Google to offer free wi-fi on three domestic carriers for holiday season

Google announced today that it has teamed up with three American airlines to offer customers free wi-fi on domestic flights with Gogo Inflight Wi-fi.

The service, which normally costs $11 for a 24-hour pass (or $5-$8 for a mobile device on a 1.5 hour flight) will be available on AirTran, Virgin America and Delta flights from November 20th until January 2nd. Google announced the promotion on their official blog, but there’s also a dedicated site about the weeks of free wi-fi.

The in-flight wi-fi thing seems to be an effort to boost the profile of Google Chrome, albeit subtly:

We were excited by the response from last year’s free holiday Wi-Fi program, and thought that this would be a perfect holiday gift to help you stay connected to your loved ones as you head home. You can find out more about this partnership at www.freeholidaywifi.com. If you haven’t tried Chrome yet, remember to download the browser before you take to the skies, or try it when you’re back on the ground.

Do you think you’ll get a chance to avail yourself of the service this year? Is this super cool, or will you have less of an excuse to fall off the radar while traveling?