United To Install Charging Stations At Airports

LFutia · Fri Mar 28, 2014 3:30 pm

I was watching the news this morning and they announced that United is installing charging stations at the gate. Chicago is the first city to get this following its other hubs. Basically it will look like Delta's charging stations.

IMO, this is highly welcome as finding a place to charge electronics at ORD is like finding a needle in a haystack!

Source: http://newsroom.unitedcontinentalhol...-New-Electronics-Charging-Stations

Leo/ORD

Josh32121 · Fri Mar 28, 2014 3:35 pm

Yay! It just took them a few years to follow Delta's lead!

dfambro · Fri Mar 28, 2014 3:40 pm

A nice step but it would be much better if the Y cabin renovations had included in-seat power.

LAXintl · Fri Mar 28, 2014 4:58 pm

Who is paying for the electricity? Hopefully not good citizens of Cook County.

I know out here at LAX someone a few years back decided to install charging stations without proper agreement and reimbursement of electrical usage.

Personally I've always like a kiosk concept where one maybe can pay something like 25 cents for 15 minutes of juice. Let such stations be sell funding imo.

United787 · Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:46 pm

About time! Looks pathetic that people have to sit on the floor hovering around a single outlet!

s4popo · Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:48 pm

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 3):

How much do you think electricity costs? I trickle-charge (regular outlet) my Nissan LEAF for about 8 cents an hour.

catiii · Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:01 pm

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 3):
Who is paying for the electricity? Hopefully not good citizens of Cook County.

I know out here at LAX someone a few years back decided to install charging stations without proper agreement and reimbursement of electrical usage.

Personally I've always like a kiosk concept where one maybe can pay something like 25 cents for 15 minutes of juice. Let such stations be sell funding imo.

Classic "kill the goose that laid the golden egg" California mentality. LAX's $4.1 billion in completed or on-going projects has created nearly 40,000 local jobs and pumps $6.89 billion into the local economy. LAX in itself is directly responsible for 294,000 jobs in Los Angeles county and an additional 19,400 jobs outside the county. The airport has a labor income of $13.6 billion and economic output of more than $39.7 billion, adding $2.5 billion to local and state revenues.

But yeah, let's nickel and dime passengers on 15 minutes of charging an iPhone. . .

[Edited 2014-03-28 11:17:06]

surfdog75 · Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:10 pm

Exactly. California has a long history of treating business that creates the jobs people need as the enemy. We're driving business away as fast as we can.

LAXintl · Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:33 pm

Also for those that use these, dont forget what is called "juice jacking" where rogue or tampered with kiosk download data off your phone, or install viruses. Go ahead and Google it. Some companies forbid employees from using such public charging kiosk.

Quoting s4popo (Reply 5):
How much do you think electricity costs? I trickle-charge (regular outlet) my Nissan LEAF for about 8 cents an hour.

From studies we have done depending on model types, charging station can consumer over 100W per hr. Thats about $20 per month per unit. Multiply over many units, and many months, the utility charge can become significant.

Quoting catiii (Reply 6):
But yeah, let's nickel and dime passengers on 15 minutes of charging an iPhone. . .

Not nickel and diming. Just making sure expenses are covered one way or the other, be it the airline subsidizing it or consumer. Should not fall on the backs of the tax payer imo.

And the concept is not unique. There are lots of for pay charging kiosk vendor with such products, so clearly there is a market in having people pay for the charge.

[Edited 2014-03-28 11:39:26]

fxramper · Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:38 pm

Most gates at big airports have charging stations sponsored by wireless carriers. Eg. Samsung @ EWR. Little late to the party UA.

Hi Leo.

LFutia · Fri Mar 28, 2014 11:49 pm

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 3):

Who is paying for the electricity? Hopefully not good citizens of Cook County.

When do we not pay for anything that goes right or wrong in Cook County?

Leo/ORD

MSPNWA · Fri Mar 28, 2014 11:56 pm

Long overdue addition. Hope they install as many as possible. DL's stations are nice to have available, and they could use even more of them.

aklrno · Sat Mar 29, 2014 12:15 am

Quoting Josh32121 (Reply 1):
Yay! It just took them a few years to follow Delta's lead!

Who I think quickly followed Southwest only 5 years after they did it. I think they started that program in 2007.

Venezuela747 · Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:32 pm

Hopefully they instal some at ORD terminal C near gates C1, there is about 1 or 2 hidden outlets in a space of about 10 gates.

masseybrown · Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:45 pm

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 3):
Who is paying for the electricity? Hopefully not good citizens of Cook County.

How about the Passenger Facility Charge paying the bill?

These plug-in conveniences are increasingly common in the United Stat5es; they will soon be as expected as toilets.

mayor · Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:45 pm

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 3):
Who is paying for the electricity? Hopefully not good citizens of Cook County.

Who pays for the electricity for lights, computers, etc. in the terminal? I would imagine that the airlines pay for electricity they use (or pay a flat fee to cover it). Besides, doesn't O'Hare still have their own generating station or is that just for emergencies?

