Virgin America: Fast Reliable WiFi and CNN, All While 36K Feet Above Kansas

This is a quick side posting.  I am flying Virgin America today NY to LA, and began giving their free, at least for today, WiFi service a try.  I must say my first impressions are quite good.  I am connecting at speeds that would rival my at home cable connection–1353.2 kbps according to CNET’s bandwidth test–with little to no service disruptions.  I was able to write an entire column for RealMoney with complete ease, this service puts the Bolt Bus’s to great shame (for those of you not familiar the Bolt Bus, it is what I refer to as Grey Hound’s Jet Blue with bus service connecting New York and Boston).  I should also all the while I have been watching CNN on their free satellite TV, it would have been CNBC where it not Saturday, the option was available.

I anticipate this service will soon become the new normal, but I doubt it will remain a freebie.  This is good or bad news for travelers, especially those of the business variety, who in the past have been closed off to communications while flying.