As has been noted here several times before, several airlines (American, Delta, Virgin America, for starters) are rolling out inflight wi-fi using technology from AirCell. But in each instance, there have been assurances that the option of doing voice-over-IP phone calls, such as Skype, would be blocked. And it is. But, of course, someone has found a workaround.

The workaround is an application called Phweet, which lets you make voice calls to friends who are linked to you on Twitter. Andy Abramson posts the details on his VoIP Watch blog, in which he describes a successful test of the workaround on an American Airlines flight:

I invited Joanna, she replied and once I figured out how to get Phweet to answer (I had to use Safari, not Firefox) Joanna and I were having a lovely conversation while she was on an Aircell flight. I don’t mean a five second hi, hello. I mean, a real conversation, as she held her Lenovo UMPC up to her face. I even heard the announcement from the flight attendants as she was about to land.

Here’s the logic. Flash audio is embedded inside Flash. Unless Aircell wants to block all Flash traffic, this is the way to talk.

Inevitably, other Flash-based systems will emerge, so phone calls won’t be limited to Twitter users.

Enforcing a “no calls” policy will now fall on the shoulders of the flight attendants. I don’t think the odds are good that they’ll be able to maintain that order for long.

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