Finding and using power outlets in airports

On 11/27/05 at 9:00 AM, jerrykdss.us (Jerry Kornfield) wrote:

You mentioned (Insert obligatory "Why can't airports provide more power outlets?!?" rant here.)

I've never ever had a problem with too few power outlets, that is, if sometimes I'm willing to sit on the floor.

Sitting on the floor is usually a requirement, yes. :) That said...

What I started doing back in 1992 is that I carry a 3 prong wall plug that then has 3 outlets on it. You know, the little plastic $2 things you get at the hardware or grocery store. I have never had anything but huge smiles and people move over for me when I pull that out of my bag. So many people now carry them because of me.

...this isn't actually the 'too few outlets' problem I usually run into; it's rare for me to find an outlet that's actually working that doesn't have at least one socket open. The problem is finding the !#$!#% outlets in the *first* place. :)

What I'd like to see airports do is put at least one accessible power outlet on each wall of each gate waiting area. What I've found at the airports I usually fly into is that I'm lucky if there's an outlet outside of the desk within three gates of my flight, and even luckier if it's actually turned on. :P

Travis Butler tbutlermac.com

On 11/29/05 at 5:41 AM, jerrykdss.us (Jerry Kornfield) wrote:

Going back to outlets in airports; Either I'm better at finding outlets, or the airports I frequent are better equipped. I swear I can smell the outlets. However, I do often have to Sherlock them, and there are times when the few are further between.

My home airport is KCI, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find an actual public-accessible outlet more than once or twice. :(

As for the rest... well, honestly, the flights are blurring together in my head at the moment, so I don't remember specifics. <sheepish grin> I do know, in the last few years I've flown through DFW, Houston, Minneapolis, Denver, LaGuardia, Midway, both San Francisco and Oakland, Vegas, Phoenix, and Baltimore. At least half the flights, I couldn't find an outlet at all; of the rest, I can only remember a couple of times when the outlet was convenient to my boarding gate. ;)

By far the nicest was the (relatively new) business commuter terminal at LaGuardia; large tables with outlets, comfortable chairs, and network jacks scattered all throughout the boarding areas. The other really vivid memory is the one that inspired a couple of bits in the article: the outlet was on a structural pillar in a crowded boarding area (I think this was at Atlanta). It was almost impossible to get to - not because of people who wanted to use it, but because the pillar was one of the few available vertical supports in the area, and was piled all 'round with bags and people leaning up against it. I could barely squeeze into a space close enough to get to the outlet, and had to balance the PowerBook on one knee while juggling the Kensington and all its bits on the other knee, so I could give the iPod enough of a booster charge to last the flight. The Lucille would have been a very welcome adapter to have at that point! :)

Travis Butler tbutlermac.com

tbutler wrote:
> My home airport is KCI, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find an
> actual public-accessible outlet more than once or twice. :(

My home airports are LAX and Burbank, and unless you get in to the
special "members-only" lounges, it's darn near impossible to find an
outlet anywhere. Even when you do, you get maintanence people looking at
you like you're doing something wrong.

Burbank has a few outlets, but they do require the "sitting at the
floor" approach to computing, and there are not nearly enough relative
to the number of people who want to use them.

In the end, just carrying an extra battery or two seems to be the better
way to go.

--Chris

On Nov 29, 2005, at 3:49 PM, tbutler wrote:
> My home airport is KCI, and unfortunately I haven't been able to
> find an
> actual public-accessible outlet more than once or twice. :(
>
> ... At least half the flights, I couldn't
> find an outlet at all; of the rest, I can only remember a couple of
> times when the outlet was convenient to my boarding gate. ;)

I too have spent much too much time hunting for outlets in over a
dozen airports (both domestic and abroad). My success rate was about
50%, and usually in some odd corner that made it less than
comfortable to work. So, I gave up looking a few years ago.

I tried carrying a spare battery for a while, but kept on forgetting
to charge it, so that was not really a workable solution.

Ultimately I've settled on carrying one of those NCharge external
"slab" batteries. It's a bit of a haul (2lbs, or so), but IMHO well
worth it. I typically get about 12 hours of actual work time between
it and the iBook internal battery---or enough to last me through a
long connection delay or a NY-Tokyo flight.

