December 2007

These things have probably been around for a while already, but I only just noticed them last Saturday when I traipsed through SeaTac at unbelievably early hours in the morning: Southwest Power Stations.

They’re this bar-stool toting fake granite slabs dotted around the Southwest terminal at probably most airports. All I know for sure is that you can find them in Seattle, Phoenix, and San Antonio.

I’m not sure why they decided bar stools were the best seat for computing, but I’m glad to find more and more places dedicated to sitting down and plugging in. I tend to do a lot of traveling where I have a layover that is at least 45 minutes.

A quick charge can go a long way, if you’ll excuse the pun.

I always like to write posts where I get to say, on some level, “I told you so.”

JetBlue recently ran a test flight with Wi-Fi for press types to try out, and they got plenty of buzz because of it. Unforutnately for them, it’s all pretty mediocre as far as I can tell. And the first words out of Cnet’s review are:

The biggest problem with JetBlue’s inaugural “BetaBlue” flight, equipped with Yahoo and BlackBerry e-mail and instant messaging, was the fact that there aren’t power outlets on board the aircraft.

Hmmmm. I told you so.

In-flight Wi-Fi is, like internet access most places, going to happen eventually. If I were running an airline, I’d be approaching my service offerings by asking myself a question: if someone put me in a room for six hours and allowed me to bring only what I could easily carry on my person, what would I want in that room?

The list is pretty short, and in order of importance:

• A bathroom
• A power outlet
• The internet
• Snacks

You got that, I’m happy.

JetBlue tend to be pretty forward thinking though, and I’ll be surprised if they ignore the feedback they’re getting.

For those of you who aren’t aware, The New York Times keeps a travel blog called JetLagged, which today has a piece that rips into the TSA:

If you are someone who suspects that what is billed as “aviation security” is often more show than substance, you are not alone. In fact, you are part of what Nixon aides used to call the “silent majority.” The security bureaucracy seems to think that as long as it is seen as doing something, and so long as another terror attack does not occur, the public will at least feel secure enough not to insist that it do whatever needs to be done actually to make us secure.

I won’t spoil the post for you, but the gist of it is that the TSA is all hat and no cattle. Myself, I’ve often complained about the way that buying expensive airline club memberships can speed you through security.

What sense does that make? If security is something that we all have to go through, why do rich people fly faster?

But I suppose that’s just me being jealous.