No place like home.

As bad as Sunday was, Friday was worse.  The Big Airline That Couldn't tried hard, but only managed to get me out of Austin three hours late, obligating them to put me on a later connecting flight at DFW.  One saving grace was that the delay allowed me to try Boingo once more as I'd promised below.  At AUS it's basically play for pay, but a vendor with an ad on the login page usually offers a half-hour of free access in exchange for a clickthrough and ad view.  After turning on Javascript, cookies and Flash-which you should only do (especially at the same time) if absolutely necessary and then only on a site you implicitly trust-I managed to get it to work after a few tries.  Hey, it even stayed working once I turned those three malware conduits off.  Still, it's not worth it unless you're desperate in my view. 

And there must be a lot of people like that in Austin, given that they've actually got kiosk computers you can jump online with set up at some of the airport gates.  I tried one just for the experience; it apparently runs a locked-down version of Internet Explorer on either Windows 7 or Vista and give access only to the Web.  There's a clickable button on the screen that supposedly erases your private data, but I wouldn't trust it any more than I'd bank or shop on a public computer at a library.  Heck, I wouldn't even borrow a computer from someone I knew for such a purpose, unless that someone had no problem with my making sure I'd covered my tracks afterward.

Now for a better idea.  Southwest Airlines has tables in several of its gates at AUS not only wired for power but complete with USB charging ports so all you smartphoners and iPodders in dire need of an electron fix might find sustenance.  Good going, Southwest.  Now how about lighting up your gates with free and open Wi-Fi in airports that don't see fit to do it themselves-you do know that the airport can't stop you from doing this without running afoul of the FCC, don't you?-and while you're at it, why not light up your planes with it as well?  As I intimated below, checked baggage isn't the only thing that shouldn't cost extra given today's fares. 

And speaking of Sky-Fi...sorry but I didn't get to try it on either hop.  Hop No. 1 from AUS to DFW was just too short to bother with pulling out ye olde laptop, and airplane seats have (ahem, ahem) shrunken so much since the last time I flew that I knew there was no hope of my reaching the power outlet purported to be underneath once I'd buckled in.  I don't even know, therefore, if it was the 12-volt "cigarette lighter" plug like the one present on at least one of the DC-9s I rode on the last time I flew to Austin a dozen years ago, or the standard 110-volt AC outlet the airline claims to have outfitted many of its planes with.  (Memo to the airlines:  Anyone who thinks sticking power outlets under a seat is a good idea ought to try using one located there.  Then come back and tell me whether you still think it's a good idea.)

By the time I got to DFW, I just had barely enough time to grab dinner to go before boarding for Hop No. 2-a packed flight of just over an hour's duration.  Even if I'd been able to try out Gogo after eating, I would have had to do it on my battery, there apparently being no power outlets on that particular aircraft.

And if what I saw was any indication, there needn't be a great rush to install them.  I didn't really notice anyone on either flight with a laptop or tablet out that appeared to be using Gogo.  While handheld devices proliferated I seriously doubt that anyone with a Wi-Fi capable smartphone is gullible enough to hook it into a play-for-pay network because 3g/4g isn't available unless someone else-like their employer, perhaps-is picking up the tab.  In-flight Wi-Fi isn't going to (bad pun alert!) take off unless forward thinkers like Southwest Airlines offer it at no extra charge and drag the rest of the industry along with them-kicking and screaming if need be.  Just as Starbucks eventually did, they'll come around. 

Finally, one last word with regard to hotel access.  The word is communication.  If you're going to toss in Internet access at no additional charge for the duration of my stay, great!  However, it would have been a big help if you'd have made that clear when I checked in.  Finding literature in my room to the contrary-especially after getting caught out by your bottled water trick (open it and then find out too late it'll be added to the bill) should be an obvious source of confusion and anxiety.  And isn't travel these days confusing and anxiety-producing enough as it is? 

On the road again...

Been out of town this week for the first time in about five years.  Got off to a late start so I didn't have time to sample the KCI Airport Wi-Fi to see if it's still as it was the last time I reported on it.  I can  tell you, however that neither Houston's George Bush International Airport nor the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport-IAH and AUS, in three-letter airport-speak, respectively-are truly free and open (this despite IAH being listed by wififreespot).  No, you've got to get in bed with Boingo if you want "complimentary" access.  I tried during a layover at IAH only to be told, courtesy of a Boingo landing page, that it "works best with Javascript turned on."  Well, it didn't in Firefox, at least, only bringing up Google and a few other sites.  E-mail, RSS feeds or Usenet?  Forget it.  I'd have monkeyed around with it a little more had I had more time but duty called.  And since I won't be coming home through Houston we'll just have to leave things at that.  Sad that this was apparently the best that the fourth-largest city in the country could manage to do.

Depending on whether the scheduling of my return trip holds up, I may give Boingo another shot at AUS on Friday-but not if it's play-for-pay.  I'll let you know.

And about that scheduling...I was originally supposed to fly down here on a Major Airline That Shall Go Unnamed, which is currently experiencing labor problems while simultaneously trying to lift itself out of bankruptcy-but you didn't get those hints from me, understand?  Anyway, said airline has partnered with Gogo for in-flight Wi-Fi, which I might have been tempted to try out just to report on it here had those original plans played out.  They didn't, however, and I ended up on Another Major Airline That Shall Go Unnamed, which unlike its aforementioned competitor has only rolled out Gogo on its big equipment flying transcontinental and international routes.  So, Gogo was a no-go on Sunday.  If Friday turns out differently, you'll find out here.  Not that I'm all that wild about forking over more cash for what at today's ticket prices and added fees ought to be an included amenity, mind you, but who knows?  Maybe I'll come across a coupon code or something like that today or tomorrow.  Either that or someone at Major Anonymous Airline Number One will, in a stroke of genius, come up with the perfect promotion to build customer good will-"Free Friday Fly-Fi" or some such.  Hey, you never know.

Oh, yes-the hotel situation.  As I stated back in '07, I normally don't review Wi-Fi at lodging facilities regardless of whether their networks are secured since they obviously aren't intended for use by anyone other than paying guests.  This particular location just happens to be listed in wififreespot, however, for its purported free and open access in the lobby.  No such luck, however-you've got to obtain a login from the front desk.

You just can't win these days.