TIL: The Empire State Building Was Built With A Rooftop Airport [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • The Empire State Building was meant to be an air travel station.

  • Intercontinental Singapore will pay you if it rains on your vacation (HT: Jonathan W)

  • Why you can’t get a table for six at a restaurant (HT: @crucker)

  • GHA Discovery now has a homesharing partnership Earn 5% back in Discovery Dollars plus elite night credits on Plum Guide bookings.

  • Why is it so hard to build an airport?

    Despite their importance, airports are enormously difficult to build, not only in the US but around the world. Airport construction is nearly always vigorously opposed by various interest groups, often successfully. As air travel greatly expanded in the 1960s and 70s, there were “no more virulent domestic conflicts… in the advanced industrial world than those over airport construction.”

    …Of the 50 largest airports in the US, the average age is 82 years, and only three have been built in the last 50 years. The US has built more commercial nuclear reactors in the past 25 years (two) than it has major commercial airports (none), even though air travel increased by almost 50% over that period.

  • Reader Bill C. asks, “Does this mean that Park Hyatt [L.A.] won’t open in 2019?”

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. So , it must rain for 120 minutes during a four hour period during daytime ? That would be a rare monsoon season drenching . The fine print discloses the con artist , every time .

  2. We don’t need more airports, we need more high speed rail and modern train stations.

  3. @ Yinjing. I agree. The train doesn’t even need to be a “bullet” train to beat going to an airport for a 300 nm or less trip. Herb Kelleher, with the help of the Legion of Forgotten Airlines, killed high speed rail in the Texas triangle.

  4. The new terminal at Changi has a capacity for 50M more passengers- taking the airport to 135M. That’s 2X the capacity in Atlanta, the busiest airport today. That’s how you deliver a good airport experience…

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