You can now surf the web while flying internationally on Virgin Australia, the first Australian airline to offer Wi-Fi on international flights. Currently, Wi-Fi service is available on the Boeing 777 jets flying from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane to LAX.

We applaud the decision to block voice calls on services like Skype and Facetime as this affects the experience of other passengers onboard. We also recommend downloading your favorite shows and movies prior to your flight as the connection speeds aren’t suitable for streaming video.

Hourly Wi-Fi service options are available at $9 per hour, but the ‘Flight Pass’ for $20 is a much more economical choice as it covers the entire journey. Twenty dollars is a small price to pay for those with ‘net-lag,’ the relatively new term referring to people suffering when disconnected from the internet.

According to one survey conducted by the airline, a whopping 70% of respondents felt frustrated because of the inability to connect to the internet while flying. And 65% of respondents felt overwhelmed by the amount of text messages and emails received when their plane landed after more than 14 hours in the air. Because of these findings, Virgin Australia plans to add Wi-Fi services on more international flights in the coming year.

Image Credits: Virgin Australia