Tn


 

--On November 29, 2005 12:49:12 PM -0800 tbutler <tbutlerbirch.net> wrote:

> My home airport is KCI, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find an
> actual public-accessible outlet more than once or twice. :(

Most of the ones I'm familiar with at KCI are outside the security zone.
But they have to plug in the vacuum cleaners somewhere so there must be
some inside.

I used to go to Barnes and Noble and use an outlet they had in the cafe
there. I seem to have started a trend as over the next few months I would
go and there would be more people plugging in their laptops. Apparently
someone at the store got irate about this and had a cover put over the
outlet. Of course the side result was that I no longer go to that Barnes
and Noble and they've lost out on several hundred dollars in book purchases
that I make at other places now.

> At least half the flights, I couldn't
> find an outlet at all; of the rest, I can only remember a couple of
> times when the outlet was convenient to my boarding gate. ;)

Outlets in airports are placed for the convenience of the cleaning crew,
and to hide from view. When most airports were designed that was typically
the only equipment plugged into them. And since the commercial cleaning
equipment tends to have 50 foot cables on them, they space them pretty far
apart.

I'm not sure if the airlines have caught on to the benefit of having plenty
of outlets available. I've found that they are frequently hidden under
phone booth banks.

In another message someone mentioned carrying a 3 outlet adapter and using
that to share. Sometime last year I picked up a 1 foot extension cable. It
has 3 outlets on it. It is absolutely perfect for traveling, especially in
hotel rooms with just the one outlet on the desk. The one foot extension
gets the plugs away from the wall, and the outlets are arranged vertically
so I can actually plug my iPod, cell phone and Palm in at the same time.

<http://homepage.mac.com/kvanhaaren/.Pictures/cable.jpg>

I've been trying to find some more of these, but all the other cables I've
been able to find either put the outlets horizontally, which means I can't
plug in 3 power bricks at the same time (and is a bulkier cable) or like
the Power Squid, is just too big and heavy to haul around conveniently.

<http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/77e6/>

Kevin

On 11/30/05 08:57, "Kevin van Haaren" <kevinvanhaaren.net> wrote:

>> My home airport is KCI, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find an
>> actual public-accessible outlet more than once or twice. :(
>
> Most of the ones I'm familiar with at KCI are outside the security zone.
> But they have to plug in the vacuum cleaners somewhere so there must be
> some inside.

There are. You have to look along the walls, between the seating units. I
rarely have problems. Oh, and for all flying out of KCI to SF for Macworld,
I HIGHLY recommend Midwest. Wide seats, direct flights, and fresh cookies.

--
John C. Welch Writer/Analyst
Bynkii.com Mac and other opinions
jwelchbynkii.com

On or about 11/29/05 10:52 PM, thus spake "Christopher Smith" <xxman.org>:

> My home airports are LAX and Burbank, and unless you get in to the
> special "members-only" lounges, it's darn near impossible to find an
> outlet anywhere. Even when you do, you get maintanence people looking at
> you like you're doing something wrong.

In fact, the last time I was at LAX, I plugged into an outlet and - my plug
fell right out! They seem to have switched, in some places, to a
non-standard plug size, presumably to foil computer users.

I read a story online about a computer user in Germany who was charged with
theft of services for plugging in his computer. And indeed it is not hard to
see how a bloody-minded airport could regard use of "their" electricity as
theft.

m.

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On Nov 30, 2005, at 8:57 AM, Kevin van Haaren wrote:

> In another message someone mentioned carrying a 3 outlet adapter
> and using
> that to share. Sometime last year I picked up a 1 foot extension
> cable. It
> has 3 outlets on it. It is absolutely perfect for traveling,
> especially in
> hotel rooms with just the one outlet on the desk. The one foot
> extension
> gets the plugs away from the wall, and the outlets are arranged
> vertically
> so I can actually plug my iPod, cell phone and Palm in at the same
> time.


IKEA is currently selling a 1 foot long, 3-outlet powerstrip that is
quite suitable for travel. It's very much like the one in Kevin's
photo, but is white in color. A two-pack costs something like $8.00

I couldn't find the white ones that I bought (less than 3 months ago)
at their website, but they are listing these funky blue ones, which
are similar: <http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/
ProductDisplay?
topcategoryId=15579&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=64562&langId=-1
&parentCats=15579>


   --Gordon


-----
Gordon Meyer
Smart Home Hacks -- <http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/smarthomehks/>
Smart Home blog: <http://www.gordonmeyer.com/>


 

At 12:48 PM 11/29/2005 -0800, tbutler wrote:
>The problem is finding the !#$!#% outlets in the *first* place.

