Verizon steps on their dick at 30,000 feet

I took off from San Jose to Chicago last Monday. For only $15.95 for the flight, I could connect to Verizon's new airphone service for laptop email, etc. I called the phone number from my seat and signed up. I also signed up for $10 per month on my Verizon bill for $.10 a minute in the air.

Results:

The laptop connection did not work. I could not dial out. I figured it was the phone.

I returned three days later from Boston to Chicago. The phone worked well with outside cell calls that rang to my seat (that was cool). On my leg from Chicago to San Jose, the phone worked great for 20 minutes in the air. I called Verizon from the plane and they gave me a new PIN. It did not work. I could not get the laptop connection either. I called Verizon four other times. They were clueless about the service and were as frustrated as I was!

I finally got a customer service person that went to the kickoff meeting at Verizon for this service. She stated that 99% of the customer service people at Verizon had not had this training. She said that the service only works within 200 miles of a major hub. She also laughed when I asked her about the connection fee for the entire flight that will only work over a major hub. "ya, that's the way this program works"!

Why can't corporate executives put their butt on a plane and try these new services they spend so much money to develop (that don't work)??