"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," said Marissa Mayer, vice president of Search Products and User Experience at Google.
"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."
As a result of this new development Burbank and Seattle airports will be offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely.
Airports where Wi-Fi will be available free of charge
Travelers seem to be spending more time on the ground in airports rather than on planes during the holiday season due to busy flying schedule, so now seems like a perfect timing to offer the perk, said Google.
"Indianapolis International Airport is thrilled to be a part of the Google Holiday Wi-Fi campaign," said Jeremiah Wise, Treasurer, and Indianapolis Airport Authority. "Free and open access to the Internet has been a key passenger service initiative since the opening of our new airport. The involvement of sponsors such as Google helps to ensure we can continue to keep Wi-Fi free.”
The airports currently included in the gift provided by the Google include: Las Vegas, Seattle, Ft. Lauderdale, St. Louis and Charlotte, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis.
The list also features Miami and Orlando, which are among the busiest 30 airports in the world, as well as five in the Florida. Travelers of smaller airports like Montana’s billings and Bozeman will also benefit from this new announcement from Google.
"This is one of our holiday gifts to our users, and when you connect, we also hope you'll take the opportunity to try some of the latest Google products," the company said in a statement.
Google really in mood for generosity?
It looks like it but if you see the other side of the coin then it could only be a business tactic too. Since it’s no secret that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays are the heaviest travel seasons of the year, where’s the harm in taking some profit from it.
After all it is also providing a widely used service—Wi-Fi. If FAA’s estimates are anything to go by, over 100 million people are expected to pass through the participating airports between now and Jan. 15, 2010.
Often due to bad weather or any other delays on the airports, travelers spend lot of time free—70 minutes on average even after passing through security. This could be beneficial for both travelers and the Google Inc.
You can also see it as Google’s attempt to pass the spirit of the holiday season, once you log on to the networks in any participating airports, you will have the option to donate money to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy Corporation, or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.
Several other companies are also running similar sponsorship campaigns on domestic flights. Car maker Lexus just wrapped up its week-long complementary Internet on American Airlines flights on Friday, coinciding with the introduction of the 2010 Lexus LS line.
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