For the record, much or all of the Atlanta now has semi-compacting trash
bins. Open the lid, toss something in, and it goes whirr whirr. I haven't
followed the plugs, but presumably they are just plugged into wall outlets.
Should make finding the outlet a bit easier. As someone already noted,
these are on the large support pillars at the edge of the main corridor.

Edward
Christmas cards by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org

  

IKEA is currently selling a 1 foot long, 3-outlet powerstrip that is quite suitable for travel. It's very much like the one in Kevin's photo, but is white in color. A two-pack costs something like $8.00

Actually, right now is a great time to pick one up. I found one in the Christmas section -- I had used a couple of them when setting up my outside lights and thought -- Hey! this would be a great addition to my travel bag with the laptop. I am frequently frustrated in the lack of power outlets in hotel rooms and don't want to carry a large power strip. This weighs only a couple ounces.

At 10:13 AM -0800 11/30/05, Matt Neuburg wrote:
>In fact, the last time I was at LAX, I plugged into an outlet and - my plug
>fell right out! They seem to have switched, in some places, to a
>non-standard plug size, presumably to foil computer users.

Once, I think in Denver, I plugged my PowerBook in, and the charging
icon didn't come on (this was before the adapters that lit up). Then
my flight was called and I didn't have time to think about it. I used
the PowerBook all the way home, and when I got home, plugged it in
before going to bed. When I got up in the morning, the PowerBook
wouldn't turn on, and it took me a while to realize that the power
adapter had been fried, such that the battery had been drained all
the way. Luckily, I had another around to get the PowerBook running
again.

Since then I've been a little cautious, but since I don't have any
easy way of testing an outlet first (I suppose I could carry one of
those outlet testers), I tend to plug and hope for the best.

cheers... -Adam

--
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_____________________________________________________________________
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Amtrak provides one outlet at every seat. They usually work, but I
have been on a couple ride where the power was out in parts of the car.

I now bring a power tester plug, the kind with three LEDs to tell you
if the outlet is wired correctly. On two ride (two tests) it said
they were wired wrong, reversing polarity or not grounding
correctly. Still, I can run the iBook off that just fine. And I'd
rather blow out the plug than an adaptor.

So airports don't have enough outlets and the ones they have are
either far between or for-pay. There's a similar problem with
airplanes. Not enough planes have at-seat power outlets. I don't
fly much these days, so had I known that I would not have bought an
airplane adaptor.

Adam Engst, "More Power, Scotty!" #, 8 Jan 2006 11:46 pm

Adam wrote:

Hmm. Maybe I should start traveling with a power strip

One of my coworkers is in this habit, on a daily working basis. While conference rooms are handily plug-enabled, the distance from an outlet to one's seat at a conference table is often greater than the length of one's power cables. He carries the power strip to cover that last six feet, and alleviate demand with other laptop users.

Recently at an in-Barnes-and-Noble Starbucks, I was delighted at the karma-compatible resourcefulness of a fellow outlet-hunter -- he carried a 3x1 power cube! After plugging it into a highly prized outlet, there were three new outlets (one for him, two for others) available. Such genius, and only $1.99!

-- Andrew Laurence atlaurenes.nacs.uci.edu Network & Academic Computing Svcs. http://www.nacs.uci.edu/~atlauren/ UC Irvine

Adam wrote from the friendly skies...

Hmm. Maybe I should start traveling with a power strip purely so I can use - and then share with my fellow power-hungry travelers - any outlet I can find. If I'm arrested for theft of services, promise you'll all send me cookies in prison.

I started carrying an extension cord with multiple connections after one airport experience in which another traveler got snotty about needing BOTH plugs at an outlet.

But it's a two-prong extension cord, which I realized was a problem on my last trip, since I fairly recently started using the PowerBook's adapter with the three-prong cord attached, instead of the little two-prong block. Guess I should start carrying the two-prong block for emergencies.

A small grounded power strip would be a good idea; I think we have some of those at work. But I should keep the extension cord in my bag for the occasions when I happen upon a two-prong outlet.

