I love wi-fi. I spend many the morning padding around the house in my pyjamas, laptop clutched in hand, surfing the Web. All thanks to my dsl connection and a Linksys wireless router. Ah heaven.

But now I'll be able to recreate that Wi-Fi experience at 30,000 feet, although I won't be in my pyjamas. That's because New Scientist reports that Lufthansa, the German airline, started a new service Monday that allows passengers to Web surf or send e-mails from their own Wi-Fi-enabled laptop or handheld computers instead of using the more "limited services" (to put it politely) some airlines offer through their seatback displays.

The system, called FlyNet, has already been installed on five of Lufthansa's fleet, with plans to extend this to all 80 of the German airline's long-haul planes by the end of 2006. Passengers will share a download capability of five megabits per second, while uploading traffic, such as sending emails, will run at one Mbps. This speed of connection is comparable with that used in a small office.

The cost is actually pretty decent. Ten bucks for half and hour, or $30 for the entire flight. (The New Scientist article reminds us that some seatback services charge $16 to send one e-mail.) And when your flying, say from Munich to Los Angeles, you've got some time to burn.

This is possible thanks to the Boeing company Connexion and to ten geostationary satellites circling the Earth at 36,00 kilometers (about 22, 300 miles). Several other airlines have already indicated they are interested in setting up similar services.

But what about all that interference with flight equipment? Will we be endangering the lives of fellow passengers if we check our e-mail, or look for a stock quote? Lufthansa has already considered that, and the service will only be offered at "cruising altitude."

"Meine Damen und Herren, the captain has switch off the seat belt sign. You are now free to find out the latest score in the Red Sox game...."