Skip to main content

No ordinary airport vending machine: Project Fi Travel Trolley gives free gifts

project fi travel trolley sjc get there early
artistan/123RF
There’s little to be enjoyed about holiday traveling, what with the endless security lines, hoards of people, and seemingly inevitable flight delays, but now, Google’s Project Fi is hoping to bring some cheer to your holiday flight. On Wednesday, it was discovered that Google’s mobile virtual network operator had set up a vending machine in San Jose International Airport. But not just any vending machine — a free vending machine.

Traveling through SJC? Check out the new Project Fi Travel Trolley filled with goodies for subscribers. #flywithFi pic.twitter.com/W8O4xvUGyd

— Google Fi Wireless (@googlefi) December 14, 2016

Before you get too excited, you ought to bear in mind that this “free” aspect applies only to Google Fi subscribers. But for those lucky folks, the machine located across from Gate 25 will dispense a whole range of travel essentials, including sleep masks, socks, and charging cables. And because, at the end of the day, this is indeed a marketing ploy, all these items are Fi-branded. But don’t just get the first item you see in the vending machine — given that you can only get one item every 24 hours, you’ll have to choose wisely.

Recommended Videos

For now, the vending machine has been seen only in the Silicon Valley airport, but it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility for these goodie dispensers to pop up elsewhere. If that does happen, you’ll need only to dial *#*#FLYWITHFI#*#* (that’s *#*#359948434#*#*) on your phone. This will generate a QR code that you can present to the scanner on the vending machine, in exchange for your free Project Fi paraphernalia.

So if you need a little pick-me-up as you’re making your way through the airport, or you just realized that you’d forgotten your charger at home, make your way over to the Project Fi Travel Trolley, and pick up a gift for yourself (or hey, maybe for someone else).

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Can’t choose? No problem. Buy two get 20% off on both SUPCASE and i-Blason cases
SUPCASE phone case holiday sale

SUPCASE and i-Blason make some excellent phone cases. Not only are they durable, and do a great job at protecting your fragile yet expensive device, but they look good while doing it. They're stylish, functional, and accessible. But one of the biggest difficulties you'll have -- just like I do -- is choosing one case out of their eclectic collection. However, thanks to a holiday sale going on right now, you don't have to choose. Across both brands, you can buy two products and get 20% off your order with the appropriate promo code. How awesome is that? If you're shopping SUPCASE the code is HOLIDAY20, and if you're shopping i-Blason the code is GIFT20. Hurry, though, those offers are not going to be valid forever.

 
What to shop in the SUPCASE and i-Blason Holiday sale

Read more
The best language-learning apps for 2024
best language learning apps.

Do you need help to learn a new language? You'll wish you'd known about these apps sooner. Learning a foreign tongue can be a real headache. But these top language-learning apps make it easy and fun with bite-sized lessons, quizzes, speech recognition, and more.

From gamified vocabulary builders like Memrise to apps that use TV shows to teach you a new language, there's something for every learning style and goal. Whether you want to master Spanish verb conjugations, read French novels easily, or learn some travel phrases, these apps have you covered. They are available for Android-based devices like the Pixel 9 Pro XL and Apple devices like the iPhone 16.
Duolingo

Read more
iOS 18.2 just took another step toward its official release
iOS 18 logo on the iPhone 16 Pro

Yet another iOS update is ready, and this one is important. The iOS 18.2 beta 2 update is live, and it's a big deal for a couple of reasons. It's available to more people than the previous beta, and it indicates another step toward iOS 18.2's public launch.

The first version of this beta was only available to people whose phones supported Apple Intelligence, but this latest version works with any phone that can update to iOS 18. Addditionally, iOS 18.2 beta 2 is only available to developer beta testers. There isn't a public beta at the moment, and we have no word on when one might release. Still, it's good to see that more people are included this time around.

Read more