Besides celebrating the 40th birthday of Sesame Street, Google along with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing
Income and others will provide free W-iFi as a holiday gift now through
January 15, 2010.
The gift of free wireless currently includes 47 airports, including
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 WiFi indefinitely.
The upcoming Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holiday is one
of the heaviest travel seasons of the year, and according to FAA
estimates, over 100 million people will pass through the participating
airports between now and January 15, 2010.
Due to bad weather and other
extenuating circumstances, travelers often have extra time on their
hands in the airport after they pass through security - 70 minutes, on
average. Not surprisingly, having an Internet connection during this
time can make a difference. A recent study conducted by the Wi0Fi
Alliance reported that 50% of business travelers take red-eye flights
in order to be "reachable" during business hours, and an overwhelming
82% said that being connected through Wi-Fi would help solve that
problem.
To pass on the spirit of the season, once user log on to
networks in any of the participating airports, travelers will have the
option make a donation to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy
Corporation or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. 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
January 1, 2010 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit
of their choice.
In total, the gift will include 47 airports that together handle over
500 million passengers each year, or about 35% 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 will have free in-flight WiFi. 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.
More information about the networks, including a full list of participating airports, is available at www.freeholidaywifi.com.