This morning I’m on my way back from Pittsburgh, and enjoying the hospitality of Southwest Airlines and their unconventional approach to managing flights (how many times do you have flight attendants singing over the plane PA “We love you, you love us, we’re much faster than the bus!”?)
All in all, it’s been a pleasant experience, though I have to learn a new set of rules about getting my much-needed bulkhead seat (Check in early. No, really. I’m not kidding, check in THE DAY BEFORE, and print the boarding pass ahead of time. Southwest has no reserved seating, even for 6 and a half foot tall 1/8th ton monstrosities that have little chance of fitting into seat 14B and still retaining the ability walk upright after the flight.)
On the way back, I’m traveling through BWI, hoping to take a few minutes online between flights, and lo I notice these bench-like tables with power outlets AND USB charging hookups. There’s dozens of them, they’re perfectly set up for a quick park-and-email-check, as well as “I need to charge my cell phone.” This may be the most intelligent thing I’ve seen an airport do to take into account the type of tech-heavy traveler that’s so common nowadays.
Naturally, I had to try it out, and here I blog, plugged in and comfy, just outside my gate.
Thank you BWI for getting a clue!
About Dave Shevett
A wandering geek. Toys, shiny things, pursuits and distractions.
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Oooh, that’s very cool.
Just to let you know, it was not BWI that put those in, it was SWA. I know, I work for SWA. 🙂
@SWA Employee – Really? Do airports other than BWI have them? Tell them to put some in PIT! I would totally love to have more reasons to fly SWA. 🙂
@ blk – By the end of the 3rd quarter or sooner, we will have them at all of our station’s system wide. Look for them and we will see you there! 😉
@SWA Employee – THa’ts fantastic to hear. Thank you for the inside information! I did enjoy using them, though I suspect that the other airlines will take quite a while to come around to seeing this as a useful way to make the travelling experience a little less painful.