Atlanta Hartsfield’s Minute Suites is located on Concourse B in a space that was formerly a business center, and bills itself as a “traveler’s retreat”. Minute Suites offered me the chance to give them a try during a layover on a recent cross-country trip.

Although my flights were not arriving or departing from Concourse B, the location was convenient to reach. Minute Suites is close to the intersection at the center of Concourse B, where passengers can board the train that shuttles people between Hartsfield’s concourses. It was a two- to three-minute trip each way from Concourse A where my flights were arriving and departing.

The Minute Suites host on duty when I arrived, Michael, was cheery and welcoming despite the extremely early hour and my jet-lagged, exhausted demeanor. He lead me to my suite and gave me a tour of its amenities.

Minute Suites are 7ft x 8ft units that are entered through a sliding door. I was told the five suites are sanitized between each use. Each suite is furnished with a sofa that pulls out into a bed, and a desk with a chair. The suites could easily accommodate three adults or two adults and two children.

The only amenity that Minute Suites doesn’t have is plumbing. If you are looking for the restroom, you’ll have to step about 100 feet down the concourse to find one.

In the wall next to the desk is an HDTV that serves as the unit’s entertainment system and Internet terminal; the television service offered is DirecTV with the NFL package. The TV can also be used to check on the status of your flight, since it can display the airport’s Flight Tracking system.

If you have your own computer along, Minute Suites offers ethernet and Wi-Fi internet access included in your suite rental in addition to the provided Internet terminals. I used my MacBook to try out the Wi-Fi access. Getting on was as easy as entering the password I was provided, and the connection felt snappy enough (at least for the web surfing and email that I was trying it out on).

There is very nice attention to detail in the Minute Suites. There is a hook with two hangers for hanging up jackets, and each unit has its own thermostat so each visitor can set their own comfortable temperature. The desk chair rolls and is nicely cushioned. There are controls for the lights and sound system in the wall at one end of the bed.

Since I had just gotten off a red-eye flight, I was particularly interested in trying out the daybed for a nap — something that I would normally never do in an airport. Pillows and blankets are provided. The suite contains an alarm clock on a ledge behind the bed, or the Minute Suites staff will provide you a wake-up call (or actually, knock). Michael was extremely prompt with my wake-up knock, although I had set my iPhone alarm as a back-up.

The bed was very comfortable. I tried out the Nap26 program that is built into the entertainment system, which is supposed to make you feel as though you’ve had three hours of sleep in only 26 minutes. I found the program soundtrack so annoying that it actually kept me awake instead of putting me to sleep even though I’d had only two hours of sleep in the previous 24. I turned it off after only a few minutes and promptly fell asleep.

A key component in my ability to sleep was the suite’s sound masking system. Essentially a giant white noise machine, the masking system’s volume is adjustable by the suite’s occupant. Thanks to this system, I was able to sleep completely unaware that I was in the heart of one of the world’s busiest airports, in a suite 10 feet away from a congested concourse. The only sounds I heard were a few loud bangs that I believe originated in the service area below the concourse.

If all of this sounds like a wonderful way to spend your airport layover, it is. But there’s a catch to this luxury: the luxury price. Minute Suites rent for $30/hr, with a one hour minimum. Eight hours costs $180, since at eight hours a rate decrease of 25 percent takes effect.

But if you aren’t turned off by the price, Minute Suites can be a great place to recharge or get some privacy to do some business on the go.

Would you try a “traveler’s retreat” if there was one available ton your trip?

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At the risk of making your blood boil at the mere mention of the Transportation Security Administration, it’s time to step out on a limb and give the TSA credit for steps taken in recent months to reduce the natural anxiety we feel as we shuffle along in line.

The improvements are timely because the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, the most dreaded travel times of the year, are upon us.

The checkpoint process

The most recent development from the TSA is the establishment of “family lanes” at checkpoints at every U.S. airport. In many larger airports, the process goes a step further with the creation of three lanes for different types of travelers, using the same kind of diamond symbols that designate expert, intermediate and beginner ski slopes.

At the airports with all three types, the black diamond or expert lane is for those who look to a TSA agent like experienced business travelers who know the routine. Those judged to need a little more time are sent to the blue lane. Families with children and other passengers with special needs are directed to the green or beginners lane.

