Connect on the Fly: Airport Wi-Fi Guide

Almost all major airports in the United States and Canada now have significant Wi-Fi access, with Atlanta (ATL), Chicago OHare (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), and Miami (MKE) being the major exceptions. Chicago and Atlanta have plans in place to turn on Wi-Fi possibly as early as this summer.

So who's got it among the big boys? Seattle (SEA), Portland (PDX), San Francisco (SFO), Oakland (OAK), San Jose (SJC), Las Vegas (LAS), Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), Salt Lake City (SLC), Denver (DEN), Detroit (DTW), LaGuardia (LGA), Newark (EWR), and Boston (BOS) have airport-wide networks covering all gates at all terminals. And New York's Kennedy (JFK) has most of Terminals 8 and 9 covered, as well as some other spots.

Oddly enough, its more likely that a smaller airport, one serving between 500,000 and 2 million passengers per year, will have Wi-Fi. Its much simpler for airports with a single terminal and a straight path to all gates to be fully wireless. These airports also have less bureaucracy to delay implementation, as has happened in many major cities until the last year or so.

For example, Sacramento, Calif., serves millions of passengers a year coming and going from the states capital, but has a relatively small footprint, helping it jump on the Wi-Fi bandwagon early on.

In airports that dont have full coverage or in those that have multiple service providers with different subscription options -- described on the next page -- you may want to look into airport lounges. Airport lounges operated by American Airlines, Delta, United, and USAIr have for-fee Wi-Fi service operated by T-Mobile HotSpot in their sometimes luxurious environments that are always more conducive for working than the gates. Continental also offers free Wi-Fi as part of its club membership fee.

In our chart, we show airports with Wi-Fi across North America. Gate coverage is listed where applicable. "All gates" means all areas beyond security. Baggage claim and check-in areas are typically not covered. "Specific locations" means that only particular shops or lounges are covered.

Before planning a trip, check for the state of Wi-Fi at airports along your route, at both endpoints and stopovers. On a recent trip, one JiWire staffer went from Seattle to Denver to Austin, with full connectivity at each stop on the way down and back. Similarly, you can choose from more than one airport in many major metro locations.