“Working passengers began lining up their laptops to share the power from a couple of working outlets – particularly the reporters who urgently needed to prepare their articles to transmit during a quick refueling stop in England.

“But when Cheney said his iPod needed to be recharged, it took precedence above all else and dominated one precious outlet for several hours. The vice president’s press staff intervened so a reporter could use the outlet for 15 minutes to charge a dead laptop, but then the digital music device was plugged back in.”