You’d think they’d also be celebrating National Clam Chowder Day over in Boston, where the Legal Sea Foods chain is well represented at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).  But no.  Via Twitter, the folks at Logan Airport told me,that there was “nothing planned. But we can tell you clam chowder is an airport favorite…and available in every terminal at BOS!”

Valentine’s Day pops up on a Sunday this year, and that gives everyone a full weekend to celebrate the holiday.

This year, even airports are getting in on the action.

Today, Friday, Feb 12^th,  the Food and Shops at New York’s LaGuardia Airport will be handing out free chocolate kisses in the Central Terminal between 11 am and 4 pm. All the shops are gussied up for the holiday as well, with plenty of grab ‘n’ go treats for your sweetie.

(Photo courtesy Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport)

The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) has a great Sweetheart Jewelry exhibit on loan from the National Museum of Patriotism.

On Sunday, volunteers at Florida’s Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) will be handing out about 1,000 red carnations (they do that on Mother’s Day as well)

And Singapore’s Changi Airport is celebrating the holiday with a bouquet’s worth of giant, Valentine’s Day decorations scattered throughout the terminals.

(Photos courtesy Changi Airport Group)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This month, my “At the Airport” column in USATODAY.com is all about airport Wi-Fi.

And all about why more and more airports, including those in Denver, Pittsburgh, Orlando and, just recently, Seattle and Boston, offer this welcome amenity for free – and why some don’t.

Here’s an edited version of that column:

Free Wi-Fi was on Sea-Tac’s to do list for years, but the airport had to wait until its contract with AT&T ran out before making the service free. “It’s almost become a required amenity,” says Sea-Tac airport spokesperson Perry Cooper, “Passengers expect it now. Especially in places like Seattle where folks are very tech-savvy. In fact, it’s been our number one customer service request for years.”

Silicon Valley’s Mineta San José International Airport started offering the service back in May 2008, says airport spokesperson David Vossbrink, because “we serve a high proportion of business travelers and road warriors who have laptops and mobile devices surgically implanted and [they] expect to be able to always be connected.”

It’s pretty much the same story across the country. Everyone wants to stay connected and everyone wants the Wi-Fi at the airport to be free. But how can airports afford to make it free?

Advertising and sponsorship may be the way to go.

At Denver International Airport, which began offering free Wi-Fi in November 2007, between 6,000 and 8,000 travelers now sign on to the system each day and revenue from advertisers help offset the cost of the service. Sea-Tac Airport has asked Clear Channel, which already sells advertising space throughout the airport, to find additional ads to support the new, free Wi-Fi service as well. And at San Francisco International Airport, advertising is being considered as negotiations get underway to figure out how to support a free Wi-Fi program as well. If they can figure out how to fund it, representatives from Nashville International and many other airports say they’d offer travelers free Wi-Fi as well.

Like LAX and the airports in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport still charges passengers for Wi-Fi access. “We know many travelers would love to see free Wi-Fi,” says airport spokesperson Patrick Hogan, “The bottom line is that airports like MSP must generate the funds to cover all airport operating costs…There is no such thing as free airport Wi-Fi. It’s really just a question of who pays to cover the cost of providing the service.”

For the full posted version of this column, read Free airport Wi-Fi takes off in USATODAY.com. And if you’re want to know which airports currently offer free Wi-Fi, the folks at Jaunted.com have been keeping a good tally on their free airport Wi-Fi map.

And if you do use a free Wi-Fi service at an airport, a hotel, a coffee shop or somewhere else, the Wi-Fi Alliance encourages you to use a personal firewall, make sure you have anti-virus software, and keep these other safety tips in mind:

• Make sure that you are connecting to a legitimate hotspot – those that require a password have more protection than those that do not.
• Use a virtual private network or VPN, which establishes a private connection across the public network. This may be supplied by your employer, or you can purchase one.
• Surfing the web and sending e-mail is fine, but doing your banking for example in a public hotspot is not advised.
• Configure for approved connections: Many devices sense and automatically connect to any available wireless signal. To regain control, simply configure your device to not automatically connect to an open network without your approval.
• Disable sharing: Your Wi-Fi enabled devices may automatically open themselves to sharing / connecting with other devices. File and printer sharing may be common in business and home networks, but you can avoid this in public networks.

Got that?

Share a story or photo about a visit to San Diego North to enter the “Don’t Be Left Without a Story – Write Yours in San Diego North” contest.

The prize includes a three-night trip to La Jolla, surfing lessons (remember Gidget?) and tickets to Birch Aquarium.  You have until June 30, 2010 to enter.

Also, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is hosting the Original Memories Photo Contest.  Prizes include hotel nights and airfare credit, a swanky digital camera, and Flip camcorder.

Of course, Valentine’s Day weekend is just around the corner and some airports around the country are planning special treats for travelers.  Here are just a few examples of what you’ll find:

On Friday, February 12^th, The Food & Shops in the Central Terminal at New York’s LaGuardia Airport will be handing out free chocolates kisses from 11 am – 4 pm.

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, there will be a chocolate-covered strawberries sale in the baggage claim area February 12-14.  Last year, 300 dozen of these decadent treats were sold; this year they anticipate selling more than 360 dozen.

And in past years, volunteers in at least two airports were on duty to give passengers single red or yellow roses.  I’m waiting to hear if the tradition will continue this year and will let you know about that tomorrow – along with some other special Valentine’s Day events taking place at other airports.

In the meantime, if you know of any special Valentine’s Day events at an airport, please send the information along.

The folks at Alaska Airlines are.

Today (Tuesday, February 2, 2010), airline representatives will be at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Portland International Airport (PDX) asking passengers to help cheer on speed skater and Pacific Northwest native Apolo Ohno by “Apolo-izing” themselves with free stick-on Apolo Ohno ‘soul patches.’

And don’t worry if you’re not planning to be at either of those airports on Tuesday.

Like the folks pictured above, you can go on-line and “Apolo-ize’ yourself anytime with the handy Apolo-ize tool.

Sounds like a good time for a trip to Hawaii.

If you go, or just want to dream a bit about going, be sure to check out the slide-show I put together for MSNBC.com – Cheap and Offbeat Oahu – about activities that are free, cheap or bit offbeat.

Included: the tale of the fish auction that takes place 6 days a week, beginning at 5:30 am;

Information about a free exhibit at the Hawaii State Art Museum that’s filled with historical objects and photographic portraits that tell the history of Hula,

(These pot holders are not in the exhibition, but you can buy them at the airport..)

And a reminder to travelers that there are a trio of tranquil cultural gardens – Japanese, Chinese and Hawaiian – inside the Honolulu International Airport (HNL)

If you’re going to go to Oahu, you should also pop over to the Big Island.  And if you do, you’ll be able to visit the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center at the Kona International Airport.  On January 28, 1986, all seven crew members were killed when NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger exploded less than two minutes after launch. One of those crew members, Ellison S. Onizuka, was Hawaii’s first astronaut.

To space center has oodles of fun, hands-on activities as well as exhibits that include a moon rock from the final moon landing of Apollo 17 in 1972, an authentic NASA space suite, and personal items that belonged to Ellison Onizuka.

My favorite items in the collection are the freeze-dried macadamia nuts and the freeze-dried Kona coffee that NASA created especially for Onizuka. Today’s astronauts can still choose these items from the space menu.

We want Wi-Fi

Slowly but surely airports large and small are getting with the program and making free wireless Internet access available in the terminals.

The latest major airport to join the party: Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).

Hooray!

Packing tips from Olympic athletes

Curious about what some Olympic athletes do when they’re traveling – or getting ready to travel? Them you may in interested in the video clips the folks at VISA (a 2010 Olympics sponsor) have posted of athletes talking about what they pack, how they prep for a trip, how skier Ryan St. Onge just had to have an airport burrito, and what Olympic Hockey player Angela Ruggiero packs in her carry-on.

Just as interesting, is the fact that the credit card company is giving away a trip to the Olympics – for life. To enter, you just need to charge something on a VISA card.

Seat tax on Air France for Seatmates of Size

And, just a day after announcing that it was introducing “the lightest and most comfortable short-haul seat in the world,” on some of its planes, Air France announced that passengers who cannot fit into a single seat (on any Air France flight) will have to pay for a second seat – at 75% of the cost of the first seat.

The new policy applies to tickets purchased beginning February 1^st for flights April 1^st and beyond.

Think the new rules may apply to you? Here’s the policy for Passengers with High Body Mass.

What do you think? Should seatmates of size be asked to pay for more than one seat?

