Surf’s up, way up: Free Wi-Fi on holiday flights from Gogo and Google

Laptop travelers, there’s no place like home pages for the holidays. That’s why I’m excited about free Wi-Fi on AirTran, Delta and Virgin America domestic flights during the crush of the high-travel season.

Google has partnered with Gogo Inflight, which connects travelers to the Internet in flight, to offer free service from Nov. 20 through Jan. 2 on about 700 planes, according to a Google news release. As part of the promotion, Google also is touting its Web browser, Google Chrome, but of course other browsers such as Firefox and Safari work fine too.

The savings aren’t profound; Wi-Fi on Virgin America, for example, usually ranges from $5.95 for 90 minutes to $12.95 for three hours or more. But I like free and the convenience of being able to get online quickly when you’re up in the air.

And please people, resist the urge to work. Use this gift to design your Christmas card or compare recipes for chestnut stuffing while high in the sky. (Last year Google also provided free Wi-Fi on some Virgin America flights and at 50 airports nationwide.)

For other ways to save on in-flight Wi-Fi, check out this L.A. Times Travel blog post “In-flight Wi-Fi fees: How to get discounts.”