Thomas Crampton

Social Media in China and across Asia

Travel Nightmare: Lockdown on plugs

Jan 6, 2009

Category: airports Tags: ,

Great posting by Ed Kohler about a terrible new trend in US airports: Charging for electricity.

Ed took these photos at the Cincinnati airport. The scary part is how the SmartCarte machine locks down access to electricity, creating a monopoly on the suddenly scarce resource.

As blogged earlier, power is one crucial in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Geek Needs.

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View Comments for “Travel Nightmare: Lockdown on plugs”

  • Seem crazy that you cannot plug your laptop in at an airport when you have hours to wait and a long flight ahead of you and yet on many 2 hour train journeys i have found a plug without any problems!
  • I was just in the brand new Bangkok airport this weekend which - amazingly - didn't seem to have any plugs (free or paying).

    My question about the SmartCarte system is how you charge a laptop while working on it?

    Do you have to stand by the machine and hold your laptop in the air while typing?
  • Thomas, thanks for the mention. Love the hierarchy of geek needs. Another peeve of mine that needs more attention: Hotels that hide outlets behind furniture.
  • Andrew McDill
    If Cincinatti's or SmartCarte's intent is to avoid people from disrupting the operation of the machine, then I agree. Many airports now offer device re-charging stations. They are quite plentiful in Atlanta, and I believe in Cincinnati as well.
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