American Airlines (in conjunction with Aircell) may be the first airline to offer in-flight broadband in the United States, but Alaska Airlines isn’t too far behind in this area of innovation. The airline has announced plans to test out in-flight Wi-Fi next year using a satellite-based system which will be the first of its kind tested in the U.S. for the purpose of this service. If the testing goes well, Alaska Airlines hopes to add the Wi-Fi service to all of its planes. The service is designed to work over water and across international boundaries making it possible to connect when flying to such destinations as Hawaii. Whether connection will be fee-based or free is yet to be determined.