LAX’s sluggish Wi-Fi speeds
Wireless and cellular speeds at Los Angeles International Airport are among the slowest of any major airport in the country, a new study finds.
Anyone who has been stuck waiting for a f light at Los Angeles International Airport knows that connecting to the Internet can make a long delay somewhat tolerable.
But a new study released last week found that wireless and cellular speeds at LAX are among the slowest of any major airport in the country.
Seattle-based technology company Ookla gauged the speeds of the four largest carriers — AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon — as well as the airport-provided Wi-Fi at each of the nation’s top 20 busiest airports.
When it comes to connecting to cellular service, LAX had the slowest speeds of all airports except for New York’s LaGuardia Airport, according to the study.
The download cellular speed at LAX was an average of 8 megabits per second, the study found. That is a stark contrast to the fastest cellular speeds of about 45 Mbps at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
As for the free wireless Internet provided at LAX, it ranks 12th among the 20 biggest airports, behind the airports in Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth. The average download speed at LAX was about 12 Mbps, compared with more than 60 Mbps at Denver International Airport, which ranked as the fastest.
Justin Erbacci, chief technology officer at Los Angeles World Airports, said the airport’s Wi-Fi provider is adding access points throughout the terminals to make connecting faster. He said his agency is also working with cellular carriers to improve their speeds at the airport.
“We understand how important WiFi and cellular service is to our guests,” he said. “We are listening to them and have heard their message loud and clear.”
LAX’s Wi-Fi is free in increments of 45 minutes, with faster speeds offered for $4.95 an hour or $7.95 for 24 hours.
Delta’s diversity training
In the wake of two embarrassing onboard incidents, Delta Air Lines is expediting diversity training for all of its flight attendants and customer service workers in the terminals.
The training was mandated for all executives last year and was planned to be eventually expanded to flight attendants this year. But officials at the Atlanta-based carrier said the timing of the training has been pushed up to start in March after the two recent incidents.
In November, Delta apologized for failing to remove a man from a flight after he launched an expletive-laced speech in support of Donald Trump. Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastain later banned the man for life from the airline.
A few weeks earlier, Delta had to apologize to an African American doctor who was rebuffed by a flight attendant when she offered to help a sick passenger.
Delta already requires diversity training for new employees and again on an annual basis.
The new “inclusion training” — involving online lessons and group discussions — was mandated four months ago for all executives. Delta officials said the two incidents have forced the airline to expedite the training for f light attendants and front-line airport workers.
Bag fee disclosure rule
The Department of Transportation under the Obama administration adopted an unprecedented number of airline passenger protections, including a rule that fines carriers for leaving fliers stranded on an airport tarmac for more than three hours.
In the final week of the Obama administration, the federal agency proposed one final regulation: a requirement that airlines and travel agents disclose bag fee information at all points of sale. The rule expands a previous regulation mandating airlines to include easy-to-find fee information on their websites. Some airlines responded to this rule by burying the information deep within their sites.
The latest proposal goes a step further by requiring that the bag fee information appear alongside the fare price when fliers search airfares on airline websites as well as on Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity and other travel sites.
“The department’s goal is to protect consumers from hidden and deceptive fees and enable them to determine the true cost of travel in an effective manner when they price shop for air transportation,” the agency said in its rule proposal.
The public has until March 20 to comment on the proposal before the agency decides whether to adopt the change.
Airline industry representatives say U.S. carriers have been transparent enough without the new regulation.
“The fact that a record number of people are flying underscores that customers are benefiting every day from affordable fares and the ability to choose among carriers, amenities and service options that best meet their needs,” said Vaughn Jennings, a spokesman for Airlines for America, the trade group for the nation’s airlines.
Jennings said he couldn’t speculate whether the regulation would get the support of the incoming Transportation secretary under the new Trump administration.