Finding Outlets in Airports Gets Easier

January 12th, 2009, 6 Comments »

Every laptop-using traveler knows that walk. It’s the brisk trot of the security detail, scanning the surroundings not for threats, but for electrical outlets in an airport lounge.

In my experience, European airports are the worst. I defy you to try to find an available outlet in Heathrow. They’re under concealed floor plates, on the back side of columns and behind the stalls of credit card hucksters.

I rejoiced, then, to see these things in the Newark airport last week (click for the largesse action):

Hurray for Samsung

They’re ‘charging stations’, sponsored by Samsung (some background on Gizmodo). They have six or eight plugs, easily accessible at eye-level. As you can see, they’re branded with the Samsung name, and contain a little display case for showing off new Samsung stuff. They’re apparently in 15 airports across the US.

Hurray for Samsung! This is well-executed marketing. They’re delivering something of value to us just when we need it. The station doesn’t play audio or video ads, require registration or time out after 30 minutes of recharging.

The only addition I would have made was listing a specific URL on the station, or providing a little tear-off sheet with a product offer. That would provide another means of measuring the campaign’s success. I assumed that the airports are tracking power usage so they can bill Samsung appropriately, but I expect that’s assuming too much.

And bonus points for putting the stations in the actual boarding lounges. When they’re provided, study carrels and outlets are often in some dismal corner, far away from your boarding gate. It’s like you’re being punished for being a hard worker.

For example, in Chicago O’Hare, they have a bunch of study carrels with outlets in little clusters. I guess they’re owned by the airport, and advertisers can sponsor them on an ad hoc basis. Unfortunately, the carrels are usually in busy hallways, and the one I used wasn’t in view of my gate. Compared to Samsung, they get a C- on execution.

6 Comments »

My Perfect Trip Home

March 7th, 2008, 4 Comments »

Over the last few years, I’ve done a fair bit of international flying. For sundry reasons, I’m hoping to curtail it. Among them is the fact that flights from Europe and Africa all the way to Vancouver can be pretty heinous, and I often suffer from some serious jet lag. What are the worst bits?

  • Long layovers in Heathrow, a special kind of hell on Earth.
  • Changing terminals in Heathrow, or changing airports across London.
  • When they take you in a bus from the tarmac to the terminal. I’m not sure why this bugs me so much, but it does.
  • Absurdly long lines at passport control.

I could go on. However, I’m pretty pleased with the flights I’ve got coming back to Vancouver this time. Check it out:

  1. On Sunday, a driver takes me to the Marrakesh airport in the afternoon, a trip of about two hours.
  2. I fly to Heathrow. Yes, it’s Heathrow, but I immediately leave the airport to stay over night at a nearby airport hotel.
  3. The next day, my flight leaves at the extraordinarily civil hour of 12:00pm.
  4. The flight to Vancouver is direct. No stops! I get in at 3:00pm, drag myself around for a few hours, watch a hockey game and go to bed.
  5. Thanks to the conference I’m speaking at, I’m staying at the Wall Centre in Vancouver for a few nights when I arrive. I find that hotels are excellent for overcoming the jet lag.

I suppose the perfect trip would avoid Heathrow and include first class, but this is as good as it gets on the cheap. No layovers, eight hours of sleep between flights and very reasonable arrival and departure times. Now, if I can secure an exit row, life will be sweet.

4 Comments »