In all my years of traveling, this is the first time that something like this had ever happened to me. Fortunately this incident also showed how helpful a great hotel concierge can be…
Continue reading: My Delhi Airport Layover Disaster, Saved By A Kuala Lumpur Hotel Concierge!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I'm amazed that you don't carry a spare phone when travelling. Whether it's a burner for difficult border officers, something that you can easily afford to give up in a mugging or simply a backup in case the main one stops working, carrying an extra 150g can save one from a fair bit of stress and/or trouble.
Is that photo of the Holiday Inn Express at the Delhi airport? If so, it looks incredibly nice for a Holiday Inn Express -- especially the quality of the bedding and linen. It looks like a Four Seasons or Peninsula compared to your average roadside Holiday Inn Express back in the USA.
I've had this happen with old charging cords, particularly when plugged into a car. It's mostly I think a result of buying cheap, off-brand cords of cubious quality.
How much did the hotel charge you and how much, if anything, did you tip the concierge? It seems like that was missing.
I've had concierges get me concert tickets, including front row tickets. I also had the concierge at the Prince de Galles, Luxury Collection in Paris magically get a bag that had been missing for two days delivered within six hours to the Prince de Galles. Who knows how they did that. I had previously stayed two nights at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand, another 5-star hotel, and the concierges there couldn't do anything and Air France was less than helpful.
@Ben There could be something jammed up in the charging port that a toothpick won't get out. This happened to me once; I took it to the Apple store, and they have a special tool for cleaning out the charging port.
As a datapoint - the usb C port on my iPhone 15 pro, bought pretty much on launch day has a lot completely failed. Wireless charging has been my saviour either with the little magnetic puck or a magnetic battery pack.
Wondering about taking it in to get the port replaced and what it would cost. Also whether, as someone who Kee’s his phone in his pocket and the port is always full of crap, whether I should find some little rubber doohickey to go in the port to keep a new one clean and functional.
@ Throwawayname -- It's not something I had ever thought about, but I'm definitely considering it now!
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- It is! It's funny, because it looks quite nice in that picture, but I really wasn't impressed otherwise, as you'll see in the review. So many aspects of the hotel were gross and just didn't feel clean, like stained mattresses just being stored in the hallway.
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- There was a 5% surcharge on the purchase, since the hotel fronted the cash, and then charged my card (which was a good deal for me, since I earned 4x points on my hotel purchase, hah). I assumed there would be an additional fee for the service, but I don't see anything on my folio.
I didn't actually get to meet Jerome during my stay to thank him, but I left him an envelope with a thank you and a tip of 200 MYR (around $50).
Glad it worked out in the end and kudos to Jerome and Park Hyatt KL for the staff training.
On a lighter note - it sounds like you’ll have to take another review trip to DEL to fully review the Holiday Inn at T3 Terminal as that was the main reason for this review trip. A review without pictures won’t do justice to that beautiful property 🙂
Happy you got it all sorted. It's a good lesson for a lot of people. This is why I always keep my previous phone, and I travel with it as a backup should anything happen to my primary. Considering how important a phone can be when traveling internationally, it's worth having a spare, especially if it's your camera, itinerary, boarding passes, map, translator, email, and everything else.
If you phone is your business and travel lifeline, travel with a backup phone. I'm amazed that you dont
I'd never stay at a Holiday Inn Express in India! There were plenty of amazing hotels including a JW Marriott and a Andaz (That I have sometimes booked using Hyatt Prive where room rate was only slight above $100 and with all the crazy perks with that F&B credit) within 5 minute drive of the airport in an adjacent complex called Aerocity.
Guess never left the airport but if had in all of India theres an app based delivery service called Blinkit where can get anything you want brought to you within 15 minutes.
Holiday Inns abroad tend to be significantly nicer than the ones we have in the US (including HI Express). They aren't anything special in terms of service and other aspects you find at a 4/5 star hotel, but they tend to be clean, comfortable, spacious rooms, and lots will have a surprisingly decent bar. I've even had a really nice welcome amenity at a few.
Something I also think is valuable - The fact nowadays iPhones sold in US (and many more countries for 17 series) don't come with physical SIM card slot, and the situation a physical SIM is needed.
Worth a backup old iPhone or an Android phone.
Lucky, Lucky. Glad we get to see the AI review .
Hotel concierges are the best in Asia. I’ve asked them to go out shopping for me before for a suit in HK since it was a last minute event; sent them my measurements and no issues. In my room upon check in. One time I flew to China to buy an LV bag, and the FS went to the store in Beijing to put the bag on hold for me, since one of the staff knew the store manager.
