IM from the sky on JetBlue
December 11, 2007 on 8:01 am | In News, Web version | 50 Comments
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…Yahoo! Messenger from 30,000 feet! Today marks the official launch of a customized version of Yahoo! Messenger for JetBlue passengers.
Internet access on commercial flights is a new concept, and JetBlue is the first domestic carrier to test it with their new BetaBlue airplane. Passengers with WiFi-enabled laptops or Blackberry devices on the plane can connect for free to the on-board wireless network. Once connected, they can communicate with friends, family and colleagues on the ground using customized versions of both Yahoo! Messenger for the Web and Yahoo! Mail. Read more about our partnership with JetBlue.
After signing into Yahoo! Messenger you can see which of your Yahoo! or Windows Live Messenger friends are online and send them instant messages. Even if a friend isn’t online, you can use the built in SMS feature to send a text message right to their mobile phone. If they reply back, you get it right in Yahoo! Messenger. The SMS feature is really handy if you need to send news about your flight to a friend or family member (or just gripe about that kid kicking your seat).
We also added a few special status messages that let your friends know you’re flying high with JetBlue. “Head in the clouds – seriously”, “Sleeping on the Plane” and “Ugh! Crying baby on flight” are just a few. Or choose “Custom Message…” and get creative.
So what’s in it for your earth-bound friends while you’re cruising at 30,000 feet? When your status is set to one of the flight-specific messages, your friends will see your airborne status and be able to click on it, taking them to a page where they can view your flight location and status in real-time.
JetBlue’s BetaBlue plane is the first to offer these free services to its passengers. While you can’t specifically request the BetaBlue plane for your next JetBlue journey, be sure to keep your laptop handy the next you fly with them. You might just get a chance to try out Yahoo! Messenger from 30,000 feet in the air.
Chris Szeto
Director of Product, Yahoo! Messenger
Here are some photos of the launch event at SFO (courtesy of Jeremy Johnstone):
So is this why the old Messenger for Mac stopped working entirely last night? Or why the new, buggy Messenger for Mac has been given me login trouble all afternoon?
Congrats on JetBlue…too bad I use free tickets from my Southwest credit card. Besides, what good is this single (though admittedly captive) audience to your brand as a whole? Even if you do get the audience’s eyeballs, do you know what to do with them? You morphed Clubs into the clunky Groups, murdered the Interests lists and Member Directory, and now are hamstringing Messenger—the only reasons I’ve used Yahoo! since 2000. Google would have known to take our interests and passions and profit off them. You can’t even keep the services we like up and running, while you chase business on an airline that your Net-savvy deal-chasing audience may not even fly.
Comment by Shelly — December 11, 2007 #
Amen Shelly, but instead of Mac, I’m running Windows XP, haven’t had any problems except for AT&T’s mess last week, and this. What a shame. Who is Yahoo trying to appeal to? Who/What is their Target? Will they let us know when they hit it?
Comment by Suzanne Deal-Fitzgerald — December 11, 2007 #
I’m a little confused, Yahoo has the time to make it so messenger will be available on ONE JetBlue plane…JetBlue, like Yahoo is spotty and less than stellar when it comes to customer service and functionality. They ask you to clean their planes for them when you fly JetBlue. SOO…Yahoo Messenger 8.1 is buggy, 9.0 sucks Vista “Preview” is ready…a YEAR late….BUT NEVER FEAR you too can use yahoo messenger on ONE plane of the THOUSANDS that are in the skies now…..
THANK YOU YAHOO
Comment by Confused — December 12, 2007 #
great! another barrier broken…i hope this feature is available on all carriers worldwide soon!…keep it flying yahooo..
Comment by shakeeb saba — December 12, 2007 #
I hope when this is made available to all airlines that the terrorists wont use this to shoot down our planes.
I dont think this should be put in planes because if any smart guy can know the exact location of a place 30,000 high and the direction its heading to, how safe are we?
Pls yank this service off.
Comment by Trinity — December 13, 2007 #
LOL i can see the laptops flying glaore when ppl get spammed or booted o god air rage to a new level on another note can you fix the buggy yahoo 9.0 please instead of trying to dominate every other kind of market you are no good at it lmao p yea ability to turn pms off would be NICE (while seeing chat text!!!) on the other hand i won’t hold my breathe
Comment by what the heck — December 13, 2007 #
[...] for this article: Yahoo Messenger Blog, JetBlue [...]
Pingback by wireless is fun dot com » Blog Archive » WiFi on a plane — December 13, 2007 #
What a great service! Yahoo! Messenger has always been on the cutting edge and pushed the others to play catchup. I’ve been using Messenger for 8 years now and it’s been fun watching it grow up and mature. Keep up the great work.
Comment by Happy Messenger User — December 13, 2007 #
it is super
Comment by sanju — December 13, 2007 #
This is a good idea !!!!!!and you can also see were your frieds are right?cool!!!