Much of the problem is that most airports were designed 10-50 years ago with the power needs of the occasional vacuum cleaner in mind, not the relatively recent explosion of recharging needs of the traveling public. Most of the gate areas of the airport buildings are little more than metal and glass walls, so there's no place to add an outlet, and no wiring in the relevant places to add it to. Retrofitting them would be a non-trivial task, but as new facilities are built and old ones are renovated, there are almost always more outlets being added.

========================================================================== Mark H. Anbinder | mhatidbits.com Contributing Editor, TidBITS | http://www.tidbits.com/ ==========================================================================

--On January 9, 2006 10:04:50 AM -0800 atlauren <atlaurenes.nacs.uci.edu>
wrote:

> Recently at an in-Barnes-and-Noble Starbucks, I was delighted at the
> karma-compatible resourcefulness of a fellow outlet-hunter -- he
> carried a 3x1 power cube! After plugging it into a highly prized
> outlet, there were three new outlets (one for him, two for others)
> available. Such genius, and only $1.99!

Saw this via the Cool Tools blog, looks pretty good.

<http://us.kensington.com/html/1052.html>
<http://kk.org/cooltools/index.php>

Too heavy for me to carry around, i'll stick with my 1 ft extension with 3
plugs at the end, at least to get extra outlets. Gets me away from the
wall/lamp (in hotels), weighs a few ounces and I can plug in my phone,
laptop and palm. I do usually throw a big strip with a longer cable into
the projector box, but that's a wheeled case so the weight doesn't matter.

I do remember one conference room i went too. They forked out big bucks for
a really sweet conference room table with a channel running down the middle
(with a slotted, hinged cover) and an outlet for each seat. Unfortunately
they seem to have run out of money paying for the table. They didn't have
the table wired to the power....

Kevin

On 1/10/06, Mark H. Anbinder <mhatidbits.com> wrote:
> Most of the gate areas of the airport buildings are
> little more than metal and glass walls, so there's no place to add an
> outlet, and no wiring in the relevant places to add it to.
> Retrofitting them would be a non-trivial task, but as new facilities
> are built and old ones are renovated, there are almost always more
> outlets being added.

Having suffered through several elderly building's modernization
cycles during my former corporate life, I can tell you that it's
realtively easy to add power and networking from overhead with
surface-mounted rigid cable hiders. I'd bet the issue is more one of
cost and lack of revenue to offset that cost.

Why spend $50k to make power available and undoubtabley increase your
electric costs with no offsetting revenue ? I'd doubt the airlines
would be for the idea either as this is one of the driving reasons to
get access to business lounges...

Christopher Appell
European Market
FreeRecruiting.com

I noticed last week that at least one of the Delta concourses (Concourse C) in the Atlanta Hartsfield airport was offering a *public* mobile travel kiosk with multiple power outlets, hard/wireless internet connections, and a teensy bit of desk space to work with. Unfortunately it was in the vicinity of a public childrens' play area (noisy), but is a definite improvement over sitting on the hard floor behind some dusty column trying to get work done. I didn't visit the other Delta concourses at that facilty, but presume that one would find a similar setup in each concourse. If the airports themselves can't or won't provide juice outside the for-pay business centers, etc., the Delta alternative is a nice one that I would hope to see replicated at other airlines' facilities. A few electrons and a basic broadband internet connection is a cheap way to attract and hold connection-hungry customers...certainly cheaper than adding 2 inches to an airline seat footspace, for instance, or maintaining a Frequent Flier marketing campaign. (Or paying for bankruptcy lawyers). Carrying a power strip in your kit is a bulky but periodically rewarding enterprise, by the way. Several times I've gotten to play the hero at the local coffee shop when the user demand outstripped the available outlets. Geek leaps up from tepid coffee, pulls power strip from bag and becomes instant friend to all without having to buy a round for each. Dale Carnegie, eat your heart out. James Atkinson

Adam wrote from the friendly skies... > Hmm. Maybe I should start traveling with a power strip purely so I can > use - and then share with my fellow power-hungry travelers - any outlet > I can find. If I'm arrested for theft of services, promise you'll all > send me cookies in prison. I'm going to open up airport kiosks which consist of nothing but electric outlets. You put in a couple of quarters and get 15 minutes of power. And, they say you can't get rich quick. ======================================= Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd  ======================================= David Weintraub davidweintraubworld.net davidweintraub.name