is it possible to share onboard WiFi?
 

let's say me girlfriend, her sister, and I all carry our laptops on the same flight... all three will each have to pay for the onboard WiFi.

Is it possible for me to pay just once and allow their two laptop to share the internet connection?

Sure, if you have the right connection sharing software. It'll work the same way as sharing a connection in a hotel room. Now, please don't take this the wrong way (I'm normally not this preachy), but if you "need" the Internet, pay for it. I'm not completely against sharing it in a hotel room, but the companies behind in-flight Internet invested millions in this, and stealing from them to save $20 may be taking things a bit too far. If you don't want to spend $20, find something else to do during the flight.

This will most likely violate the terms of use for the onboard wireless provider.

Hardware solution ... Asus WL-330ge running in Hotspot mode. You can power this router off USB, so quite handy when you are in the air, where power outlets can be difficult to come by.

Software solution ... Connectify You need to pay attention to the compatibility list to make sure you have the right wireless network adapter. You may need to get a USB wireless network adapter as I am not sure you can re-transmit on the same adapter as the one being connected to the in-flight wifi service. I have only used this solution to share a 3G Internet service with wifi devices. So do test this thoroughly before you get on the plane.

... as someone else mentioned earlier in this thread, there may be moral/ethical/contractual(legal) consequences to sharing the one paid in-flight Internet service with others.

While I totally agree with the other posters here, one should PAY for wifi if one is going to USE wifi, I HAVE been know to enable it for #1 1K GF for the occasional hookup of her iphone or ipad to get email once or twice.

I really think airlines should offer something like a 5 minute freebie or something to users, I think it would be good marketing and it would actually most likely HOOK users into buying up to a longer term plan.

For the 3-5 minutes it takes for her to get email on the iphone while I have already paid, I really can't justify the extra 13-20$ spend.

That said,

the easiest ways, and least cumbersome (I DO travel with an AE or other travel router which can always be put into action) is to either

A) use one of those older usb wifi dongles that we ALL most likely have lying around. Since your laptop most likely has WIFI built in, this now is just a second wifi network connection and can easily be bonded in either winxp, vista or 7. It also works perfectly on the mac.

B) for macs, winmo devices and even pc's with a little more work around, I will SHARE the wifi connection with my BLUETOOTH connection and then a little bit of work those devices can connect (I'm not going to spell out all the details here) but I haven't been able to get this working with the iphone or ipad.

C) just use an ethernet cable to connect the two, share the wifi connection with the eth0 connection and your done.

Also, make sure to check for free wifi promos, they are literally everywhere.

Wife & I flew AA SFO->JFK 767-200 w/gogo. If you want to share it's easy - I logged in, did my business and logged off. Logged her computer in, she could browse, I watched a movie. I have the monthly subscription, I log in on my laptop and my Incredible all the time - just not simultaneously.

Relative to setting up a hotspot, I think not only gogo but also the airline and FAA would probably frown on that. Best bet would be a crossover RJ-45 cable.

The FAA? Why not also include the DEA, GOP and BBC?

Really, the FAA and the airline won't give a damn about it. The only one that would "frown on it" is GoGo, the company you'd be stealing from.