Category Archives for Airports.
Bankrupt Spirit Airlines is trying to turn its LaGuardia flight slots into $87 million, but the airport’s operator says the airline is trying to auction off rights that aren’t Spirit’s to sell. That sounds like a major problem—except FAA-approved slot sales are real, and LaGuardia still has to provide airport access on reasonable, non-discriminatory terms.
The FAA says Spirit’s valuable LaGuardia slots should go to a low-cost airline or be retired entirely, not simply sold to whoever values them most. That is the same central-planning impulse airline regulators keep falling into: trying to engineer competition from Washington instead of using prices to allocate scarce airport capacity and letting airlines prove which business models actually work.
Austin airport’s long-planned credit card lounge did not disappear just because Southwest appears to have taken the original West Infill space for its own “Project Oasis” lounge. The airport now says it still plans a bank lounge RFP — and is weighing space in the new Concourse B, the current Concourse A, or possibly both, meaning Austin could end up with two credit card lounges on top of new clubs from Southwest, American, Delta and United.
A 67-year-old man reportedly drove to Detroit Metro Airport saying he was there to meet Tom Cruise and save his dad — then crashed his black Cadillac SUV through the Evans Terminal doors. Police say he appeared disoriented, no weapons were found, and no one was seriously hurt, but this is somehow the second time this year a vehicle has smashed into a Detroit airport terminal.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford says Trump’s first air traffic control modernization push was “hijacked” into a privatization debate by airlines — but Trump himself explicitly proposed moving ATC into a self-financing nonprofit. Bedford’s Airlines Confidential interview reveals a broader problem: the FAA wants more central control over airline schedules while still running, regulating, and excusing the system whose failures it is supposed to fix.
Denver airport’s train system broke down 131 times last year, stranding passengers in a terminal design that often gives them no way to walk to their gates. Now the airport is finally planning pedestrian walkways between concourses so the backup plan becomes walking up to 1.25 miles with your bags.
Flying to Europe this summer may mean more than crowded airports and packed flights. Europe’s new biometric border checks are creating hours-long immigration lines at some airports, with travelers missing connecting flights on arrival and returning flights as first-time registration overwhelms passport control.
San Francisco airport is planning a private terminal for commercial airline passengers, letting travelers skip the main terminal, clear dedicated TSA screening, and get driven across the airfield to their plane. It is the PS-style airport experience now spreading from LAX to Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, and soon to the Bay Area.
A federal civil rights official complaining about an airport sandwich is funny. A $25.60 cold turkey sandwich at Burbank is ridiculous. But the real issue is the airport’s own pricing rules and whether they’re supposed to prevent exactly this kind of gouging in the first place.
A sinkhole found during LaGuardia’s morning airfield inspection shut down Runway 4/22, leaving the airport to run all traffic on its only other runway. By Wednesday afternoon, LaGuardia was leading the world in cancellations, with about 20% of flights canceled amidst thunderstorms as crews worked to determine how quickly the runway could reopen.
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 »
