Ho ho ho: Google offers travelers in 47 airports free Wi-Fi access from now until Jan. 15.
Search engine giant Google announced that it is working with
airports across the U.S. as well as Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group,
Airport Marketing Income and others to provide free Wi-Fi as a holiday gift to
travelers now through Jan. 15, 2010. The Wi-Fi accessibility is currently available
in 47 airports, including those in Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore,
Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St.
Louis and Charlotte. Additionally, as a result of this project, Burbank and
Seattle airports will begin offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely.
"We know that this is a very hectic travel season for
people, and we hope that free Wi-Fi will make both traveling and connecting
with friends and family a little bit easier," said Googles vice president
of search products and user experience, Marissa Mayer. "We're very happy
to extend our Holiday Wi-Fi gift to the millions of people who will spend time
in airports over the next few months.
Resource Library:
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
estimates, over 100 million people will pass through the participating airports
between now and January 15, 2010, Google noted, making it one of the heaviest
travel seasons of the year. Bad weather and heavy passenger loads can often
cause delays of up to 70 minutes, leaving travelers with plenty of time on
their hands after passing through security. A recent study conducted by the
Wi-Fi Alliance reported that 50 percent of business travelers take red-eye
flights in order to be "reachable" during business hours, and an
overwhelming 82 percent said that being connected through Wi-Fi would help
solve that problem.
Google gets this years Wi-Fi Santa award for sponsoring
complimentary access in dozens of airports, both to the travelers and
airports benefit, said president and CEO of Boingo Wireless Dave Hagan. In
addition to the obvious bonus holiday travelers will enjoy, sponsored access
will increase overall Wi-Fi usage in the participating airports and help
supplement the airports increasingly important non-airline incremental
revenue.
As another way to pass on the spirit of the season, once travelers
log on to networks in any of the participating airports, they will have the
option make a donation to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy
Corporation or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Google said it 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 January 1,
2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit of their choice.
As mentioned, the Wi-Fi access will include 47 airports that
together handle over 500 million passengers each year, or about 35 percent of
the total number of annual passengers in the U.S. In October, Google and Virgin
America announced that, during this same period, all passengers on Virgin
America would have free in-flight Wi-Fi. Five of the airports participating in
the program are also Virgin America destinations: Boston, Seattle, Las Vegas,
San Diego and Virgin America's newest destination launching November 18, Fort
Lauderdale.
