Fliers get advice on Internet etiquette

— -- Now that it has become the first major airline to outfit its entire fleet with wireless Internet service, AirTran Airways is offering passengers a few do's and don't's.

Tip #134. "The lavatory is not your personal conference room."

With the smaller Virgin America reaching that milestone in May, and Delta, American and United moving quickly toward making all their domestic flights Internet-ready, travelers have entered the era of sky-high Wi-Fi. Now that passengers can connect to meetings, check e-mail and surf the Web in-flight, travel and etiquette experts say it wouldn't hurt for the flying public to get some guidance on how to behave.

"Any time we have a new way to spend time on an airplane ... it's a good idea to think about how it affects those around us," says Anna Post, an etiquette expert and spokeswoman for the Emily Post Institute. "14B is not your office. It's an airline seat. Treat it as such."

In the midst of an economic downturn that has caused the airline industry to lose passengers and revenue, carriers view Wi-Fi as a perk that can help entice business fliers and others back on board.

Delta, which merged with Northwest last year, has already outfitted 199 of its planes, with the rest of its domestic mainline aircraft scheduled to be Internet-ready by the end of this year. Northwest's fleet will be ready in the last six months of 2010.

American, aiming to have Internet access on roughly 300 of its domestic aircraft, has equipped 70 so far and plans for the rest to be completed some time next year.

"Over time, we think this will serve us very, very well," says Bob Fornaro, chairman and president of AirTran. He adds that with the Internetiquette guides, part of a broad advertising campaign spanning TV, radio and billboards, "we're trying to remind you in a fun way that you're not at home" when surfing the Web at 35,000 feet.