This appears to be speeding up the process, unless you have the experience I did at Dallas Love Field this summer on a weekday afternoon, when there were few passengers in line. With just a briefcase, I was sent to the expert lane while two family groups behind me were sent to the green lane. The families got through first while I waited for a guy in a suit to unload into five bins his two laptops, an assortment of other electronic gear, a carry-on suitcase and his jacket, belt and lace-up shoes. I’m glad I had plenty of time before my flight.

But TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis told me that in general, the family lanes “are creating a lot of efficiencies. We’re seeing greater satisfaction with the process.”

Laptop bags

Of special interest to web workers, TSA has begun to approve certain types of laptop bags that can be sent through X-ray scanners without being removed from the case. More than a dozen manufacturers are making laptop bags that should pass muster with TSA agents. You’ll find there are different styles: Some have separate cases for a laptop that detach from the rest of the bag while others let you keep all the compartments together and unfold the bag to place it on the belt.

For more detail on some of the more popular brands look at web sites of Skooba Design, Mobile Edge, Targus and Travelon Bags.

Liquids (ban) to go

One of the best possible developments involves TSA installing at checkpoints next-generation X-ray machines that will distinguish between a bottle of water in a bag and, as Davis put it, “something more sinister.” That means chemicals that could be used to create an explosive device.

TSA director Kip Hawley has said recently on his blog that by the end of next year, the agency hopes to be able to lift the rule limiting liquids to 3-ounce bottles, although they will still have to be removed from bags and placed in a bin.

The really good news, Hawley says, is that advances in technology mean all restrictions on liquids could be lifted by the end of 2010.

I’ll drink to that.

image courtesy Flick user Stephen Witherden

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Do you know where to find an outlet to recharge and work before your flight leaves?

If you’re a member of an airline club or fly first- or business-class you probably have nothing to worry about. The airport lounges for those who can afford them offer some privacy, with cubicles for working and phoning. Here’s one guide to airline-operated clubs worldwide. Priority Pass is a program that gives you access to clubs and lounges worldwide for an annual fee.

But that’s not an option for most of us, considering the number of weary business travelers you see around airport gates, often sitting on the floor against a wall or pillar, working away. Those people have found a power source, and some I’ve seen adopt the hard stare of someone willing to fight to keep it.

For the most part, finding power in an airport is accomplished by trial-and-error, and is frequently harder than getting a WiFi connection. Many airports worldwide make connections available, either free or for a fee of $7 to $10 a day, throughout their terminals.

For power, you learn which airlines have stations near gates with multiple outlets where you can plug in. Southwest has more of those than most airlines, in my experience. Some JetBlue gate areas also have them. Logically enough, several airlines at the San Jose, Calif., airport have stations in their gate areas.

There is not much information on the web to help you if you’re in unfamiliar airport.

One source is a WiKi on Microsoft manager Jeff Sandquist’s personal blog, appropriately named airpower. Looking at airpower, however, reveals the difficulty of the task. Typical of the entries is one for Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport:

Gate A 18: on the pole near the women’s restroom (2 outlets) – chair close by!

An entry for the Frankfurt, Germany, airport reads:

Second Floor, Beside the emergency exit next to McDonalds. Behind the table a bit away from the McDonalds itself.

In other words, the information is very helpful as far as it goes but may be incomplete. Is that table still in the same place at the Frankfurt McDonalds?

Often the only way to find a working outlet at the airport and in the concourse you need to use is to prowl around in gate areas that aren’t occupied or where the crowd is small, or in common areas just past security checkpoints.

Think of places where the cleaning crew would logically need to plug in equipment. Look behind chairs, on pillars and around airline ticketing podiums.

Another possibility is at airports where not all of the pay phones have been ripped out. At Philadelphia International, I have found that at least some cubicle-like booths with a seat and a small shelf (D Concourse) have outlets – an apparent leftover from the days when access to a landline was needed to use a laptop.

If all else fails, consider doing what one frequent flier I read about a couple of years ago does: Carry a short extension cord with a three-outlet adapter. If you find someone using the only outlet in sight, ask them to share.

If you have experience with this problem, and information to share, please let us have it.

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