Google and Virgin America Airlines are offering users a chance to combine two of the most stressful holiday activities -- travel and shopping -- in one fell swoop with a partnership that provides free Wi-Fi to all Virgin America passengers throughout the holiday season.
Between Nov. 10 and Jan 15, 2010, Virgin America passengers will be able to check e-mail, post on social networking sites, shop online and surf the Web with free Wi-Fi from Google and the airline's provider, GoGo Inflight Internet, accessed from their laptop, BlackBerry, or other hand held device while they're in flight.
California-based Virgin America has offered Wi-Fi on its flights since May, but historically has charged passengers between $5.96 and $12.95 depending on the length of their flight. The Google promotional deal, however, allows passengers to use the service for free for a limited time throughout the holidays.
Virgin America estimates that 12 to 15 percent of its passengers are using the GoGo Inflight Internet services. However, executives maintained that the free Wi-Fi offer was intended, in part, to persuade more new users to try out the GoGo Inflight Internet services, which could possibly bring on more GoGo Inflight Internet users even after the free Wi-Fi service ends.
"Since the launch of WiFi on all of our planes, we've seen an overwhelmingly positive response from travelers," said Porter Gale, vice president of marketing at Virgin America, in a statement. "We're thrilled to team up with Google to deliver this special holiday gift to our loyal guests. We also hope it persuades more new users to try out the service -- as once people try Gogo, they rarely go back."
Virgin America is one of a handful of carriers offering fleet-wide Wi-Fi with its Gogo Inflight Internet service, as well as provide both standard power outlets near every seat.
Meanwhile, according to a recent survey conducted by Virgin, 53 percent of passengers carry a laptop on board, while more than half of respondents indicated that the availability of WiFi would influence their choice of airline carrier.
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