Assorted thoughts from the airports

I made it back from Reconnect 2007 safe and sound around 11:30 last night, and without a single flight delay! I didn’t have wifi at any point on the way back — see mini-rant below — so I kept a text file with some running commentary while I was waiting for my flights yesterday. Here you go:

- Both the Raleigh-Durham airport and the Newark Liberty Airport have wifi… for $7.95 per 24-hour period. That’s lame. Wifi in an airport should be free. Especially in Newark, which has one of the highest rates of traffic in the world — and one of the most boring gate areas. I’m writing this blog post offline at my gate in Newark, because of the non-free wifi, in case you were wondering.

- I’m hoping that Washington-Dulles has free wifi, because I was counting on snagging a Jericho episode from iTunes for the 90-minute flight back to Indy (in the dark).

Update: Dulles has three different wifi networks — each with its own set of rate plans. Nothing free. Lame, lame, lame. Guess I’ll have to find my in-flight entertainment elsewhere.

- Getting *in* to Newark is evidently a highly uncertain affair (see my reports from the inbound trip). But once you’re here, getting *out* seems to be no problem. Nothing is being delayed, lines are short, and people are moving on and off planes easily. What does this say about Newark?

- You cannot buy anything in the Newark airport with “New Jersey” or “Newark” on it. Millions of NYC items to buy, though. Again, what does this say about Newark?

- I had to take a hotel shuttle from Rutgers to the hotel, so I could catch my airport shuttle from the hotel to the airport. The hotel shuttle was supposed to pick me up at 12:30 and the airport shuttle was to pick me up at 1:50. The hotel shuttle was an hour late, almost causing me to miss my ride to the airport. How hard is it to drive a bus 10 miles?

- Upon checking in at the US Air counter, I entered my information only to get a message that my reservation couldn’t be found. When I checked with an agent, I was told that I was actually on a United flight. I guess I should just regard the fact that “USAIR” was printed on the ticket as just a decoy to test my critical thinking skills.

- State Shuttle, the airport shuttle service I used, has been the only transportation-related service I’ve used on this trip that has demonstrated anything approaching competence. And the drivers I had were very friendly and fun to talk to. If you are flying into New York or Newark and need ground transportation, I highly recommend them.

- One good thing about Newark: Electrical outlets in plentiful supply. Charlotte’s airport had great, free wifi but nowhere to plug your computer in except really inconvenient places (e.g. in front of entries to bathrooms).

Technorati Tags: Jericho, Airports, Wifi