Having an older smart phone means the painful reality of frequently needing to recharge it. With certain social media apps being total battery hogs, device charging at the airport becomes very important.

Airports of the world are gradually making provision for this. The days of having to find the cleaner’s power point hidden in a wall are coming to an end. At least, in certain airports!

Device Charging at Amsterdam Schiphol

Here is an airport that is doing it right. Close to each gate is a table which has about six stools and a corresponding plug socket for each one. These tables are always full of people charging phones, so they are very popular.


Even better are the ones away from the gates, in the airside departures area. There are a bunch of seats that sort of form a wall between the walkways and shops. Not only is there space to sit, they have charging ports too. My only gripe is that they don’t fast charge!

The Device Charging Party Continues In Dublin

Over in Dublin, they also have places for device charging. These are usually located against a wall and consist of a wooden desk type affair with the sockets inset into it.

While they are not at each boarding gate like in Amsterdam Schiphol, they are located nearby. I’ve even used them when getting off a flight and before getting on the bus home.

Overall Thoughts

The provision of device charging areas is important in the connected world of today. While some airports will no doubt try to raise revenue from this, I am firm believer that these should be free to use.

I would rather let my phone battery run out than having to download and sign in to some app in order to charge my phone. Equally on the nose would be having to pay some kind of arbitrary fee, so long may it remain free.

What airports have you found that have decent provisions for device charging? Are there any particularly bad at it? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Dublin Airport on Twitter.
WeBike at Schiphol via Design Launches.