777fan · Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:37 pm

Quoting LFutia (Reply 10):

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 3):

Who is paying for the electricity? Hopefully not good citizens of Cook County.

When do we not pay for anything that goes right or wrong in Cook County?

Cook County ought to focus on servicing its debt and lowering its astronomical sales tax.

Back to UA: this will warm the hearts of ORD pax but it's a drop in the airline buckey. Personally, I'd prefer to see UA focus on its ops, quality of service, over reliance on RJs, etc. I've been a UA flyer for upwards of 30 years but feel like I don't even know the airline anymore!

777fan

PMUA787 · Sat Mar 29, 2014 8:38 pm

Quoting aklrno (Reply 12):
Who I think quickly followed Southwest only 5 years after they did it. I think they started that program in 2007.

Every time I fly I always seek out the WN gate area even if I am flying on UA because they have the nice leather seats and power outlets. When I was in BOI and was flying UA I would go past UA's gates 10 and 11 and sit in WN's gate 17 at those seats. In a lot of things UA is way behind the curve.

winstonlegthigh · Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:23 pm

Quoting United787 (Reply 4):
About time! Looks pathetic that people have to sit on the floor hovering around a single outlet!

Agreed, but no more pathetic than it is to see those same people maintain near constant eye contact with said device for lengthy periods of time- often while walking through a crowded concourse, having a conversation with someone right next to them, or even in the bathroom.

mayor · Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:21 pm

Quoting winstonlegthigh (Reply 18):
Agreed, but no more pathetic than it is to see those same people maintain near constant eye contact with said device for lengthy periods of time- often while walking through a crowded concourse, having a conversation with someone right next to them, or even in the bathroom.

However, you really can't condemn them if you don't know the real reason they're doing it, although I'll admit that the bathroom is a little far out.

Boeing778X · Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:27 pm

This isn't new.

When I flew on CO in 2010, there were charging stations at various places in Terminal E at IAH. Was able to charge my camera and shoot some video

DarkSnowyNight · Sat Mar 29, 2014 11:17 pm

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 8):
Thats about $20 per month per unit. Multiply over many units, and many months, the utility charge can become significant.

No, it can't. That $20/mo is more than offset by the revenue received after significantly less than one day of one parking spot. Multiply that over many units...

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 8):

Not nickel and diming. Just making sure expenses are covered one way or the other, be it the airline subsidizing it or consumer.

LAX's expenses are generously covered by landing fees, concessions royalties, rents that are in the 95th percentile for LA county, the aforementioned parking costs, and probably a few other things I'm missing. If after all that, LAX still has financial issues, that's a financial management issue more than revenue generation.

On topic,

Good for UA & ORD. I agree that UA needs to do a lot to respond to customer service issues. But every little bit helps.

nws2002 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:32 am

I wonder why more airports don't do this. For instance, TUL has at least two regular outlets and two USB outlets for every four seats, at least on concourse B where UA, WN, DL, and G4 are. I believe concourse A, currently only occupied by AA, will have the same seats once the renovation is completed.

planewasted · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:39 am

Will it be US plugs only or "all" standards? I don't know how many times I've forgotten or put my converter in my checked in bag...

aklrno · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:42 am

I don't understand the worry about the cost of electricity. It's tiny compared to all the expenses of running a terminal. People are required to get to the airport in most places much earlier than they did in the past. While there, they buy food and other stuff from the concessions at inflated airport prices, making the airport lots of money. It would be nice to offer a tiny reward (like charging) for free.

At RNO the airport management saw the problem years ago and came up with a cheap solution. They put a few rows of chairs up against blank walls and ran outlet strips above the chairs. Not an elegant look, but for next to nothing they suddenly had dozens of outlets when before they had only a handful.

Of course I should point out that RNO also gets revenues from slot machines and to support them there is a lot of electrical capacity in the waiting areas. I'm sure it wasn't hard to route a bit to the outlet strips,

MIflyer12 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:49 am

Quoting planewasted (Reply 23):
Will it be US plugs only or "all" standards? I don't know how many times I've forgotten or put my converter in my checked in bag...

Sorry. Welcome to the U.S.A. There's a pic in the 'Tribune' article.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...stations-charging-hometown-airport

flyiguy · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:52 am

Quoting Josh32121 (Reply 1):
Yay! It just took them a few years to follow Delta's lead!

How long has southwest been doing this with their comfy chairs and powerports in between ?

FLY

LFutia · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:55 am

Quoting 777fan (Reply 16):
Cook County ought to focus on servicing its debt and lowering its astronomical sales tax.

It's actually not THAT bad, yes while 9-9.25% is high in the suburbs its between 9.25-9.50% in the city but it sure beats 10-10.50% any day. although if you go to the collar counties its between 7.5-8.5%.

