Dis-Connexion/AirFone Grounded

Joseph Laszlo | June 28, 2006, 05:05 PM

In a world in which it seems harder and harder to get away from being connected [my blog], it's interesting to see in the past week two announcements that suggest that air travelers may be about to get somewhat less connected.

First came the news that Boeing may give up on Connexion, its broadband-on-planes service. And this week Verizon announced it's getting out of the Airfone business.

Few will miss the former; only Lufthansa, JAL, and a couple others even offered it, and US carriers are not well positioned to undertake major aircraft upgrades needed to roll it out anytime soon.

And few will also miss the latter, which was always (at an insane $4.99/minute for non VZ Wireless subs, and a still ridiculous 69c/min for VZ Wireless subs) just too expensive. In all my years of flying, I've never seen anyone actually use an airfone, and I've only been tempted once--and that was just to say I was doing it.

I'm still concerned that sooner or later inevitably we'll have to put up with people gabbing away on their cellphones from wheels up to wheels down. But difficulties making a business out of in-air connectivity may lead to second thoughts about that as well.