AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
If you can’t wait to keep your friends and family updated, then Panasonic and Flight Level Media have some good news. The companies recently announced that they have developed a technology that will allow users to post updates to Facebook while mid-flight.
The new technology is not going to allow users access to their regular Facebook application, but instead, through its own proprietary application, users will be able to post messages to their social media account. In additional to usual updates, users should also be able to post data related to the specific flight, including airspeed and altitude. All this will be done in real-time, and the companies plan to offer users the ability to post an unlimited number of messages.
Both companies have not stated whether users will be able to post photos to Facebook or use Facebook Messenger in a similar manner to when they are on the ground. According to the CEO of Flight Level Media Dan Callahan,
“We are delighted to grow our relationship with Panasonic, a world-class inflight entertainment and connectivity provider. This joint product offering connects the inflight audience, their social media networks and media buyers in a new, easy to use and fun way.”
The companies announced that they would be taking orders from airlines as of January 2017. So expect the service to be up and running by the end of 2017, after their final trials during the third quarter of 2017. For travelers who use other social media platforms, the company plans to extend its capacity to services like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
This is the second collaboration between Flight Level Media and Panasonic; they first teamed up in 2014 with the launch of the product ‘Postcards from the Plane’, which is available on Lufthansa FlyNet equipped planes.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Facebook, how 2010 seems a dated way to keep intouch
You need to be careful using this feature of outbound flights. It lets people know you are away. And it you post you are in the air for the next so many hours, what a great time to burglarize a home.
It’s nice to be able to Facebook post from the air. But I’m anticipating crippled functionality. Par for the course…
I’m somewhat glad, it sucks being offline for 10+ hours without being able to communicate sometimes but I do certainly like that unplug time. Will be interesting to see what happens when this is implemented
I’m curious as to how I keep hearing that users can “post” to FB, but I don’t hear anything about “browsing” FB. So, I’ll be able to use some proprietary app to post to my page but I won’t be able to see my newsfeed and actually browse FB? Maybe I’m missing something but, I could see – if this ends up being true – how this feature wouldn’t step on the toes of Gogo and the like.
I have a feeling some airlines will give award miles for mid-flight status updates 🙂
The ability to post to Facebook in flight would literally change my world.
This is pretty neat.
I wish it won’t be limited to just FB posts though.
Instagram and Snapchat next!
If we could also use Messenger that would be a great way to stay in communication throughout the flight.
Well cool concept but I think I’ll pass. If there’s no ability for me to see people’s responses to my post, thereby inflating my ego, what’s the point? Haha :p
Interesting. Hope they’ll develop a tool for Twitter as well
This is actually pretty cool. The ability to post airspeed and altitude is neat, though it kind of sucks that you have to use their proprietary app.
As long as they don’t allow you to post live videos.
That’s all we need is someone roaming around the cabin with a live feed saying “look at me, I’m on a plane”
Being able to use Facebook messenger would be much more useful then being ale to post to Facebook. Or better yet email or WhatsApp.
Can’t wait to try it out.
Lets hope it takes off 🙂
Personally I feel free wi-fi should be available on all flightsides, one day maybe.
I agree. In 2016, how is wifi not standard and included in the price of the ticket? Would anyone honestly not use it if available without an additional charge?
Sounds great. Allowing people to post for free how can it be bad. During mid flight is even more of a bonus.
Using a proprietary application to post to FB sounds like more trouble since then it is worth.
Pretty neat! SOmething to keep in touch and keep busy mid-air is nice.
Is this a new in-flight WiFi service or will this work in conjunction with Gogo?
This is a completely different product/experience.
I wonder if this will operate as a separate access point from the existing inflight service, requiring one to disconnect from the inflight wifi (and in some cases, the entertainment system) to use it?
I would certainly hope not — seems like an epic failure if they did 🙂
Isn’t this already possible on many airlines? I know I’ve posted to Facebook on American and jetBlue….both within the last two weeks.
Logan, I haven’t personally seen this. I know with JetBlue, you receive complimentary Wi-Fi in flight and can pay up for speedier service, but haven’t heard of something like this with AA.
Not much of a Facebook user but got interested when I read that Instagram and Twitter are being looked at also!
Is this really necessary?. Another cost for the airline that eventually will get passed on to the customer.
Patricia, I think we’ll see the technology be used for other purposes as well — whether it be through other internet access or forms of media.
Free internet access is a plus as long as the capacity is there to handle it.
This could make a long tedious flight much more fun!
Will this be after paying for inflight data?
Based on the announcement, there doesn’t appear to be any cost for consumers 🙂
Interesting, though I don’t see much benefit to such limited communication. The low-bandwidth restricted options GoGo offers seems to make more sense… I’d like to see something competing with that where you can use only SMS, Social Media, and Email with data caps for a very cheap price.
Is the ability to post without being able to see other posts really something to get excited about?
This is really interesting! I wonder if it would work while flying around/over China or other countries where Faecbook is censored or if you could check your feed.