MacBook Air have trouble connecting to public Wi-Fi

I assume the first troubleshooting step was to open a browser then type in any IP Address into the address bar and try to navigate to that address. Any IP Address such as 1.1.1.1 will work and may force open the public Wi-Fi access page.

I have the same issue.

Is this a new problem? Are you otherwise able to connect to your Wi-Fi at home? I assume that your computer is able to see the available Wi-Fi networks. Do they require a password to access them? Many times this is the case.

Any software firewalls running on the Mac that might prohibit access to public Wifi?

Are you using a VPN that is encoding signals in advance to these webpages?

I don't turn on my VPN until I have made the public connection.

Is there sufficient signal strength to the public Wifi connections?

Use the option button when selecting the antenna icon in the top menu bar to see signal strengths and noise strength. Values are negative. The lower negative value is a stronger signal. E.g., -45dbm RSSI (signal strength) and -91dBm Noise strength. Antenna icon has 3 full bars. Signal strength should be greater than noise.

My local public WIFI is -75dBm in signal strength with about the same noise strength. It shows only 2 bars on the antenna in the menu.

It's important to know that your computer can connect at home. You might check with the Wi-Fi provider at the place and see if they can tell you what is missing in this connection puzzle. In other words, is there something that their Wi-Fi needs from you to allow access?

Me too.