Fly the WiFi-Friendly Skies

 by Anna Post

I'm on the web all the time, whether it's for work or my own personal use. I'm also on planes all the time, though just for work. The two don't usually mix, but thanks to AirTran, that will soon be changing. 

By the end of July, AirTran plans to have all of its planes equipped to offer in-flight WiFi to passengers with wireless internet-capable devices. No more disconnecting from the real world from take-off to touch-down.

So much of my life is wired into the internet--blogging, banking, email, weather, news, pop culture, Facebook, Netflix, Pandora, work, shopping--that I always thought I'd be happy to log back on once we reached cruising altitude. I'm a very copacetic flyer, enjoying the time-out from phone calls and emails to read books and magazines, get ahead on my columns and chapters for work, watch in-flight movies, or snooze to my iPod. I'm realizing that I indulge--and enjoy--all of these things because I don't have the internet as an option. Will that enjoyment diminish now that it's available? I don't think so. Hello, Netflix on-demand!

It does, however, make me think about how best to set some boundaries. Perhaps I won't open Outlook. And in such crowded quarters, it certainly makes me think about privacy. Someone reading my laptop over my shoulder right now will likely see my latest masterpiece of etiquette--hardly state secrets. But I check my bank account several times a day. Not information I want available to seat 14B. And many of the movies in my Netflix queue are rated R; while many are also Oscar nominated, it doesn't mean they are appropriate for a public audience.

It's for exactly these kinds of reasons that I'm working with 3M Privacy Filters on an etiquette program. A thin film of plastic, the 3M privacy filter drops into discrete clear plastic tabs that adhere to the edges of your screen, making the filter removable when at home. From the side, the screen appears black, but when sitting in front of it, you'd never know it was there.

I recently saw them in use when visiting someone in the hospital, and they make perfect sense--nothing on the monitor was visible, even as I passed very close to a mobile computer unit. Unless the passenger directly behind you has x-ray vision, your bank codes and taste in movies will stay as private as you could wish. (Read: no one has to know that I watch Gossip Girl.)

Interestingly, 3M also makes a film that works the same way as the computer filters, but is used for cell phones. But please, let's draw the line at in-flight cell phone use. We need to keep those skies friendly.

Comments

[Stephen]

I would like to say that yes there will be etiquette and privacy issues flying the friendly skies. If I were in charge, I would treat inflight wi-fi similar to that of a computer lab in a public place. I would not open anything too confidential or secret on a plane, unless perhaps you are sitting next to members from your own team and you can aim your laptop towards the wall and you are sure that what you are putting on is OK for others to read, accidently or intentionally.

Additionally, one should have the courtesy of not reading others screens unless they are asked to, except when the thing being shown is a movie full screen or a game perhaps that it is OK to watch.

I also agree that the one should be able to enjoy the airplane experience if they choose such as in-flight movies, flight attendant service, reading, talking to others, etc. That is how I remember air travel! I still remember the days when hot meals were served on planes (now, on most airlines its just pretzels and a soda) unless you pay extra or go internationally. This said, one does not have to use the wi-fi every moment.

There are some other netiquette rules I would follow if I choose to use Wi-Fi onboard. If one decides to view internet sounds or video, they need to use their headphones, especially if others around you are sleeping. If the cabin is dim at night, you should reduce your screen brightness so that it fits in. Additionally, if there are a lot of children on board, I would think twice about accessing offensive web sites that contain hate speech, pornography, bomb making material, illegal drug content, or other questionable content and instead view those when you get home in private. The same is true with controversial clips on YouTube and other video sharing sites.

It is also important to share bandwidth. I believe that most airplane connections are satellite based and may not have the bandwidth and low latency of land based connections like cable modems, DSL lines, and T-1 circuits. When there are a lot of users on a wi-fi it slows things down, so limiting use of games, video, music, P2P, VPN, etc during heavy usage times is courteous to the other users.