The hallmarks of Southwest Airlines are boarding groups, open seating, and flight crews that burst out in spontaneous song. And now they’re beginning to add Yahoo! to that colorful mix.

Starting today, Southwest will be testing inflight wi-fi. They’ve equipped one aircraft with Internet connectivity (via Row 44) and plan to add three more before the end of March.

Yahoo! has teamed up with Southwest to build the free inflight homepage (here's a larger screenshot), where passengers can find a host of things to either help them wile away the hours or bone up on their destination city.

Plug in your city name and you’ll find guides for the best shopping, restaurant and attractions. You’ll also get the latest in localized news, weather, and events like concerts and art exhibits. Gaming fans can choose from among more than a dozen Yahoo! Games. And a local buzz tag cloud lets you track the topics that are most popular where you’re headed – whether it’s fusion restaurants or IMAX theaters.

What you won’t find on any other airline is a cool new flight tracker that not only tells you where you are, it lets you explore places on the ground via geo-tagged photos posted to Flickr. And it’s all free. You just need a wifi-enabled laptop.

So if you’re fortunate enough to board one of Southwest’s wifi-equipped planes, you’ll be surfing the Web as soon as it’s safe to release your tray table. Read more on the Southwest blog.

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor