I’m going to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines and a friend told me that he could plug his laptop in on the plane on certain flights…is that true? Where is the plug? Would I have wifi too?
I’m such a newb to flying with a laptop, I usually read, but this time I actually need to do some work. Anyone know whats up?
Some have a DC jack under your seat for cigarette lighter plugs, some planes do have wi-fi but it is pay as you go, probably slow, and expensive.
I fly a fair amount (around 10 trips a year). I’ve only seen power outlets on 1 (one) plane in all of my travels. That said, they are more common in Business and First class, and I always fly Steerage. WiFi is more common, but it’s expensive, and I would never pay for it.
Last flight I was on (British Airways Seattle-London and back) had a full-size power socket in the side of the seat assembly. I thin that’s more likely now than the strange DC “airline” connector as was.
ETA: Yea, that was in business class
www.seatguru.com is your friend. Look up your airline and type of aircraft and it should show you if there is power at your seat.
looks like this website might help you determine if you will have an outlet available.
Hawaiian Airlines does not have wifi or power on any its flights.
The cell towers are kinda scarce between the mainland and the Islands.
Some planes use satellite, I believe. You can get wifi on transpacific (and probably transatlantic) flights.
Yes, I was recently on a Chicago to Orlando flight via American Airlines, and that flight offered a wifi connection.
Ok, thanks all, looks like I need to carry a full charge! 
You could also sneak into the lavatories and charge up on their mightily powered thrones. The lavs usually have an outlet or two for shavers and whatnot.
For an extra fun flight, make sure you are seen by all entering the lavatory with a bunch of cables and a suspicious black package
:smack:
Two of the last 4 S80s I flew on cross county had Wi-Fi and DC jacks under the seats. I did not have a car just a regular one. This was on American Airlines [shitty]
keep in mind that if the plane loses pressure during flight, your hard drive is toast. Normally planes are pressurized to around 8,000 feet of atmospheric pressure so if the system fails and it bleeds up to a higher level then the air bearing that hard-drives use will fail in a bad way. Devices using memory chips in place of a mechanical hard drive are immune. There are sealed hard drives designed to operate above 10,000 feet reliably but whether your laptop has one would require some research.
The likelihood of this is small but be warned.
Also, if the wings fall off you might die.
Somehow, I’m thinking that in the event a sudden depressurization while flying higher than 10,000 feet over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, your HDD’s integrity will be the least of your worries.
Let me splain this again. It’s 10,000 feet of atmospheric pressure. When you are at 35,000 feet the plane is pressurized to around 8,000 to 8,500 feet. That means your laptop hard drive has a safety margin of 2,000 feet of atmospheric pressure to reliably operate. Aircraft are not sealed tubes flying through the air, they are continuously pressurized. If the system looses efficiency then that pressure drops. It doesn’t mean a window blows open it means a pressure duct leaks more or a seal leaks more.
You aren’t going to know if the cabin pressure drops to the equivalent of 10,000 ft. All you will know is that your hard drive no longer reads data.
Is this a common-enough occurance?
I wonder if little dohickeys are available to warn you of such a loss in pressure so you can shut down in time.
I imagine altitude guages used by skydivers might work.