American expands inflight Internet service

— -- American Airlines said Tuesday it's expanding its inflight Internet service to the rest of its 767-200 fleet, or the 15 planes that fly primarily transcontinental flights.

The service, called Gogo, costs $12.95 per flight and provides full Internet access for WiFi-enabled devices, such as laptops and PDAs. It doesn't allow phone calls made over the Internet, such as Skype.

The service, which the Fort Worth-based carrier began testing in a couple of flights in June and August, uses three antennae installed on the outside of the aircraft. The antennae send and receive signals to 92 cellular towers on the ground.

"Passengers will experience speeds similar to the mobile broadband experience on the ground," the company says in a statement.

The service is being expanded Wednesday specifically to New York flights bound for San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami. If the service is deemed successful after three to six months, American Airlines plans to roll out the service to the rest of its domestic fleet.

JetBlue currently uses a similar technology to offer inflight connectivity, mostly for e-mail and text messages, on one of its planes.