Facebook for Free on Flights in February

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This month, a cross-country flight won't be a reason to temporarily suspend a poke war. Seven airlines will offer free access to Facebook via their Wi-Fi networks for the month of February.

The no-cost service will be available through a partnership between Gogo Inflight Internet and Ford, and will be offered on North American flights of Virgin America, AirTran, US Airways, American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines, Gogo said in a blog post.

Passengers that want to use the Internet beyond some in-flight Facebooking will have to pay extra. Prices for onboard Wi-Fi range from $4.95 on short trips to $12.95 for longer flights.

USA Today said Facebook is the number one trafficked site that passengers visit via Gogo, a service that provides Wi-Fi connections for 1,100 commercial planes on roughly 3,800 flights every day. Gogo said that emailing is the top activity passengers do on its network.

Virgin was the first airline to offer Gogo, and the company said in the USA Today report that a third of its passengers use Wi-Fi via Gogo onboard.

Gogo has been working to promote its service recently to gain more visibility. Through a partnership with Google, it recently offered free Wi-Fi on holiday flights on Virgin, AirTran, and American Airlines.

Although in-flight Wi-Fi has been available for some time, one analyst told USA Today that just seven to 10 percent of passengers on connected planes actually use the service.

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