I don’t fly that often, certainly not ever on business, but I ALWAYS carry a pre-paid calling card with me when I do, just in case. I can usually get 60 minutes for $5, which will, hopefully, be more than I’ll need. It’s a good, safe investment.

Still, the people at IDL are making a killing on this little racket. It’s pretty disgusting.

Every major airport EXCEPT DFW, JFK and ORD have general aviation terminal OK – DFW and JFK have them, but there are no amenities. If you end up with a 4 hour plus layover, take the airport shuttle or a cab over to the general aviation terminal – there – you will find a fixed base operator, mostly likely Signature Flight Support, that serves the private airplanes. They generally have open wifi networks, a free coffee stand with snacks and soda.

Don’t tell them I told you. . .and the amazing thing is that they’ll likely drive you back over to the airline terminal for free.

I don’t fly more than once a year, which makes it obvious that I fly only for a vacation. I don’t bring a laptop with me when I fly, and I would suspect that many people don’t when they are on vacation. (unless, of course, you are used to traveling with one, like frequent business travelers) No where in the article did it state that the woman had access to a computer. Many small airports have NO internet access at all, which also means no computer terminals to pay $20/ 5 minutes, or whatever they’re currently charging. I have to confess that I don’t know what Memphis does or does not have. However having a computer would do you no good what so ever in many airports if you have no internet access.

What I see here is a infrequent flyer who simply didn’t know better. My mom would have made the same mistake. How long ago was it that a long distance call could be made for a handful of change? Come on guys, cut her a little slack. How would she know if it wasn’t clearly stated on the phone? Obviously we don’t know when our cell is going to die during those stupid layovers, or we would all carry pre-paid calling cards. At worst, she’s only guilty of being unprepared of anticipating the horrors of traveling by air. :-)

2 weeks ago, I was layover delayed in BWI for 4+hours and had accidently put my cell in my checked luggage. Now I needed to re-coordinate with other travels. An AT&T calling card I once used didn’t work (It might have been years since last use).

But I could send text messages to others cell phone via my laptop and teleflip.com which saved the day!