Comment by Felix — December 13, 2007 #
Hey there I think this is amazing! Great improvements!
Comment by Tammy Ringheimer — December 13, 2007 #
im from the caribbean(jamaica)jetblue service is great,and this only add to its wonderful service inflight.
Comment by henley williams — December 13, 2007 #
the sounds like a great idea i only wish more planes could have it though
Comment by Lejeune Lester — December 13, 2007 #
wooooooooooooooooooooow whats a great airline…. i realy would like to travel from this air line
Comment by Shani — December 13, 2007 #
good idea, if it actually works… as for the person who left the message regarding terrorists, I am pretty sure they have not been waiting on pins and needles for instant messsenger to make their next move! lol people are so uninformed that is what is scary about that comment and people in general.. they are uninformed…
Comment by m maria — December 13, 2007 #
This is great and I do not like flying but the last 2x’s I had to fly I went with jetblue and it was great. now I can get some work done in a plane on a bus or even a train how get is that. I am so happy YAHOO.
Comment by La Quita PittmanJohnson — December 13, 2007 #
This is a great idea! Jet Blue is an awsome airline and on the cutting edge, but I wish that their airline prices were more competitive with Southwest. I have flown Jet Blue and it is wonderful, but I tend to fly more from Southwest because they are affordable. (Don’t fly any of the other airlines.)
Comment by Cynthia — December 13, 2007 #
it is great to see such things happening now days
,and that comes from great yahoo site,wish all success for yahoo group
Comment by Abdol Watan — December 13, 2007 #
Cool Internet on Airplanes!!! WOOHOO!!!! Oh wait…. its only one airplane and I didn’t get a free laptop or ticket to ride it. Where is the fun in that? Hey Yahoo! Send me a laptop so I can ride your airplane and try it out!
Comment by Yvonne — December 13, 2007 #
What a fantastic idea!!! Can’t wait to book a flight on that beauty!! Keep up the good work Yahoo.
Comment by Taylor — December 13, 2007 #
what’s next yahoo? ym at the moon? hehehe…
Comment by santa claus — December 13, 2007 #
John Q. Public has been able to track planes via the web probably since GPS was invented..or at least the invention of the internet…or maybe even since radar was invented. check this out… http://flightaware.com/live/ but I’m sure mr terrorist already knew it could be done w/o the help of yahoo or Jet blue. Just ask Mr. Google to look around under Jet tracking, or airplane tracking… Dipsh!t Trinity–keep your mouth shut if you dont know what your talking about
Comment by IHateStupidPeople — December 13, 2007 #
IT IS GREAT WHEN IT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR TRAVEL.
Comment by ABHINAV — December 13, 2007 #
Good idea, worthy of praise…
Take the time to test run it on this single airplane to correct any flaws/bugs and if found stable, run it on everyairplane up in the sky. Including Air Force Fighter Jets. So the pilots can stay in touch with family on a particularly dull flight.
))
Comment by Amadeeoha — December 14, 2007 #
very Nice’s product. keep up the good work
Comment by Aire CO — December 14, 2007 #
Another great step for mankind as long as ATT doesn’t screw it up like when it joined Yahoo;I agree with Shelly about the mess.
Happy flying!
Comment by ted andriotakis — December 14, 2007 #
THIS IS GREAT NEWS. BUT IS THERE ASSURANCE THAT ALL SAFETY MEASURES HAVE BEEN TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION. WILL E-MAILING NOT INTERFERE WITH NAVIGATIONAL AIDS?
Comment by NNEJI, R O — December 14, 2007 #
its gr8 to know dat yahoo messenger has launched jetblue.wen google started googleearth ,y should yahoo stay behind. its cool…………. cheers to yahoo.keep it up guys!
Comment by priyadarshini pegu — December 14, 2007 #
Yahoo should provide Laptops in Plane for using messengers. LOL…. Opppsss, what about HI-JACKING Risks with this step ? Am I thinking wrong ?
Comment by Prabhjeet — December 14, 2007 #
Great Innovation, I Guess the start of “AirChat” is begin here. I Just Predict This Brand New is a Shiny Star of Technologies in the Future.
Comment by Doni — December 14, 2007 #
that looks cool how do we come aboard and ofcourse how much does it cost?would like to get my mother in law here……where is this plane docked now?
Comment by jennifer passot — December 14, 2007 #
Well, its great idea.
For business travellers/ passanger it will be available as alternative communication media soon all around the sky world.
Comment by Muhammad Pervaiz — December 14, 2007 #
If this takes my mind off of flying then I am all for it. All of my relatives live a plane ride away and I am getting more scared of flying each time I go. I usually fly continental but would lilke to try jet blue one day. As a senior citizen I would like to say to all you young people out there, stop being so negative and smile once in a while.
