JetBlue launches WiFi in the sky

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. became the first U.S. airline to provide free in-flight e-mail and instant messaging Tuesday on a flight from New York to San Francisco.

Service on JetBlue's "BetaBlue" Flight 641 -- an Airbus A320 specially equipped with an onboard wireless network -- was "a little buggy and limited," the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

CNET blogger Caroline McCarthy said in a report she filed from "somewhere over Louisville, Ky.," that she had to try connecting several times and found maintaining a connection was tricky.

The complimentary WiFi service lets passengers with WiFi-enabled laptops send and receive instant messages and e-mail using customized versions of Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail Mobile. Travelers with new WiFi-enabled BlackBerry smartphones could access their corporate and personal e-mail while in flight.

The low-fare carrier, a pioneer in in-flight entertainment, worked for months with Yahoo! Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. to create the service.

The BetaBlue plane will fly for several months to test the system and solicit passenger feedback. If all goes well, the No. 8 U.S. airline by traffic said it hoped to install the WiFi system on its entire fleet.

Other airlines have similar services in the works.