Google gives free Wi-Fi to holiday travelers at dozens of U.S. airports
Got Wi-Fi? You do now. In the spirit of giving, Google announced today, Nov. 10, that it is offering free Wi-Fi at more than 40 airports across the country during the holiday season.
Southern Californians will be pleased to hear that Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in Burbank and San Diego International Airport (SAN) are on the list of those with free terminal-wide Wi-Fi. Among other airports in the promotion are those serving San Jose, Seattle, Boston, Baltimore, Houston, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte, N.C.
For travelers who think that all airports should offer free Wi-Fi, there’s more good news: Bob Hope Airport plans to continue offering free Wi-Fi indefinitely, according to Google.
This ought to take the sting out of crowded airports and potentially delayed flights during the busy holiday season.
When: Nov. 10 through Jan. 15
Tip: Fly on Virgin America over the holidays to get free Wi-Fi in the sky as well. Google partnered with the airline voted Best Domestic Airline in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2008 and 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards, and announced in October that it would be offering free inflight Wi-Fi during the same holiday period.
Pay it forward: Those who do take advantage of the free Internet will have the ability to make a charitable donation to one of three organizations. Google will match the donations made across all the networks, up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by Jan. 1, 2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local charity of its choice.
More info: FreeHolidayWiFi.com
— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
Photo: A Southwest Airlines jet takes off above Bob Hope Airport in Burbank in April 2008. Credit: Richard Derk / Los Angeles Times
9 Comments on “Google gives free Wi-Fi to holiday travelers at dozens of U.S. airports”
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November 10th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Umm I’m an airline pilot, and I live in Las Vegas. The WiFi is already free there…
November 10th, 2009 at 8:26 am
One interesting thing to note in the list of 47 airports is that the hubs for major carriers are excluded. Considering where you find stranded travelers during the holidays it seems Google is hedging their bets on gaining positive press by overlooking the places where the most users are likely to occur, creating likely system overloads.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
It’s about time…Now they need that on Metrolink and the metro, and it’ll be get ridership up!
November 10th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
It’s already free in San Diego too.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
To the skeptic genius - they probably have contracts with wifi providers and thus the reason for not offering it.
LAX needs free wifi! I don’t know why there are some things I refuse to pay for but unless its a work emergency - I refuse to spend $10 on wifi - $10 on a beer I will succumb to however
November 10th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I fly in and out of San Diego (SAN) fairly often, and they already have free WiFi as well…
November 10th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Boingo Wireless have been running a rather evil and sleazy airport cartel business.
Wireless internet is an absolute must in airports these days. It’s available freely all over the world, including (to name a few) Athens, Oslo, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Auckland, Sao Paulo, Manila, Karachi, Vancouver, Cancun, Santiago, Beijing, Sarajevo, Moscow, Istanbul, Taiwan, Dubai, Warsaw and Vienna…
I fail to understand why it is not provided in all airports (or at least major ones) here in the US. I mean, seriously, it’s available in freakin’ Tehran and Kazakhstan!
U.S Airports already provide us with the miracles of heating, air conditioning, cleaning, electricity, toilets and water. What makes this one utility such a premium? Perhaps the fact that it helps travelers cut down on productivity and time lost due to the airport mayhem?
Why should Google even be in the position of giving us this lovely gift? You don’t see any of the Edison companies give free holiday electricity to travelers in airports, do you?
November 10th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Boingo Wireless have been running a rather evil and sleazy airport cartel business.
Wireless internet is an absolute must in airports these days. It’s available freely all over the world, including (to name a few) Athens, Oslo, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Auckland, Sao Paulo, Manila, Karachi, Vancouver, Cancun, Santiago, Beijing, Sarajevo, Moscow, Istanbul, Taiwan, Dubai, Warsaw and Vienna…
I fail to understand why it is not provided in all airports (or at least major ones) here in the US. I mean, seriously, it’s available in freakin’ Tehran and Kazakhstan!
U.S Airports already provide us with the miracles of heating, air conditioning, cleaning, electricity, toilets and water. What makes this one utility such a premium? Perhaps the fact that it helps travelers cut down on productivity and time lost due to the airport mayhem?
As nice as the charity idea here is, why should any company be in the position of giving us this lovely gift? This is the equivalent of Best Buy giving travelers free electricity in airports. Does that make sense to anyone???
November 11th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I don’t know how you hate google in the past, but I think this offer is really sweet - There are still a dozen of airports who doesn’t have wifi support coz of a tight budget .. It’s good Santa BIG G is there to the rescue.
http://bit.ly/thanks-google
BIG G: ho ho ho. merry Christmas to you