Comment by julianna — December 14, 2007 #
Great to heard nice service, but i am missing this opportunity, jet flue not for central area. i am loosing yahoo beta jet plane. So yahoo or jet plane set flight or betaplane to central area.
Comment by mkader — December 14, 2007 #
i hope the plane doesnt crash like like yahoo messenger lolz
Comment by oops — December 17, 2007 #
i hope the plane doesnt crash like like yahoo messenger lolz
LMFAO i can see laptops flying galore when they get spammed booted new meaning to air rage!
Comment by Timmy — December 22, 2007 #
[...] Yahoo! Messenger Blog Posted by Sco in Official Yahoo! [...]
Pingback by Yahoo! Nation » IM from the sky on JetBlue — December 28, 2007 #
It is such hot news and it is quite intresting also.
i m very glad yo hear this fantastic news !!!!!
Comment by Aditya — January 1, 2008 #
I’ve read some of the comments, and all i can say is you all sound like a bunch of 3rd grade whiny twits.
Really.
Comment by Billy — January 7, 2008 #
think it’s agood idea … Enables people to have more freedom of inflight entertainment and information resource for the impromptu travellers. They can book a hostel/hotel while onflight,make last minute planning and changes. Easier for students to locate friends for a meet up while travelling. Webcams on the laptop allow the love birds to sleep together virtually and wives can give their husbands the “good morning honey bunny sweety cutie pie” as he wakes up. And to yahoo and jetblue , I’d love to be able to order snacks and drinks or have my table clean after a meal through my Yahoo msger. Which means i hope i can BUZZ the flight attendant. Passenger-Flight assistance interactive. Good idea, love it.
Comment by Irlanda — January 7, 2008 #
great job
Comment by beder — January 7, 2008 #
Well, for one, It would be nice to do something other then read or twiddle thumbs while on an overseas flight (this is assuming that this idea takes off with other airlines).
Now, for some logical? retorts.
1. The reason they only went with one jet blue, so that if something goes wrong and causes the plane to go down its only one plane, instead of an entire fleet…. Common sense.
2. The reason they went with JetBlue? Cause they are probably the only airlines willing to risk said plane and yet they weighed the risks of profit/loss and chose. How does it feel to be called profit instead of a valued customer
.
3. Navigation. Cellphones, yes, caused interference once upon a time because of the frequencies they used. They probably don’t anymore because of our need to reach better signal has lead to stronger, more distinct bands, but, you want to be the first person to try? As for the wireless/bluetooth completely different bands and frequencies, thus why they are not called cellular but wireless/bluetooth? (not sure on the why they are called bit, but the point is still driven home. but hey, if it doesn’t work, we fall back to point 1. one plane goes down o.o
3. Cyberterrorism. Come on people, do you really think they are stupid enough to allow any form of access or connection possibility to the planes controls? /:|
4. As mentioned, go grab a gps receiver from your local walmart even, drop on google and look for the right thing and see if you cant turn your living room into an air traffic control tower
I highly doubt that messenger is what we have to worry about. Hopefully, the worst that will happen, is that creative yahoo users (read: hackers, or, anymore, wannabe hackers since yahoo really doesn’t have any, just what we call script kiddies) may or may not be able to either lag the network on board the plane, cause the network (oh noes!!)(and i highly doubt the network crashing will bring the plane down. if it does we need to fwap whoever allowed that to be possible on the head) or, worst of worst, they will know when your arriving in Dallas to kidnap and hold you for random O.O
But hey, anyone who thinks im way out of the ballpark here is more then free to tell me so, yahoo sn is galameth and my e-mail is ixidors_revenge@yahoo.com n.n Cheers.
Comment by Galameth — January 8, 2008 #
Hi every one I feel this is the ever nice I here about and i wish one day I can be in that plan to see how it is work in real
Comment by hadi ali — January 8, 2008 #
Can’t wait to use this feature. Maybe I’ll plan a trip for next week
Comment by Sabrinna — January 8, 2008 #
this is another great service!! i used it and was able to get some work done on the plane,so now i have time for my family more! thanks yahoo
Comment by debra — January 8, 2008 #
wow….
it is so cool….
Comment by Melvin Alfred Hadinata — January 8, 2008 #
[...] the full story on Yahoo’s blog: IM From The Sky On JetBlue Posted In : Technology You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 [...]
Pingback by IM Using Yahoo While Flying | franzone.com — January 8, 2008 #
I think it’s a great idea! And as a note to all the worry warts out there… do you REALLY think the techs haven’t taken into consideration any RF interference? Good grief! Perhaps if the National Enquirer told these people it was okay they might feel better….
Comment by Jim — January 8, 2008 #
THe Jet Blue is Coool. Good Job.
Comment by Okumedia — January 12, 2008 #
This kind of services must be encouraged .
Comment by Barbara — March 11, 2009 #