."

Aircell and Virgin America announced their deal almost a year ago, just weeks after Virgin America launched service in August 2007. But the F.A.A. says Aircell hasn't applied for a certificate to install its equipment on Virgin America's Airbus aircraft.

In fairness, Aircell isn't the only in-flight internet service that, well, isn't. A company called Row 44 has deals with Southwest and Alaska airlines. Like Connexion before it, Row 44 says it will use a satellite system. But when Alaska announced its plans last September, it promised tests by the spring. In January, when Southwest announced its plans, testing was supposed to begin on four aircraft this summer. Neither has materialized.

Late last year, JetBlue wired a single plane with a proprietary system that can accommodate limited in-flight emailing and instant messaging. But the program is still being tested, JetBlue told me last week, and no decision has been made about its future.

What's keeping in-flight internet from becoming a reality? I wish I knew; nobody I've spoken to knows or is willing to say. I'm beginning to blame myself. If I'd just been more persuasive in that taxi five years ago, Connexion might still be around, and you could have been reading this from the sky.

The Fine Print…
The Transportation Security Administration says travelers toting laptops with "checkpoint friendly" bags won't be required to remove their computers at the security checkpoints. But the bags, which are just coming to market, are fraught with compromises: They must have a laptop-only section; nothing except the laptop can be placed in the special compartment; the bag must be opened to expose the laptop; and the T.S.A. reserves the right to demand the laptops be taken out of the case.

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