Recent attention has been paid to airlines launching wi-fi initiatives for domestic flights, with Airtran being the first to offer Internet service on all of its flights by this summer. Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic are also entering the fray, but with the costs of necessary technical upgrades to the airplanes being passed on directly to the passengers, we’re wondering if this is going to fly with the general public.

According to one source, it costs $100,000 per plane to offer the wi-fi service and then passengers will be charged $9.95 for shorter flights or $12.95 for longer distances. While the executives quoted are spot-on in saying that this is something passengers will expect on all flights a few years from now, in 2009 are travelers, whether business or leisure, willing to pony up the cash? The days of hotels charging exorbitant fees for Internet service have been replaced with complimentary in room wi-fi hook ups. And as the price of technology goes down and many people subscribe high speed internet for as little as $30 per month, are they willing to pay such a premium to get online? Business travelers may be interested in sending and receiving emails, though the friendly skies is one of the few spaces they can unplug. And leisure travelers may want to update facebook, read the news, and of course check for the latest update from the I Open Lab blog, but on top of luggage fees, beverage fees, and fees connected to anything else the airlines can think of, will passengers want to spend even more on getting from A to B. Sure, life is about the journey, but for those excited about the destination, they may not want to spend so much on getting there.

There’s also the seemingly arbitrary price break for PDA’s and smartphones, which can access inflight wi-fi for $7.95. The price break is appreciated, but do these devices use less “Internet” than laptops? We’re sure that Internet service will be a part of all flights in the next few years, and eventually the costs will go down but perhaps the executives could consider some new options in pricing or the overall offering. What if the price was on a sliding scale based on how many people use it? If an entire plane is logged on, do they all need to pay the hefty fee, or should there be a break? Or perhaps if you just want to sign on to check for urgent emails, or you absolutely have to post the picture of your neighbor asleep on your shoulder to facebook, you can log on for a smaller increment of time and pay a smaller price accordingly. And it might be interesting to think about the purpose of wi-fi connectivity in the first place. Wi-fi is great for people on-the-go with mobile office lifestyles, but when you’re on a plane as a passenger you aren’t doing much moving. So what about getting rid of those phones that come on the back of many seats and offering USB cords to connect to a modem? These are just some thoughts and they may not be feasible, but in our opinion, neither is charging so much for a technology that while vital to our lives, is getting cheaper and cheaper and eventually will be free when we’re on solid ground.