Oh, so it's not actually "free wifi for $6," it's actually free wifi.

That's not as amusing.

Good news! Hopefully other airlines will follow suit. I don't care so much about free TV but I just think internet ought to be free.

Here's the sad thing about pricing (or about me, take your pick).

I would pay $6 extra on my ticket for the TV, every time. I would pay $6 extra to fly on JetBlue for the TV.

Once on the flight, however, I would never reach in my wallet and hand them $6 to activate my TV.

Oh no! Won't the internet make the plane crash??? That's what cellphones do, right?

I would like to have access to the internet on flights, but I'm not going nuts without it. Most of the flights I take are pretty short, under two hours, which is just right for watching a movie or a few episodes of a TV show on DVD.

@92BuickLeSabre: for most people, though, it's the opposite. They won't buy a ticket if it's one penny more. But they'll gladly shell out $2 for a soda, $3 for snacks on the plane.

I would pay extra on my ticket to fly Continental over United, Delta, American, or Alaska.

I go to the used bookstores for my IFE. Get a few paperbacks for under $5 - and I can leave them or give them away while on the road - lightening my load.

Airlines are finally moving forward. All the other guys still afraid that if you take their picture they will lose their soul?

@JAMESDENVER Great idea. Good entertainment, and passing alone books to others. Heres my stamp of approval. (Warning: this stamp carries no weight, and no one REALLY cares about my opinion)

@92BuickLeSabre: I'm totally with you. For some reason, i'll buy value added stuff when I buy the ticket, but once I'm on the plane, it just feels like I'm being gouged.

Maybe when I buy the ticket, the amount seems small in comparison, but when I'm on the plane I compare the price of the service to what it would cost normally?

It's obviously some sort of frugality disorder :)

nice! I wouldn't mind paying $6 for something like this on an already-great airline like Continental. Every single experience I've had with them was good (except when the plane's heat broke down once, but they gave us extra blankets).

@m4ximusprim3: @92BuickLeSabre: Or a reality disorder. If there's any slight difference, it's that you're better off waiting longer to spend that $6, because as finance professors will tell you, getting $1 today is worth more than $1 next week.

I'd pay $6 to actually fly Continental instead of getting the US Airways bait-and-switch I've gotten the last couple of times I've booked flights with them.

Oh goody! Now Continental's customers will have something to distract them from the raw sewage pooling at their feet.

[consumerist.com]

any chance that T-mobile WIFI enabled phones like the blackberry curve will work? What about skype?

Skype and voip will not work, it is filtered for that. Though I wouldnt be surprised if IM works.

@GearheadGeek: Unless the price is in Euros!

@m4ximusprim3: I think it's a relativity disorder. What's the difference between a $300 ticket and a $306 ticket? A 2% difference?

But the difference between a $1 Coke and a $5 Coke? Forget about it!

On the flip side, I love(d) that there is (was) no internet on flights. I use the time to read a nice, old-fashioned, engaging book- with no nagging 'I should be returning emails' guilt.

Though on long flights I see the benefit.

Just think of how much time you can save, by logging into the airline's website and complaining about the flight attendents' god-complexes [consumerist.com] before you even land!!
Or will they filter this as well?
I plan to spend my next flight perusing those 'how to make a bomb' websites so I can have a nice chat with the Fatherland Security agents on landing.