Why Isn’t Wi-Fi Free At ATL?

If Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport ("ATL") may be the opposite. Actually, since my 2008 adventure, my trips to ATL haven't been too bad. There always seems to be groups, generally high school or college athletic teams, wearing matching outfits, and there are now Five Guys located in several terminals. However, I can't understand how in 2013, ATL still doesn't have free Wi-Fi.

Before I get into this too much, let me state that this is definitely a first world issue. This post may even sound elitist. There are significant problems in the world including war, hunger and poverty, and I'm writing about the wireless internet access of an airport. I understand that in the grand scheme of things, this isn't even a small issue, it's minuscule. Yes, perspective is important.

Now that I got that out of the way, why isn't Wi-Fi in ATL free? Here's what the airport's website says:

Hartsfield-Jackson is “on the way to free.” Customers expect free Wi-Fi just as they expect free chairs and free use of restrooms. However, they also expect and deserve fast uploads and downloads and 24/7 service. User access fees ensure that right now.

The Airport has dropped the price for Wi-Fi access by about 40 percent — to $4.95 — and is 100 percent committed to quickly finding ways to remove fees as a barrier to Wi-Fi access without eliminating the great service that customers expect.

What does this mean? On the way to free? Although there is a fee for general internet access, you can access numerous websites (Atlanta colleges, tourist attractions and government agencies as well as airline websites) for free. So how hard is it to make the other sites free? People need to read Sean's Ramblings from anywhere for free!

What exactly are the user access fees? Seriously, I'd like to know. How much would if cost for an Atlanta or international company to sponsor this? That way, anyone could login, click a box stating that you won't do anything illegal online and then have the login page take you directly to the Home Depot or Atlanta Thrashers Falcons website.

Wi-Fi is free at Washington Dulles which I realize isn't as large and busy as Atlanta, but it's still a major international airport. Wi-Fi is also free at Washington National and Jacksonville airports. Make it happen ATL!

Three Questions

I need some advice. Let's go to the phones.

1. Do you have any suggestions on things to do if you have a 3+ hour layover at the Atlanta airport? Feel free to include some sarcastic answers, but seriously, where's a good place to eat if you have so much time available?

2. What should you see and do in Charleston, SC if you'll only be there for 2 days?

3. Hypothetically, let's say there is a company replacing your shower. In the process of the construction, there are now several loose tiles on the floor outside the shower that were not loose before the project started. When I, I mean, hypothetically, approached the company about this, you are told that it is not recommended to try to remove individual tiles throughout the floor since the installation is typical builders grade which means that everything will start to come loose when chiseling tiles out. Hypothetically, you are given an option to replace the entire floor for an additional sum of money. Do you have any recourse about trying to replace these loose tiles without paying to replace the entire floor which you don't want to do? Or are you now stuck with loose tiles?

Please leave your answer(s) in the comments section below. Thanks!

Hell is AirTran at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

Flight delays, cancellations, two people working at customer service with over 100 people in line, missing pilots and/or flight crews and no one to help you at the gate. Welcome to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on Sunday, July 13 and Monday, July 14! I should be writing this post from the Washington DC area, but unfortunately, I am not home. Hundreds of flights were cancelled and delayed on Sunday due to a storm. Although we arrived a few hours late, we were able to make it from Jacksonville to Atlanta Sunday evening in time for our flight to Baltimore-Washington International. However, our 7:50pm flight was delayed to 11:50pm. No problem as we had a lovely dinner at the airport Chili’s. And then we waited and waited and waited and watched for updates on the screen. The flight was rescheduled to 12:30am. We saw other flights rescheduled for 2:45am and 3:00am. At 12:25, the airline changed our gate. At approximately 1:30am, my brother called informing me that according to the AirTran website, our flight was cancelled. We didn’t receive official word at the gate about this until close to 2:00. By this time, we were already on hold with AirTran for nearly 25 minutes before someone answered. We are now returning on the next available flight; late Tuesday morning as there were no flights on Monday on AirTran to Dulles, National or BWI. 

The next step: where is our luggage and how do we get it? The answer: I don’t know! We went to baggage claim and had to ask AirTran to pull our luggage. After waiting another hour and fifteen minutes, we learned that our luggage is probably on its way to Baltimore. For all we know, the luggage could still be in Jacksonville or in some other tropical location like Cleveland. While the delays and cancellations were completely due to the weather, I feel that AirTran deserves plenty of blame. They did not have nearly enough staff at the gates, at the baggage claim, for the planes, or available at customer service to assist the thousands of stranded passengers. The reason our flight was cancelled was because there were no flight attendants available. Apparently, the gate staff was counting on the flight attendants from a flight that arrived around 1:00 to work the Atlanta to BWI flight. However, that particular crew had already served the maximum number of hours it could for the day. AirTran should have realized this and either had another crew or cancelled the flight much earlier. Delta encountered the same problems as AirTran, but the Delta gates were empty by midnight as all of its flights either departed or were cancelled. Concourse C, where all of the AirTran gates were located, looked like it was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving even though it was 2:20am. 

To top everything off, I awoke in the middle of the night (for me that was close to 7:00am after going to sleep around 5:00 after leaving the airport) with a terrible cramp in the back on my leg. Off to Walmart to try and find some socks and underwear! 

Update 2:55pm - I now have socks, underwear and deodorant courtesy of Target (and my credit card)! I also learned that our luggage made it to BWI. Finally, courtesy of Atlanta's WSB-TV, "Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue said he believes visitors to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport should be allowed to carry concealed weapons under a bill he signed into law earlier this year." Based on the amount of angry people at the Atlanta airport, I can't think of a worse idea. 

Update Tuesday, July 15 - 4:30pm – We’re home! Our luggage arrived at BWI well before we did, but it was at the airport waiting for us. Thanks to DJ, Poof and Heinz for accommodating us refugees while in Atlanta. For everyone else who struggled traveling on Sunday or Monday because of weather/AirTran problems, feel free to continue posting your comments. It can be very therapeutic and you’re among friends who understand what you went through.