Heck, even 7 years ago when I was younger, wanted a vape, and much like your charger, was waiting for me upon arrival.
Glad you tipped, and glad it all worked out. Some hotels really do go above and beyond.
Oh, I hear you Ben. My iPhone went beserk in a similar but different manner on a review trip to Auckland New Zealand. Fortunately most of my reviews and photos were in the can, but it did feel weird not having a phone for my trip back to Sydney via Brisbane.
Fortunately, my travelling companion B2 was happy to step in as official photographer on the way home. I also had to resort to taking notes on my iPad!
Can't wait for your review of the Park Hyatt in the 'Eye of Sauron' building in Kuala Lumpur. On a recent trip to KL, I opted for my regular Mandarin Oriental to be closer to the centre of town rather than the Park Hyatt, which is a little removed.
I thought I was only one as soon I got my iphone 15 after few days usb c charging stopped working and only wireless charging worked for me I was happy to get rid off iphone 15.
One of reason I still have my iphone 13 and carry it as backup phone, it can take physical sim and esim
I was surprised you didn't ask any of passengers in airport or Holidya Inn or fellow passengers in the flight.
Usually I had seen in Asian countries people don't mind if you go and talk to them
I generally travel with a wireless charger, which saved my bacon a few times because while the phones have been waterproof for years, the USBC charger will not work if it detects water in the port. If you don’t want to carry an extra phone, a spare charger is much less of an overkill.
This made me want to pack a spare.
Once, I forgot the attachable lens to my DSLR, and it was devastating.
Glad you at least found a solution. Enjoy KUL!
I would suggest the base 17 for backup if you want something new (otherwise an old iPhone 15 Pro will give you the same result), incredible value where the base phone is the best of the lineup in many years. But as others have noted, getting one abroad is more ideal because the inclusion of a physical SIM card slot is very handy, even economically as usually it is much cheaper to just get a physical sim at the local destination then to recharge or buy a data obey e sim
Please get out more and plan for problems. I travel with three plug backups for my iPhone. I have so many blow up
At charging ports. They are under $5 on eBay
Check the charging port area. Often times pocket lint, dirt, debris, etc can become lodged in there. Get some canned air and blow it out and then get a toothpick and move it around the port area. Blow it out a second time. 90% of the time this works 100% of the time. 🙂
That’s awesome the concierge did that for you!
My iPhone 14Pro Max has the same problem as you. Ended up getting wireless chargers. Boo….
I learned my lesson after my phone was stolen in Barcelona several years ago. Now I always travel with a spare phone.
Does a fronted purchase like that qualify for lifetime spend or elite bonuses?
You can get good qi2 battery packs on amazon for $16 when my port stopped working I bought 4 of them and now theyre just stationed everywhere for hot swapping. My phone never gets plugged in anymore and they work as charging pads when plugged in. Buy a few and try it!
As someone that travels a lot for work, there are a few things that are absolutely essential for me to avoid big headaches.
I personally don’t carry an extra phone and I think the risk of not carrying a second phone is worth taking. I have automatic daily backup of my iPhone into iCloud but when traveling I usually manually backup a few times a day. So, if my phone is stolen, all my data is safe. If a phone is damaged or stolen, it will be very likely based on places I travel that I can find an Apple Store or electronics store that sells an iPhone in a few hours or within a day. Thus, I take the risk in not having to carry a dead weight with me which will probably be outdated in terms of my data.
Now, I carry many extra cables (USB-C to USB-C, USB-A to USB-C and MagSafe wireless charging cables), chargers enough for my phone, watch and headphones. Another thing I carry double are my prescription glasses which would be almost impossible to get the ones I need on a trip and I simply can’t see anything without them.
Your phone's charging port simply has some lint and pocket-cruft gumming up the connection. You need to do a better job with the toothpick. Find something sticky, stick a tiny goober of that on the end of the toothpick, poke around in the port for a while - I guarantee if you spend some time and get it right, you will find the sticky toothpick gooober will accumulate a surprisingly large, fluffy lint ball, extract that, and that will cure all your phone charging issues.
I am astonished at how naive you are all the time.
Amazing!
Luxury hotel concierges are so underrated. We were in rural Thailand and my ears were clogged with wax (gross sorry). We had 15 hours at the st Regis Bangkok before departing for the Maldives. Wtf was I going to do! I emailed the concierge in Bangkok and asked them to get me wax drops and what not cause no chance the Maldives private island would have it. But it’s not like ear wax drops are advil either and it was late in the day… Sure enough they were in my room in Bangkok upon arrival and was all set!
