Let’s talk about the dreaded red light. You’re three hours into a five-hour flight, your laptop is at 12%, and you haven’t packed a charger. Your heart races. You start turning down the brightness until the screen looks like a dim cave.
It’s a universal experience. I once saw a woman in first class beg a stranger for a charging cable. He handed her a USB-C that didn’t fit her old MacBook, and she stared at it like it was a foreign artifact.
To avoid this, pack your charger in your carry-on. Not in your checked luggage—that’s a rookie mistake that will haunt you. Trust me, I’ve been the guy crying over a dead battery while the person next to me watched a full season of “The Great British Bake Off.”
The Shame of the Ungrateful Tablet
Here’s a funny thing: sometimes, you don’t even use the laptop. You haul it through security, through the terminal, and onto the tray table, only to open it and stare at your desktop for ten minutes. Then you close it. You just wanted to feel productive.
Can You Take A Laptop On A Plane?
I’m guilty of this. I’ll pull out my laptop, open a spreadsheet I don’t need, and pretend I’m working while really just scrolling Twitter. The person next to me nods approvingly, as if to say, “Ah, a professional.” Little do they know I’m looking at memes about cats screaming.
It’s a social performance. We all do it. And it’s perfectly fine, because the laptop is there for moral support.
