Would you pick an Airline because it offers Internet?

In my current business, I don’t fly very often, but this November I’ll be flying coast to coast so I can attend Dreamforce 2008. I’ve already booked my flight on Southwest Airlines, but after reading a recent New York Times article (Internet in the Sky: Surf but Don’t Call), I’m regretting that. According to the article, American Airlines began offering in-flight internet, but is errecting “technological barriers to block Skype and similar software programs from enabling voice calls”.

Whoa … hold the phone! Did you just say that American Airlines offers in-flight internet? And they’re currently the only airline offering this service?

I’m geek through and through, and love the fact that I’m completely wired into the web. Whether I’m on my internect connection at work, my wireless connection at home, a WiFi connection at the coffee shop, or checking email and twitter from my Blackberry.

Sure, I take vacations with my family, and I schedule a long weekend escapes from work. During these occassions I am always unplugged, off the grid, and completely inaccessible. But once I’m back in “civilization”, I need to be wired constantly. I’ll go through withdrawals if I’m not able to IM friends and colleagues, or connect to my various Cloud applications.

In the past, a plane flight meant 2-6 hours of my being forced off the grid. Mentally, that just drove me nuts. I’d prepare for the flight by printing out a bunch of tech articles to read, some work-related documents, and maybe pack a user guide or reference manual. Light geek reading. Be the end of the flight, these documents would all be tattered and covered with jotted notes I’d made during the flight: “Discuss with Jack.” “Forward to CRM steering committee”. “Google this.” “Google that.” “Review benefit / impact to XYZ dept.” I couldn’t wait to power-up my Blackberry, as soon as we landed, and I’d be twitching as I searched for that first public WiFi connection.

Six hours isn’t really a very long time – but spending those hours stuck in tiny seat (usually wedged between two “larger” passengers on either side) with nothing to stare at except the seatback in front of me … torture. If an airport terminal has several airline vendors vying for my business, and only one of them offers in-flight internet … it’s a no-brainer for me. American Airlines just became my preferred airline.

What about you? Would you choose an Airline over competitors, principally based on it’s offering of inernet service?