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Airports that don’t offer free wifi drive me insane. American airports are notorious for not offering free wifi and instead electing to use a service called Boingo where you either have to pay for a day pass to use wifi or pay a monthly fee to gain unlimited access to Boingo hotspots. In this day and age it’s just insulting! Who’s with me here?
On my latest trip to New York, unwilling to let Boingo win, I decided to poke around to see if there was a way around this.
I thought it was hopeless until I stumbled upon this very travel hack. You won’t believe how incredibly simple it is. Without further ado, here are the steps to get your free wifi.
Update: It looks like Boingo may have closed the loop on this one as I’ve tested EWR and LGA this past year and they’ve redesigned (yet again) their login portal to prevent you from doing this. Sorry guys!
Desktop – How to get free Boingo wifi in 3 easy steps
Step 1: Go to your browser, get redirected to the Boingo page and click on “The Good Stuff” on the left side bar
Step 2: Click on “Shopping”
Step 3: Select ebay
At this point you’ll be redirected to eBay but you’ll notice you get full access to the internet. Boom! Done :)
Mobile – How to get free Boingo wifi in 4 easy steps
Step 1: Go to your browser, get redirected to the Boingo page and click on the button that has 3 horizontal lines on it on the top right
This activates the slide out menu.
Step 2: Tap on “The Good Stuff” in the menu
Step 3: Time to do a little shopping
Step 4: Tap on eBay
And just like the desktop method, you’ll get redirected to eBay on your browser but after that, you’ll get full access to the internet.
Yep it’s as easy as that!
I didn’t get a chance to try all the different combinations of shopping and other “Good Stuff” they offer but if you follow these exact steps you won’t be one of those suckers that pay for wifi ;)
I’ve so far tested this at both LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR) with success but I would also love to know if this works at other airports that force you to use Boingo wifi. Chime in if you know or if you’ve tried this hack after reading this article. Chicago O’Hare works as well!
Will is the Chief of Awesome at Going Awesome Places which is focused on off-the-beaten-path, outdoor adventure, and experiential travel. His true passion lies in telling stories, inspiring others to travel, writing detailed trip itineraries to help others plan their own trips, and providing helpful tips and tricks to guide readers to travel better. He is based in Toronto, Canada but you'll find him on the road more often than not. Make sure to learn more about Will to find out his story and how Going Awesome Places started.
Thanks for the heads up Courtney. I’ve noticed that in the past year, they’ve patched up these loopholes. I’ve tested it in LaGaurdia and Newark recently and it’s all redesigned now unfortunately! One of these days all airports will have free wifi I hope!
sir,
I want to know password of free wifi at the ORD chikago airport, so that I may call to my daughter,who is living in chicago,buffalo grove.
My Airindia flight is on 22.12.2016 at 1:30 pm.
Kindly guide me how can I use free wifi and let me know password of airport wifi.
Hi Jagdish, unfortunately I don’t know how ORD is set up right now with Boingo. It does look like they may have closed the loop on this as my recent trip to LGA proved that you can’t do this anymore.
Umm..all Boingo airports have permanent free wifi. So what’s the point of this “hack”? And why pick on the wifi provider? Do you do the same for the food vendors SELLING you food in the airport? The taxis SELLING you rides? Hell, why are you PAYING for airline tickets? Shouldn’t all of that be free too?
Actually I would say that most airports don’t offer free Boingo wifi and if so there’s typically some sort of action required to get limited free access (i.e. download an app). While this hack won’t necessarily work at all airports, at one point it worked at LaGuardia and Newark. I know a few readers have gotten this to work at other airports. It’s really up to you if you want to use this hack or not. Personally, in this day and age, wifi should be free at airports but hey that’s just me.
I’ve read the press releases and Boingo now offers free wifi at all their locations. Advertising is involved and from my experience the app download stuff is optional. went thru laguardia the other day and said no thanks to an app then watched a video ad then was online. why should wifi be free at the airports but not free airline tickets or free food in the airport? That’s what I’m trying to understand from you.
Courtney Burdett says
This does not work at Chicago o’hare
Will Tang says
Thanks for the heads up Courtney. I’ve noticed that in the past year, they’ve patched up these loopholes. I’ve tested it in LaGaurdia and Newark recently and it’s all redesigned now unfortunately! One of these days all airports will have free wifi I hope!
Jagdish Prasad Sharma says
sir,
I want to know password of free wifi at the ORD chikago airport, so that I may call to my daughter,who is living in chicago,buffalo grove.
My Airindia flight is on 22.12.2016 at 1:30 pm.
Kindly guide me how can I use free wifi and let me know password of airport wifi.
Will Tang says
Hi Jagdish, unfortunately I don’t know how ORD is set up right now with Boingo. It does look like they may have closed the loop on this as my recent trip to LGA proved that you can’t do this anymore.
Shaw says
Unfortunately it does not work at MIA ?
mike says
Umm..all Boingo airports have permanent free wifi. So what’s the point of this “hack”? And why pick on the wifi provider? Do you do the same for the food vendors SELLING you food in the airport? The taxis SELLING you rides? Hell, why are you PAYING for airline tickets? Shouldn’t all of that be free too?
Will Tang says
Hey Mike,
Actually I would say that most airports don’t offer free Boingo wifi and if so there’s typically some sort of action required to get limited free access (i.e. download an app). While this hack won’t necessarily work at all airports, at one point it worked at LaGuardia and Newark. I know a few readers have gotten this to work at other airports. It’s really up to you if you want to use this hack or not. Personally, in this day and age, wifi should be free at airports but hey that’s just me.
mike says
I’ve read the press releases and Boingo now offers free wifi at all their locations. Advertising is involved and from my experience the app download stuff is optional. went thru laguardia the other day and said no thanks to an app then watched a video ad then was online. why should wifi be free at the airports but not free airline tickets or free food in the airport? That’s what I’m trying to understand from you.
Will Tang says
Sure you’re entitled to that opinion. Not sure how free wifi is anywhere the same magnitude as free airline tickets or free food.