That’s not a mock-up of just any airplane there in Terminal 4 at JFK International Airport.
It’s an “experience” Jose Cuervo had Air Hollywood put together to commemorate the legendary 1972 Rolling Stones tour (dubbed the Tequila Sunrise Tour) and give travelers a mild version of the tour’s party plane experience.
The pop-up plane is in the retail lounge of Concourse A at JFK Terminal 4 through December 30 and Jose Cuervo will be offering tequila sampling Monday through Saturday, 2:30 – 8:00pm.
We all want unlimited free Wi-Fi at the airport and, increasingly, we’re getting it.
But not in the New York City-area at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International Airports.
Back in June 2014 the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey announced its intention to provide complimentary 30-minute Wi-Fi sessions throughout JFK, Newark and LaGuardia airports by the fall of 2014.
Some progress was made, but the deadline to complete the project got pushed back to March 2015 and today there are still major holes in the promised Wi-Fi coverage at these airports.
The official websites for JFK, LaGuardia and Newark still say Wi-Fi is provided everywhere on a pay-as-you-go basis. But the promised 30 minutes of complimentary Wi-Fi is available in some terminals all the time and in others on an occasional basis.
Six terminals now have the 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi offer in place and Port Authority says it is “working with Boingo to help expedite the placement of the service in the remaining terminals.”
For the terminals where the project is not yet completed, Boingo offers 20- or 30-minute complimentary Wi-Fi sessions, but only when sponsorships are available.
So when and where are complimentary Wi-Fi sessions offered?
Terminals currently offering 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi include:
• Newark: Terminals B and C
• JFK: Terminals 4 and 8
• LaGuardia: Terminal A and B
Terminals pending conversion, but where sponsored sessions are offered 50% of the time include:
• Newark: Terminal A
• JFK: Terminals 1, 2 and 7
• LaGuardia: Terminals C and D
Elsewhere, though, JetBlue independently provides unlimited free Wi-Fi in Terminal 5 at JFK and OTG offers unlimited complimentary web browsing on more than 3,000 fixed iPads in some gate areas and restaurants in Newark, JFK and LaGuardia.
Good enough?
“The Port Authority’s announcement of free WiFi in June was a major win for passengers, and the right thing to do,” said Joe Stitt, Chairman and Founder of the advocacy group Global Gateway Alliance, “But the agency now needs to honor that commitment and bring true free WiFi to every terminal at our airports for all 112 million New York-New Jersey passengers.”
Neither Boingo nor the Port Authority responded to requests for a new target date for the completion of the project.
In June, 2014 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced its intention to revise its agreement with Boingo and offer complimentary 30-minute Wi-Fi for all passengers at the JFK, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International Airport and Stewart International Airport in Newburgh by fall.
Did that happen?
Not quite yet.
According to a joint statement from the Port Authority and Boingo, existing wireless networks are currently being upgraded at the Port Authority¹s airports and “free Wi-Fi will be available in at least one terminal at JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia Airports by month¹s end, with the free service at all terminals anticipated by the end of the first quarter of 2015.”
Boing spokeswoman Katie O’Neill said that complimentary 30-minute Wi-Fi sessions are currently available in JFK Terminal 4 and Newark (EWR) Terminal C, with free service on target to be available at LaGuardia¹s Central Terminal Building by the end of December.
In the meantime, O’Neill said Boingo is getting sponsors to cover some complimentary 30-minute Wi-Fi sessions and that Amazon, Citi/AA Advantage Card, Volkswagen and American Airlines, and others are lined up to cover sessions at the airports through the end of the year.
Upgrades are also scheduled for Stewart Airport’s Wi-Fi network, sometime in the first quarter of 2015 and O’Neill said Boingo has sponsors lined for complimentary 30-minute sessions there through the end of the year.
Looks like we won’t have the NY-area airports to kick around – Wi-Fi-wise- for much longer.
The Associated Press reports that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday approved a plan that -perhaps by the fall – will offer passengers at Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi. After that, passengers will have pay the $7.95 day fee.
While that 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi s good news, of course, 30 minutes is hardly enough time to get anything done. So here’s hoping free unlimited Wi-Fi is in the future for the JFK, EWR and LGA airports.
Harstfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recently changed its plan and now offers all passengers unlimited free Wi-Fi, with an option to get an upgraded service for a fee.
Despite some much-welcome improvements, the three major New York area-airports – John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty International Airport – lag well behind most other major U.S. airports in amenities.
That’s according to a report released Wednesday by the New York-based Global Gateway Alliance, an advocacy group hoping to draw attention to the problems facing New York-area airport airports operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The report compared 15 different amenities across 15 major U.S. airports.
“Since millions of people are spending so much more time in airports, we want airlines and airport operators to think not just about how to move more planes and passengers, but how to provide a better experience as well,” said Global Gateway Alliance chairman Joe Sitt.
The report found that shoe shine facilities, spas, prayer/meditation rooms and post offices/mail services are easy to find at many airports, but dry cleaners, outdoor areas and gym and fitness centers are scarce.
Dallas-Fort Worth, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare and San Francisco International airports received the highest scores for the amenities offered. New York’s LaGuardia Airport received the lowest score, offering just one – shoe shine facilities – of the 15 amenities surveyed.
Newark-Liberty and JFK airports also scored near the bottom of the list, with Newark offering just four of the amenities surveyed and JFK offering five.
“At New York’s airports in particular, quality passenger amenities must go hand in hand with terminal modernization if we really want to rebuild the best airports in the nation and the world, and make them an ongoing economic engine,” said Sitt.
While the three New York-area airports fared poorly in the survey, industry experts point to some bright spots in that market, including Terminal C at Newark airport and JFK’s Terminal 5 (operated by JetBlue).
“Also, take Delta Air Lines’ award-winning Sky Deck terrace at New York JFK Terminal 4 and OTG Management’s iPad ordering system at New York LaGuardia,” said Mary Kirby, founder of Runway Girl Network. “These innovations underscore the fact that some airlines and vendors are making a concerted effort to improve the passenger experience on the ground. New York airports are not standing still.”
For now, though, the experience can be hit or miss.
“The terminal you are in is important,” said John Walton, director of data at flight search website Routehappy. “For example, JFK T4 has some amazing new food and shopping outlets, including Shake Shack, but T1 has practically zero food after security.”
The Global Gateway Alliance’s survey results come as no surprise to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has a variety of facilities improvement programs underway.
At Newark, a $348 million Terminal B modernization is nearing completion and at JFK, Delta is continuing upgrades in Terminal 4 and JetBlue is building an international arrivals area at Terminal 5. “And at LGA we have an RFP out to four finalists for a public-private partnership to build a new, state-of-the-art Central Terminal Building as part of a $3.6 billion project to replace the current one that opened in 1964,” said Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico.
The Port Authority has also been working on a wide variety of customer amenity improvements announced in May 2012 in response to its own survey of more than 10,000 air passengers. Those improvements include additional customer care agents and cleaner restroom facilities.
Here’s the amenities tally sheet Global Gateway Alliance came up with:
“The information used to compile the report was collected from a range public websites, including those of the airports, phone conversations with airport representatives, and published news articles. The raw data was carefully screened and verified.”
(This story first appeared on NBC New Travel).