• The New York Times, Friday, December 7, 2007 11:30 AM

American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines will begin offering in-flight Web service over the next few months for approximately $10 per flight. JetBlue Airways will start offering free email and instant messaging on one of its planes this Tuesday.

"In a few years time, if you get on a flight that doesn't have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn't have TV," says Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Forrester Research.

Imagine what Web access on airplanes will do: In-flight phone calls via Skype, free entertainment provided by YouTube, MySpace, NBC.com, and hopefully one day, movie studios. The entertainment possibilities are, in fact, endless. The airlines won't have to cut those entertainment deals any longer.

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