Never flown internationally but will do so in Sept. Do international flights have power outlets for equipment? How does on keep their laptop charged in the air?
Varies wildly from airline to airline, plane to plane. No plane that I've seen has power at every seat, at least in coach...one outlet for every three or more seats is more common. Either way, you'll still need a dedicated airline power adapter. Most people just use their laptops until the battery dies.
No worries, Andy! I actually just got back from my fifth international round-trip (fourth flying with gear) in the last 12 months, so your question was particularly timely. If you're going to Europe, let me strongly recommend Virgin Atlantic - they're the most comfortable Economy and Premium Economy experience I've ever had and prices are still very competitive. And you can actually eat the food.
Enjoy your trip and be nice to the customs & immigration goons!
Did you happen to go to Italy? That's my destination this time around. I'm actually quite excited I have a friend that lives in the Dolomites up north. She's always showing me pictures and it's obviously so much more interesting of an environment than here in Dallas.
Not in the last year, but I have in the past - flew into Milan from NYC, then took trains around the country. If you can't get a cheap direct flight from Dallas, look into flying into London Heathrow and then changing to an Alitalia flight - they're often really reasonable.
I'm jealous - would love a recreational trip to Italy, bump around and shoot some travel stock. I really fell in love with the rural parts of the country on my first visit. Take some photos for me if you get up towards Trieste - it's where my father's family comes from.
American Airlines has on their website seating charts for their aircraft that show the location of the power ports throughout the plane. The last AA plane I was on had cigarette-type outlets. The planes on earlier AA flights and most other airlines had the aircraft-type outlet. Fortunately, my power adapter has both types of connectors.
I just flow to Asia, and in NWA Business class they had 110v power plugs between the seats with is very nice for long trips and running your laptop on power.
Just flew LAX to Hong Kong on Cathay, new cabin configuration Business class, outlets present but turned off for some glitch. Hong Kong Joberg, old cabin configuration no oultets.
It depends on the aircraft. Most 777's have power at every seat. 767's have power at all but economy class, 747-400's most seats, 757 - hit or miss.
Should comment the power is usually in the form of a cigarette type adapter. You can get a power adapter on EBay or at your local Radio Shack for this type of receptacle
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shatterkiss wrote:
I'm jealous - would love a recreational trip to Italy, bump around and shoot some travel stock. I really fell in love with the rural parts of the country on my first visit. Take some photos for me if you get up towards Trieste - it's where my father's family comes from.
i was a consultant flight engineer for 4 months with singapore airlines out of singapore last year. the Boeing 777 300ER has power outlets at every seat thru out the aircraft. i also flew the 380 airbus and it also has outlets at every seat thru out the aircraft. i can not speak for other birds however. 777 300ER & 380 airbus power outlets are international they will take the round euro or blade us.
I am a 1K United flier. I can say that in business and first international there is a regular outlet. The thing that kills me is that on the national flights, there is usually a converter and I carry one of those adapters for my laptop but I would say half the time -- they are not working or even blocked. I flew coach from SFO to NYC recently (missed my upgrade) and one or two 110 outlets per 3 seats in coach.