I love this story! I appreciate how you share your authentic self with us through your blog! I come here daily to stay updated on the travel and tourism industry, but I also enjoy how genuine you are! P.s. the notes are adorable. Keep up the good work!
I had a similar issue to you a couple years ago. I had a long day prior to a late night flight from LGA to MCO. While at the airport at LaGuardia, I tried to charge my phone (which was at 2%), and it wasn't working, just as Ben described it. I needed my phone to order an Uber to get home when I would land at MCO. I tried different cables, different ports all around the terminal, and nothing worked. I used my laptop to google what the issue could be. I also came across the advice to clean the charging port using a toothpick. I went around to every restaurant open at 8pm at LGA, and NONE OF THEM had a toothpick. For gods sake, they are restaurants. I don't know if the TSA considers them weapons or what, because that was very weird to me. Anyway, I had no choice but to get on my flight with a dead phone, and when I landed at MCO, I had to ask a stranger to book me an Uber home, and I paid them with my Anker battery pack (I had used up all of the little cash I carry with me in NYC).
The next day, I cleaned my charging port with a toothpick, and it worked again. I've had this issue occur a few times the past couple years. Most of the time I just need to clean the port. However, eventually the issue Ben is having persisted for me, despite cleaning the port. I think I had damaged the metal part that hooks onto the USB-C cable on the inside. Mine looked bent, and I think it happened because of the technique I use to plug in my phone. Ben, that may be your issue. Now on, I have to be very careful when I plug in my phone so I don't damage the port. This seems to be an issue I've only had with USB-C devices, because of the way the port is built. I just got a new phone when this happened to me, I don't know if there is another solution.
@ Ivan -- Yes, as a portable charger, but not as a wireless charger. The issue was the USB-C port, not the inability to plug something into an outlet.
@ LEo -- Sorry, ask the lounge staff what? I asked them if they had a wireless charger, and they didn't.
@ Bobo Bolinski -- I tried cleaning it to the best of my ability, and it didn't help. I'll be going to an Apple store soon to see if they have any ideas, or if I just didn't clean it correctly. What makes me "naive" here, I'm confused?
@ Eve -- I was impressed! Too bad I won't be able to review it due to lack of battery life, but I hope to return soon and check out both of the Encalm lounges.
@ PhatMiles -- I don't think I blamed Delhi Airport, other than being surprised by the lack of electronics items for sale? Would you like me to instead title it "My [Unspecified Airport] Layover Disaster?"
@ Cbchicago -- Please get out more?! Yowzers. And "plan for problems?" I certainly learned a lesson here, but given that this is the first time in 17+ years of full time blogging that something like this has happened, I don't think I'd consider myself to have been unprepared.
When you said Delhi layover disaster, I thought you meant a missed flight or something. I had an experience in Delhi (flying their ex-Delta 777-200LR from SFO to DEL) as in flight the pilots apparently chose to fly a longer route for a flight already delayed by an hour, causing me to miss what would be considered an ample four hour connection. Air India ground staff is horrible though, as they would not speak to me in English despite knowing how to do so (simply because I am of south Indian origin) and forcing me to speak Hindi (which I don't know). I had to borrow a stranger's hotspot to connect to the internet and call my dad to ask him to translate.
Also the charging port issue happened to a few of my devices too. Probabbly a loose connection inside the phone. Apple will charge around $250 to fix it. If it's out of warranty, better to take it to a certified repair shop instead.
Right, yes! Glad to know you found a workaround. Hope you get a new phone soon!
I have had the same problem where charging cords stop working with several iPhones over the years. I now mostly only use wireless charging. In addition, I use a “dust cover” to plug into the iPhone’s receptacle and I have had zero issues on my current phone. I used to upgrade phones when the charging became inconsistent, but now am facing the decision to upgrade simply because the phone is getting a bit outdated now.
The missing facts here are what model iPhone and how old.
You carry more than one passport, but only one phone? It's a tool of your trade, you're "Lucky" this didn't happen sooner, at a worse time and place.
I recall staying at the Hyatt Regency in Nice ( somewhat basic but service was top notch, better than some luxary hotels I’ve been to.) and the bellboy forgot to load a bag of mine into my car on the way to province. When I contacted the hotel concierge they were on it right away and sent the bag in a car with a handwritten note, a leather notebook and some playing card as an apology. I thought this was above and beyond and appreciated the concierges expediency.
I’m surprised no one here has mentioned having a battery charging pack. I would have thought that’s a much easier thing to have as a backup compared to a spare phone. It’s something I take with me on all my travels.
Never ever use a toothpick to clean the charging port. Never. They are so delicate you will cause more harm than good, unless you have surgical skills.. when you get it professionally cleaned (probably $15) you’d see the precision tools they use and the alcohol based lubricants and understand
I had problems with my usb-c port as well. With Apple Care+ I got a free replacement for it, however I waited nearly a year to get that (in order to have higher resell value before buying a newer model) and exclusively used a wireless charger from Amazon. This thing is amazing as it charges earpods, watch and phone wirelessly and just needs one USB-C port. It also folds together to be easily packagable in your handluggage.
You should also avoid plugging your phone into public USB ports ( https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-warns-public-charging-stations/story?id=98503419), or you can use a USB data blocker adapter ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7Y4Q5PL/).
I always have a portable battery as well as 2-3 iphone/ipad chargers with me when travelling.
During the day, one is always plugged in the hotel room while I always have in my day backpack in addition to the portable battery.
Taking pictures when travelling drains a lot of battery so I always have these solutions with me, charging the phone in my pocket or charging in a cafe/restaurant during lunch/dinner
Ben,
Your phone/camera is a vital part of doing your job. In war, a backup weapon is vital. There is an important saying in the military. A plan lasts until the first shot is fired.
The very least thing you should do at your first opportunity is to buy a backup phone and charger, along with appropriate cables. Do you think the official White House photographer has only one camera with him?
Probably this is the problem of iPhone port for charging at least, it needs to repair.
Agree.
Carry a proper powerbank.
RS sells some good ones - yes they are heavier than your 'phone, but they work reliably - we use them during power-cuts and they have never failed us, unlike the commons cheap small ones.
Was the cause here an Apple manufacturing weakness, or something in the Air India charging port?
If the latter, perhaps not inherent to the original installation, but a result of what a previous passenger put into the port?
This is a common issue on iPhones over long term use (you can find many similar threads about this across reddit and other forums) so it is probably the phone itself or the wires
I find that a dental pick (the kind with brush like end) works for getting crap out of the charging port.
And a small notebook and pen. Young people today just aren't prepared for when life throws you a curveball.
I carry a magnetic wireless charger (and wireless charging bank) on all my trips because I’ve had associates’ phones stop charging using the lighting and USB-C ports.
I almost always port around two phones but some countries have customs personnel who may make a fuss if you are traveling with more than one cell phone.
Had the same on my Iphone 15Pro. They had to replace the whole charging port, seems to be a recurring problem with that model. Wireless charging kept working though.
My charging port went dead 2 years ago and I've been wireless charging ever since. Apparently its a common problem.
Just to clarify, you bought a MagSafe charger and not a MagSafe battery that sticks on the back of your phone, correct? I use my MagSafe charger 90% of the time and only use the USB-C when I don't have my MagSafe easily available.
I travel alone on business to Europe and while I haven’t had this particular issue my biggest concern has always been theft of my phone and other devices. For that reason, I always carry plastic backup for credit cards and paper backup on flights, hotels, train tickets, etc. I also take a magnetic charger and two power cords. Glad everything worked out with minimal hassle.
Yes, these professionals must first obtain an undergraduate degree, then attend iPhone cleaning school, and only after completing a multi-year residency will they be certified to remove lint from your charging port.
It is literally POCKET LINT. Yes seriously. It's a very, very common issue. Google it. My phone does the same thing (it's doing it right now) until I clean the cruft out of the charging port. 100% predictable and a widely known issue. There is no mystery here (just clueless users).
Google it. The exact symptoms you report. Most of the top returns will point you to cleaning the crap out of the port. It is very widely known and very well-documented, a VERY common problem. Just look at all the comments to this thread that all say "yeah, I had the same problem". You simply need to properly and THOROUGHLY clean the stuff out of the charging port. A toothpick - used gently and carefully - is a perfectly good tool for this. My phone does this regularly. I clean out the port, it charges just fine for weeks. Then it happens again, I pull out a furball, and it's fine for a while. It's not complicated or super-technical. It's just lint preventing a solid connection, and the connection needs to be solid or the charging fails no matter what you stick in there. Replacing the cable or the power supply or plugging into a different source/laptop will NOT work, because all use the same (lint-clogged) connector. It's hard to see the lint - it's a small space, it's hard to get light in there, and it only takes a tiny bit to interfere with the connection, but that is the problem and that is the solution. You just can't make some half-assed lazy effort and then declare the hardware has failed. Do it right and it fixes it. There is NOTHING wrong with your phone. It's Operator Error. Period.
I have seen this loose/disconnected/broken charging port thing hitting phones from the XR and onwards. I suspect a big part of the issue is how so many people keep using the phone in their hand while charging the phone and the pressure that puts on the charging part along with all the pressure from pulling out and pushing in the charging cables. My personal iPhones haven’t had this problem, but I am careful about cable bends and things like this and so my charging ports go trouble free. Apple can fix the charging ports, but then the question is if it’s worth the price they charge.
I read this article waiting for the point where the layover became a disaster because you couldn't transit Delhi airport without a working phone. But nothing. Perhaps a better title would be "My almost inconvenient technology failure"?
In all my years of flying through Delhi, i have not come across a single airline employee that does not speak english.
Reading the headlines
And here I thought you got gaslight by some Indian or it rained golden showers in the terminal.
While I agree with this, I have to admit that my Samsung's S3 port got flakey then quit working entirely after 5 years of use. That was before wireless charging was common. It was time for a new phone anyway, so no big deal.
This happened to a friend staying with us. Luckily an Apple Store is less than two blocks away. The Apple genius had a special tool to clean the charging port within minutes.
On cleaning the iphone port (assuming you have Apple connector instead of USB-C) you need to use a very sharp object like a sewing needle to get around the bottom edges. Tooth picks, floss pics, etc don't work. You can also take it to an apple store and they will clean out.
I know this might be too much for some, but I always carry a smaller backup phone when travelling internationally, where I can switch my sim card if needed. Trying to pay for my father's hospital bill from a debit card, where they wanted confirm via sms, was an absolute inconvenience that I did not need at that time.
I always carry a “wireless cable” as those regular iphone charging port can get messy real fast. I also have my own battery packs cause plane charging ports can be unreliable.
Yes. I have a safety pin that I travel with and in the past have used the sharp pointy edge of that safety pin to clean up the iPhone port.
Ben - if most people read your headline, it sounds like something unique to Delhi and unnecessarily gets the anti-India trolls out. Neither Delhi nor Kuala Lumpur had anything to do with your unique experience. It should instead have said Apple/Iphone and Park Hyatt/Hyatt Concierge, which would have been more appropriate but I guess you were trying to sensationalize/globalize your post and get more people to open and comment
My iPhone port gets clogged every so often. You can take it to an Apple Store where they have a special tool to clean it out that won't also mess with the electronics.
I was about to say, its not really a manufacturing issue, just the reality of carrying a computer with an open charging port in your pocket/bag all the time. That said, it would be cool if a phone manufacturer included like a little hinged cover for the port you could keep closed when carrying the phone that could flip open when you wanted to charge. Seems like it wouldn't cost all that much and save a lot of people the headache.
Or just take it to the Apple Store. They have a special little tool to clean it out without damaging the port and its free.
This has happened to me multiple times (I must have linty pockets). I've never been able to get the crud out on my own. The people at the Apple Store have a tool designed to get in there without risking the port too much and it always has worked for me. Best of all its free.
On the off chance your port is damaged and you are still under AppleCare, they will just replace your phone.
If your phone has a USB-C port toothpicks generally don't work for cleaning lint out the way they did for Lightning connectors, unless you have a very sharp knife to whittle them very flat. The method I've found online that works is to use a small safety pin (or sewing needle, but safety pins are usually easier to find while traveling). I was afraid that would short out the USB-C port but so far with mine it has not.
Some RSS/BJP fanboys in India now refuse to speak English to other Indians even when those other Indians don’t ordinarily — if at all — speak Hindi or some other North Indian language with substantial mutual intelligibility with Hindi.
Hindi language bigots are real.
Late to the party, and a much more pedestrian situation, but I was taking an Amtrak from NYC to DC when I realized I'd forgotten both my phone and laptop charger. I ordered what I needed on Apple's website, and used Apple's own domestic major-market concierge service option for $9 for same-day delivery. when I got to the Merdien, the very same style bag was waiting for me!
iPhone 13 mini (get one on BackMarket, etc) is the almost perfect backup iPhone -- tiny (so, no more extra travel bulk than necessary), full featured, still runs current iOS and will for a couple more years, takes a physical SIM if your'e really in a pinch. If you want the telephoto lens of a Pro-series phone, or you just prefer a larger screen, it doesn't have that, but otherwise, it's a very compact and capable performer.