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Airport News / Airport Services / ORD / Technology / → All Tags

Chicago's O'Hare Airport Gets 'Touchy' With New Technology

It takes a serious stretch of imagination to think up anything more gruelingly frustrating than having to wait out a snow delay at Chicago's O'Hare Airport while resisting the temptation to purchase the Boingo wireless in the terminal. These days, the good old crossword puzzle is replaced by iphone checkers and thankfully, some airports are recognizing this and installing new technological entertainment outposts in their concourses.

Now instead of impulse buying a Tom Clancy paperback for your 45-minute flight, you have the option to chill in "Explore Chicago" lounges at O'Hare, equipped with new HP TouchSmart PCs and a plethora of Windy City-specific activities for passing the time.

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T5 at JFK / Jetblue / JFK / Eero Saarinen / Airport Services / → All Tags

Fancy-Schmancy Shoeshines at JetBlue's Terminal 5

While you can expect a new airline terminal to have a thing for reminiscing over the chic days of burgeoning jet travel, Jetblue's Terminal 5 at JFK has stepped beyond retro cocktail lounges and barbershops to embrace a designer shoeshine stand.

Paying homage to the design of the original TWA Terminal 5, designed by Eero Saarinen, Jetblue's stand has taken the famous "Egg" chair design by another Scandinavian contemporary of Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, and transformed it into a shoeshine worthy of the history of the location. Operated by A Shine & Co. out of San Francisco, the stand employs a colorful cast of people who actually act as though buffing your loafers was the highlight of their day.

Because of New York's recent heavy winter weather and all of the resulting salt on the streets, we bet that A Shine & Co. is doing brisk business restoring the sheen to many shoes. This might no longer be the days of wingtips, but it is always nice to see someone attempting to make the best arrival appearance as possible. Now to rid the world of "travel sweatpants."

Related Stories:
· A Shine & Co. [Official Site]
· T5 at JFK coverage [Jaunted]

ChargeCarte / Airport Services / Airports / LAS / → All Tags

From the Makers of SmartCarte, the ChargeCarte

Seasoned travelers and frequent flyers are familiar with the SmarteCarte brand which offers, for a fee, a metal cart for you to tug your luggage around the airport. (The cart itself sadly doesn't come with that extra "e".) Honestly, we'd rather haul our luggage manually than pay a fee for a cart that is typically free in places like European airports and supermarkets.

Nevertheless, SmarteCarte has designed another way to get money out of beleaguered travelers with their ChargeCarte.

We spotted this machine in the Las Vegas airport the other week. The way it works is that you plug your cellphone (any brand), iPod or MP3 player into the machine and it will rapidly charge it for 30 minutes for $3 while you wait out the delays at the gate. The machine also locks your cellphone/MP3 player into its slot so it can't be stolen. [Ed. Note: Strike that. You have to watch your own phone as there are no locks. Sorry for getting your hopes up.]

Begrudgingly we kinda like this idea simply because we have traveled so many times without our phone chargers. Now if only they had a slot for digital cameras, too; we'd never have to stress about trying to find an obscure camera battery on the streets of Amsterdam again.

Related Stories:
· ChargeCarte [Official Site]
· Airports coverage [Jaunted]