Leo/ORD

YXwatcherMKE · Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:18 am

MKE has already installed charging stations on their concourses and are free of charge. By the end of the year they plan on having one charging station for every two gates and able to charge 12 devices per station. But are you not charging you equipment before leave your home/office/hotel room? Granted the computer batteries don't last the duration of a flight and if you need to do connection a charging station is great to have. it is also nice to use that down time to relax which is important thing your body and mind need to do!

ua900 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:50 am

Nice supplement for kettles, but also one less plus In favor of the expensive UA club memberships. Does this mean that UA is acknowledging the slow progress of installing power outlets on planes? IMO charging for juice at airports makes sense given that virtually everything else at an airport costs money. Cook County sales tax is actually at or slightly below average compared to California, not sure why one county is singled out over a much larger state. Improvements need to be paid for by passengers, not by taxpayers.

[Edited 2014-03-29 20:37:04]

catiii · Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:16 am

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 8):

So let's see, assuming your $20 per month times 500 stations, that's $120k per year. On a $39.7B impact enterprise where everything is funded by user fees anyways. But even if it weren't, any elected official would spend $120K to support a $39.7B return. In any event, I stand by my previous statement. Keep killing that goose.

opethfan · Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:27 am

I always see excitement when (especially) USB charging ports are announced as available, but for someone forgetful like myself, if I don't have an AC-USB power adapter, I'm certainly not going to have a USB cable with me either.

At ATH, there's a charging station sponsored by a phone provider. You put your phone in the cubby with a billion different chargers (although nowadays I suppose only 3 are needed) and watch the same ad on the TV loop a million times. Always have to be careful, though, as USB ports / plugs could be connected to computers snooping through your information.

United787 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:28 pm

I am surprised no one has mentioned this but I suspect this is directly related to the new IFE WiFi coming to all UA's fleet. UA is probably thinking it will be cheaper to get everyone to charge up their personal devices in the airport before the flight which will reduce the electrical load on the plane during the flight. Especially during the transition period where not all planes have outlets throughout!

trex8 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:42 pm

How much electrical load does a full plane with all the pax who can charge a device actually charging it for most of the flight impose and what fuel burn does that impose. Is it negligible or even sufficient to negate say the advantage of winglets??

ua900 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:15 pm

Quoting United787 (Reply 32):
I am surprised no one has mentioned this but I suspect this is directly related to the new IFE WiFi coming to all UA's fleet. UA is probably thinking it will be cheaper to get everyone to charge up their personal devices in the airport before the flight which will reduce the electrical load on the plane during the flight. Especially during the transition period where not all planes have outlets throughout!

Well, I mentioned that I don't think power outlets on planes are coming online as quickly as they should

It certainly seems like a foolish move to install WiFi without power outlets, but alas.

I think you have a good point about the electrical load, reminds me of hot water and ovens on planes, IIRC the bill for that was steeper than on the ground. Anyone on this board who has access to numbers that show the cost of providing juice in the air vs. on the ground?

LFutia · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:20 pm

Quoting ua900 (Reply 29):
Cook County sales tax is actually at or slightly below average compared to California, not sure why one county is singled out over a much larger state. Improvements need to be paid for by passengers, not by taxpayers.

It's slightly higher than California but we're no longer the highest sales tax in the nation! It is simple. because our state is in such financial distress, people downstate will blame us and our county for all of its problems. Chicago resides 43% of the state population while the collar counties around it + Chicago reside 62% of Illinois.

Leo/ORD

777fan · Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:31 pm

Quoting LFutia (Reply 27):
It's actually not THAT bad, yes while 9-9.25% is high in the suburbs its between 9.25-9.50% in the city but it sure beats 10-10.50% any day. although if you go to the collar counties its between 7.5-8.5%.

Unfortunately for ORD, it's penciled into the Chicago metropolitan dominion. I'm sure they wish they could afford a 7.5% to 8.5% tax rate, but then how could they afford to pay interest on mountains of bond debt and patronage positions?!

Quoting nws2002 (Reply 22):
I wonder why more airports don't do this.

Possibly because they don't want to forego space that could be used to generate revenue, i.e. chatchke kiosks, restaurants, and the requisite Dunkin Donuts/Starbucks/Hudson News outlet.

777fan

N353SK · Sun Mar 30, 2014 4:32 pm

ORD T2 has installed a bunch of new seating with built in electrical outlets. The only problem is that the outlets don't have power.

MIflyer12 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:10 pm

It doesn't need to be either/or - power on planes or power towers at the gate. Both are useful. Really.

I rather prefer the power towers set amidst regular seating (as DL generally does it) instead of the AC outlet ghettos as AA provides in the refurbed Terminal A at DFW.

mayor · Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:28 pm

Quoting LFutia (Reply 35):
It's slightly higher than California but we're no longer the highest sales tax in the nation! It is simple. because our state is in such financial distress, people downstate will blame us and our county for all of its problems. Chicago resides 43% of the state population while the collar counties around it + Chicago reside 62% of Illinois.

Slightly off topic, but this is how it has been for years.....WAY before any financial crisis in the state. Those of us that lived "downstate" have always suffered at the hands of the control of Cook County and Chicago. And, those "collar" counties, DuPage, Kane, Will, Lake have usually been considered "downstate" by those that live in Cook County and Chicago.

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