Work Centers at Airports Fill Niche for Executives On the Fly

Brian Cruikshank, a frequently flying 32-year-old executive of a Canadian market research firm, found himself in the Phoenix airport last week with his laptop computer and more than two hours to kill.

“I was at the Starbucks doing some work and I needed to connect,” Cruikshank said. He noticed a nearby business center called Laptop Lane and tried it.

Cruikshank spent his time in one of the seven Laptop Lane rental offices in Terminal 3, simultaneously downloading e-mails from his laptop and using the rental firm’s desktop computer to view Web sites. He also made several phone calls during his stay. Total cost: $14.

“I really enjoyed that I could go into a room and have no interruptions and just get some focused work done,” Cruikshank said.

Laptop Lane, based in Seattle, has 15 facilities in 12 U.S. airports that allow travelers to access the Internet, catch up on e-mail or attend to other business .

The company charges a flat fee of $2 for the first five minutes and 38 cents for each additional minute, which includes use of a private office and a desktop computer, unlimited U.S. long-distance calls, faxing, printing, online time and other services. Calls outside the U.S. cost only the AT&T; international rate.

Laptop Lane’s main competition are airline clubs, many of which now offer Internet access and fax service. However, the airline clubs charge an annual membership fee, offer only public workstations and typically have steep service fees, such as $2.50 to fax a single page.

Even after paying the membership fee, you’re not guaranteed a place to sit at an airline lounge because of an average 30% jump in club memberships in the last year. A single canceled flight can result in standing room only at many airline lounges. Moreover, many airline clubs in the U.S. still don’t offer telephone outlets for laptop computers, let alone desktop computers with Internet access.

Laptop Lane doesn’t charge a membership fee, but it does offer overnight shipping and packaging, document scanning, document shredding, color printing, conference room rentals and computer-related products such as international plug adapters, laptop peripherals and office supplies.

Although Cruikshank has used airline clubs for doing computer work, he dislikes their lack of privacy and generally high noise levels. And he prefers Laptop Lane’s simpler fee system.

John Rezzo, western region director of technology for the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, was busy at the Phoenix Laptop Lane while Cruikshank occupied an office two doors down.

Rezzo, whose flight to Dallas was delayed, leaving him with a 90-minute wait, said Laptop Lane is filling a niche for business travelers like him. During the 50 minutes he spent in his rental office, Rezzo read and sent work-related e-mail and personal e-mail, listened to his voice messages, placed two long-distance calls and read the day’s news at a favorite Web site. Total cost: $21.

Had the L.A.-based businessman wanted, he could have been on the phone and online on both the desktop computer and his laptop, been photocopying a lengthy document and faxing and printing other documents all at the same time for just 38 cents a minute. That’s because each Laptop Lane office is wired for multi-tasking to eliminate wait time.

By far the most popular feature at Laptop Lane, according to customers, is the speedy Internet access. Every Laptop Lane rental office is equipped with a two T1 lines (in addition to several standard phone jacks), which transfer 1.5 megabits per second, compared with just 56 kilobits per second using the fastest standard card modem.

Moreover, Laptop Lane has installed a wireless modem system that, when operational in coming months, will be able transfer data at a blistering 11 megabits per second, according to Chief Executive Bruce Merrell. The firm is awaiting airport approval to switch on the wireless system.

If it gets the green light, Merrell said, customers with ethernet-enabled laptop computers will be able to sign on to a Laptop Lane from anywhere in an airport served by the company and access e-mail and surf the Internet at super-fast speeds. Laptop Lane will offer ethernet modems for rent and sale, he said.

With the new system, you could also print to any Laptop Lane. If, for example, you’re at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and traveling to New York’s LaGuardia International Airport, you could write memos in Chicago, have them print at the Laptop Lane at LaGuardia and pick up the documents upon arrival in New York.

Grant Sharp, who co-founded Laptop Lane with Merrell and two others in 1996, said Laptop Lane had 10,000 customers in 1998 and 57,000 in 1999. He anticipates 500,000 this year for its existing locations and eight others scheduled to open soon.

But Laptop Lane is still a small company: It posted only $300,000 in annual sales in 1998, according to Dun & Bradstreet.

The typical Laptop Lane customer, Sharp said, rents an office for 27 minutes and spends $12 to $15, which includes the cost of an office supply or laptop accessory.

Most of the customers interviewed last week at the Phoenix Laptop Lane said they just stumbled upon the site. Several, such as Douglas Jansson, president of Milwaukee Foundation Corp., which provides grants to nonprofit organizations, said he had 90 minutes to kill before boarding his return flight and was pleased to find Laptop Lane.

“If I hadn’t checked my e-mail now, I’d be doing it when I got home . . . at 11 o’clock tonight,” he said.

But not all customers leave satisfied. Suzanne Cullumber, a “cyber-concierge” at the Phoenix facility, said she’s been approached by several men who have wandered in, looked at the neat row of private offices and asked for a “massage.” Such facilities can be found at the international airport in Frankfurt, Germany, and elsewhere.

“I tell them this is a Laptop Lane, not a Lap-dance Lane,” she said.

*

The Times is interested in hearing about your experiences as a business traveler and as someone doing business in the international marketplace. Please contact us at global.savvy@latimes.com.

Laptop Lane Locations

Airports where Laptop Lane has business centers:

* Chicago O’Hare: Terminal 1

* Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky: Terminal 1, main lobby; Terminal 2, main lobby

* Dallas/Fort Worth: Terminal A

* Denver: West Terminal, Level 6

* Detroit Metro: Smith Terminal, ticketing lobby

* Hartsfield Atlanta: Concourse A, above the food court; Concourse B; Concourse T

* LaGuardia, New York: Central Terminal, between A and B concourses

* Philadelphia: Main Terminal, corridor leading to Concourse A

* Phoenix Sky Harbor: Terminal 3

* Raleigh-Durham, N.C.: Terminal A

* Seattle-Tacoma: Main Terminal, between concourses B and C

* Tampa, Fla.: Main Terminal, walkway to the Marriott Hotel

For more information, including new airport sites to open, telephone (877) 346-8740 or visit the Web site at https://www.laptoplane.com.