JetBlue Tests Limited Email and IM Services

Traveling on JetBlue from San Francisco to New York during the holidays? Lucky for you, JetBlue Airways is rolling out limited email and instant messaging services on Airbus A320 next week so that you won't be completely bored. Unfortunately, you won't be able to surf the Web or email attachments dues to bandwidth constraints, and you're limited to checking email coming to your Yahoo! Mail account only. Same goes for instant messaging, so I hope your friends have a Yahoo! Messenger account.

If you want to check email on your BlackBerry, you can but only if you own one of the two Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry models approved by Research In Motion, which are the BlackBerry 8820 or the Curve 8320. Only those two phones will continue to receive email during the flight, and can be operated as long as the cellular portion is turned off.

Well, this isn't earth-shattering news, but I hope it's the beginning of a service that will extend to other airlines soon. I, for one, would be willing to pay a fee for in-flight wireless access, as long as the price is reasonable. It's about time airlines start offering entertainment options besides movies during long flights.

JetBlue to test limited in-flight Net
In-Flight Wireless: Cell Phones Out, Wi-Fi In