Thursday, April 9, 2009

Alaska Airlines Offers Free Oakland, Calif., Airport Wi-FI

Alaska Airlines Offers Free Oakland, Calif., Airport Wi-FI

Alaska Airlines will sponsor free Wi-Fi at the Oakland airport: The service will be free from 13 April to 5 July, and seems intended to raise the awareness of Alaska's Wi-Fi trial with Row 44, currently underway.

Alaska seems likely to put Wi-Fi on its planes if it gets a good response from passengers to the in-flight Internet service. Many of Alaska's routes pass over water, and a satellite-backed service is a good fit if passengers are willing to pay for the privilege. It's also a way for the no-extras airline to bring entertainment onboard without installing seatback systems.

Earlier stories reported that Alaska Airlines was also sponsoring free Wi-Fi at the far larger Seattle-Tacoma airport. An Alaska spokesperson just told me that information was in error. The free Wi-Fi underwriting is for Oakland's airport only.