Saturday, January 19, 2008

The air traveler's lament: Where can I plug in?

I used to travel for work, but not so much in my current job. Most of my travel now is in-state, so if I fly it's usually once or twice a year for a vacation. But I have been stuck in an airport for hours, waiting, waiting, waiting. You wander around, looking at the outrageous prices on everything from magazines to a pack of gum. One time a colleague and I were stuck in Charlotte for 4 hours, and the only place we could find both a seat and something to eat was at a bar. The menu had something like 4 items. We had Sam Adams (biggie size that, please) and ordered the "nachos grande." Well, you guessed it: "nachos grande" was about 7 tostitos with melted cheez whiz and about 20 jalapenos on top.

But I digress.

Last summer I had a flight cancelled coming home from Boston Logan and was advised to try to reschedule by calling the airline's 800 number. Of course my cell phone battery was run down and about to die. So I searched and searched, and finally found a corner with an outlet so I could plug in, sit on the floor, and make my call. That's exactly the type of dilemna that new a web site seeks to solve.

The AirPower site says, "This wiki is dedicated to helping you find power while traveling at airports around the globe .... Power to the people, (quite literately). Airports rip people off on a multitude of fronts, (overpriced food, uncomfortable seating, rip off prices...) so it's nice to be able to get your own back, even if it is just in a small way. I live in London, in the UK, so hopefully I can add some European airports soon."

It's a pretty cool idea. I love wikis and this seems like the perfect use of them. But remember to look up an airport before you start out on your trip. Otherwise, how will you find the juice?

No comments: