Web Worker Daily

As a new contributor to WWD, I’ve been asked to pass on some of the practical knowledge I’ve manged to acquire from more than 25 years as a journalist writing primarily about airlines, airports and hotels.

A little about me: Last spring I left a fulltime position as a reporter, columnist and blogger for The Philadelphia Inquirer and joined your world as a home-based freelance writer — doing the same amount of work for half the money! I continue to write a Philly-focused column and blog for the newspaper. What I’ll offer for WWD readers will be more wide ranging, talking about ways to work efficiently wherever and whenever you’re traveling, along with throwing out ideas for stretching your travel budget to the max.

My first topic is a basic for the business traveler whose working life depends on web access, and is one that many of you probably have some experience with.

How do you avoid surprises when you check into a hotel, find your room and fire up the laptop to check e-mail or do other work online?

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As reported on our parent blog GigaOm, this is a good day for web workers who are forced to travel by air: American Airlines has become the first domestic carrier to offer full in-flight broadband internet access. This won’t necessarily make up for all the rising costs, security tightening, and general hassles of flying these days, but at least you’ll be able to be more easily productive in the air.

The service is launching on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and LA, and New York and Miami. Like everything else about air travel, it’s not free - but the $12.95 per flight charge should be easier to swallow than $15 to check another bag.