A power outage hit Los Angeles airport yesterday afternoon, causing a few flight delays and passenger inconveniences. I had a flight last night and didn’t think anything of it, especially since check-in, security and the Red Carpet Club seemed unaffected when I was there. I went to the gate about an hour before departure to keep an eye on the gate monitors to gauge potential bump opportunities and had a mini-shock.

It seems the power outage knocked the overhead monitors out, and I also overheard an agent tell a colleague that Unimatic and Apollo were out for an hour earlier in the day (key United systems). While it really wasn’t anything earth shattering, I did realize how much I like seeing the flight status and other information displayed on those monitors. I felt a little naked… something I had grown accustomed to wasn’t available and it was weird. It felt similar to the pre-Internet era where you had to research stuff at the library by accessing card catalogs.

It made me think of the times my Internet is down, or my Blackberry isn’t connecting to a signal. While I thoroughly enjoy the conveniences provided by technology, it was a bit of a reality check on how much I’m kind of addicted to them. Luckily, the wi-fi is working great this morning, and I’m able to post this without a problem while on the road. 🙂