What’s the right price point for in-flight internet?

Obviously the correct answer is “free,” but let’s put that aside for a moment. According to C-Net, American Airlines and Virgin America are both going to be offering in-flight internet access to their travelers for somewhere between $10 and $13 per flight:

American Airlines will initially enable 15 of its 767s with broadband, and eventually it will offer Internet connectivity on 500 planes. Virgin plans to provide broadband on all its planes, according to a blog posted on GigaOm Tuesday.

The new service, called Gogo, will cost $12.95 for cross-country flights and $9.95 for flights lasting three hours or less.

As long as the service itself is fast enough to be productive, I don’t mind shelling out $10 for connectivity on a 2 1/2 hour flight. Especially if they manage to hook that deal in to any of the networks that cover airports - pay a fee at the terminal and it covers your in-flight wi-fi, too? Yeah, I’d probably do that.