In-flight internet access with Virgin America

Monday, Virgin America plans to become the latest airline to offer in-flight Wi-Fi Internet, a service with a problematic past that still promises far-ranging flexibility in entertainment.

The San Francisco-based carrier has scheduled the service for one Airbus A320 aircraft, joining American Airlines as the only carriers in the world to offer full Internet access.

Dubbed Gogo, the service lets passengers browse the Web, use e-mail and instant messaging, download video and connect to secure networks through three wireless access points on the plane. Voice calls over the Internet are not allowed.

If Virgin America's test flight is deemed successful after about a week of flying, the airline will expand the service to 24 other planes in its fleet by mid-2009.

With two carriers offering the service commercially, in-flight Internet is making a serious comeback after a two-year period of dormancy.

The previous generation of in-flight Wi-Fi, operated by Connexion by Boeing, was shut off at the end of 2006. Its satellite-based system proved to be too expensive for domestic carriers, and Connexion couldn't find enough passenger demand for the $30-a-flight service.

American Airlines boarding cards go mobile

The idea is instead of the traditional paper boarding passes, passengers will use their mobile phones or PDAs to board an airplane. American Airlines tried out this new method for the first time on Thursday with passengers leaving on domestic flights from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

This is how it works: when buying the ticket online, passengers must provide an active e-mail address to which their boarding pass will be sent, in the form of a 2D bar code.

Upon arriving at the airport, the passenger can open the e-mail on their Internet-enabled mobile device to have the bar code scanned at the Transportation Security Administration's checkpoints and at the airline's gates.
Passengers can also use the same method for check-in luggage at American Airlines' self-service machines, ticket counters, or curbside check-in facilities.

During the introduction of this new feature, there are a few minor restrictions. Passengers can list only one person in their reservation and must be traveling on American or American Eagle nonstop or a trip that doesn't involve changing planes, to a domestic destination.

The destination, however, can be anywhere within the 50 United States, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
This is just the beginning, if the tryout proves successful with the TSA, American Airlines will extend this new mobile boarding method to other U.S. airports.

Boeing strike continues

Boeing group braced for global disruption from a potentially lengthy strike at Boeing on Monday as one of the planemaker's biggest suppliers lost no time in cutting production and working hours.

Three days after 27,000 machinists halted assembly at the world's top-selling planemaker, Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems suspended its 2008 financial guidance and said it was cutting volumes on certain Boeing products.

The former Boeing unit, based in Wichita, Kansas and one of the world's largest suppliers of airframe structures, said it had managed its way through a similar strike in 2005 by using a shorter working week instead of stopping production. It said it would implement a revised production and delivery schedule with a reduced working week for employees.

Economists have warned the strike which began on Saturday could hit businesses around the Seattle area, where Boeing's commercial assembly plants are located, and dent the U.S. economy in particular by expanding its trade deficit. Early in New York, Boeing stock edged up 0.2 percent to $63.0 but was left on the sidelines of a global market rally triggered by a massive mortgage bailout in the United States. Shares in EADS, parent of Boeing's European planemaker rival Airbus, rose more than 5 percent in Paris.

United airlines bankruptcy

Shares of UAL were cruising along just below short-term resistance at the 12.50 level until about 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, when traders caught wind of an erroneous report that the United Airlines parent was on the verge of filing bankruptcy. The story was first posted in the Chicago Tribune, which said that the 4-year old story was mistakenly released. UAL immediately decried the report as "untrue."

Unfortunately for UAL, the story was apparently picked up by the Sun Sentinel, after which the news gained traction with traders. UAL shares plunged nearly 100% by 11:07 a.m., touching a penny per share, and nearly wiping out the stock before trading could be halted. The company has since demanded a retraction from the Sun Sentinel, and said it is launching an investigation.

Trading has since resumed on UAUA shares, with the stock last seen hovering just below $12 per share - a vast improvement over pre-halt levels. Naturally, options traders jumped on this morning's news, sending more than 14,800 put contracts across the tape on UAUA before trading was stopped.