Late Thursday afternoon  (January 14, 2010) Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano released a(nother) new statement about additional aviation security precautions being rolled out at the nation’s airports.

What will those new precautions entail?

According to Napolitano’s statement, “…Some of these measures include enhanced random screening, additional federal air marshals on certain routes and adding individuals of concern to our terrorist watch list system.”

None of that sounds all that new. But on the ground, says a TSA spokesperson, that means that, depending on what airport you’re in, you might notice “an increase in measures such as…behavioral detection officers and a wider use of tools like explosive trace detection.  Not just at the checkpoint but throughout the airport environment.”

The bottom line, says Napolitano: “…travelers should allot extra time when flying…”

Allotting extra time, of course, means getting to the airport even earlier than you do now.

But even with all these new procedures, it’s a fair bet that your trip through the security checkpoint will go smoothly and you’ll end up just hanging around the airport waiting for your flight.

If you’re at Miami International Airport (MIA) this Saturday, January 16^th, you can spend that extra time watching a fashion show in the Central Terminal (On Departure Level, Terminal G by the $10 Boutique).

The show will last for an hour, from 1:30 to 2:30, and feature women’s, men’s and children’s clothing and accessories from a variety of airport vendors. There will also be sampling of Toblerone chocolate, and a performance by Venezuelan composer, producer and singer Claudio Corsi, who now lives in the Miami area.

Not planning on being at Miami International Airport this Saturday?  If you’re across country at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), you can fritter away a few extra hours playing pinball – for free.

The free pinball machines are part of SFO’s exhibit about the history of pinball that will be on view through April 2010.

In my At the Airport column this month on USAToday.com, I write (again) about the free cookies they hand out at Indiana’s Fort Wayne International Airport as well as some of the fun freebies offered at other airports.

Florida’s  Jacksonville International Airport distributes free flowers to passengers each year on Valentine’s Day and on Mother’s Day.

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport offers free local phone calls year-round.

In Milwaukee, home of Harley-Davidson Motor Company and the Harley-Davidson Museum, the General Mitchell International Airport offers free parking for any traveler who arrives on a motorcycle.

At Ohio’s Port Columbus International Airport, children are given free crayons and blank post-paid postcards and asked to please mail back a picture from their travels for display in an airport gallery. The airport has also purchased its own popcorn machine and hands out free bags of popcorn during quarterly customer appreciation days. “It’s a great way for us to say thanks,” says CMH communications manager Angie Tabor, “Plus, who doesn’t love the smell of popcorn?”

And in Wisconsin, the Outagamie County Regional Airport gives out free toothbrushes.

Airport marketing manager Kim Sippola says: “We noticed that many business travelers would get off the plane, go into the bathroom, and search through their bags for a toothbrush because they were going right from the airport to a meeting. So we thought we’d reduce some stress for our customers by providing them with toothbrushes.”

The airport partnered with a local dentist and now stocks post-security bathrooms with travel-sized oral hygiene kits that contain mouthwash, dental floss and a toothbrush with a single-serving of toothpaste.

Have you found a great airport freebie? Please let us know so we can tell other travelers about it.

But don’t fret. Too much.

Plenty of airports had free Wi-Fi before the promotion and continue to offer it.  And once the Google airport promotion ends, you’ll find a few airports that once offered fee-based Wi-Fi continuing to offer it for free.  Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is one of them.

I’m working on a list of others.

I’m all for free Wi-Fi at all airports. It will happen. In the meantime, I’m keeping tabs on some of the other airport freebies that are out there. I’ve included some of them – including free cookies at Fort Wayne International Airport(FWA) and free toothbrushes at Wisconsin’s Outagamie County Regional Airport (ATW)  – in a column that will post on USAToday.com tomorrow.

But here are few others I didn’t have room for.

For the past year, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) has been giving away luggage tags. Thousands of ‘em.

At Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) they (still) hand out plastic wings (pins); mostly to kids.

Just about every terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) offers complimentary shoe shines (tips are encouraged).

And in at least one small airport in Minnesota, early risers get coffee for free.

“We fire up the coffee pots on our cafe counter in the terminal and give away free coffee to passengers for the first flight out (07:10) each day,” says Shaun Germolus, the Executive Director of the Range Regional Airport (HIB)in Hibbing, MN.  “We try to do the same thing whenever we are aware of flight delays as well.”

Have you found a great freebie at an airport? Let us know!