Skype is donning its Santa suit and leaving the gift of free Wi-Fi underneath trees at select airports across the U.S. this holiday season.

Holiday travelers courageous enough to brave the nation’s airports between Dec. 21 and Dec. 27 will get free Wi-Fi courtesy of Skype — but only for one hour.

Existing Skype for Mac, PC and iOS users can access Skype WiFi from their laptop or mobile device at 50 select airports and can use the connection to phone up friends or family members, or browse the Internet.

“To get started make sure you’ve downloaded the latest version of Skype for Windows or Skype for Mac, or have downloaded the Skype WiFi app on your iOS device,” the company explained in a blog post announcing its holiday treat. “Once you have signed in with a valid Skype ID, check your wireless network connection to see if you are in a supported hotspot.”

Okay, so it’s not exactly the gift that you’ll be talking about all next year, and it’s not as awesome as Google’s free inflight Wi-Fi present last year, but it’s something (and thankfully many of the nation’s airports already offer free Wi-Fi). Plus, for those unlucky folks who get stranded at airports this year, an hour of free Wi-Fi could help bring a little joy to an otherwise frustrating experience.

This was post was updated to reflect the fact that Skype WiFi can be used to browse the Internet, in addition to making Skype video and voice calls.

[Santa image via Shutterstock]

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