Category Archives for Airports.
A Houston-bound Boeing 747 freighter reported running out of fuel with just 6,000 pounds remaining, yet the pilot still asked to continue another 210 miles to Houston. Air traffic control stepped in, declared the emergency for the crew, and made the plane land at Dallas–Fort Worth instead, almost certainly preventing a much more serious incident.
A Chattanooga airport passenger says she paid $19.64 for avocado toast and received one sad slice of bread with green spread and a single strip of bacon. The real story is bigger than one bad breakfast: airport restaurants face high rents, security restrictions, labor hurdles, politicized concession contracts, and captive customers, all of which help explain why so much airport food is expensive and disappointing.
American Airlines is emailing passengers booked to West Palm Beach to explain that their flights will soon show as going to President Donald J. Trump International Airport, with the airport code changing from PBI to DJT on August 18.
An American Airlines 737 arriving at Washington National was forced to go around after a Republic Airways regional jet appears to have accepted another aircraft’s clearance and entered Runway 1. The incident involved two nearly identical American Airlines regional jet callsigns at neighboring runways, turning a routine line-up-and-wait instruction into a runway conflict.
TSA’s Secure Flight system was built to identify aviation security threats, not to help ICE locate ordinary civil immigration targets at check-in counters, gates, and baggage claim. Using passenger manifests this way turns airports into ambush points and shows exactly how a narrow post-9/11 security tool can become a general surveillance system.
President Trump is expected to announce a $22.5 billion reconstruction of Washington Dulles, a plan he personally helped shape to preserve the Saarinen terminal while replacing much of the airport behind it. The project could finally end regular mobile lounge use and fix the train system, but without massive federal funding, the debt math could make Dulles too expensive for airlines to operate.
Comedians Eric André and Clayton English have settled their lawsuit over Clayton County officers stopping passengers on Atlanta airport jet bridges, taking their IDs and boarding passes, questioning them about drugs, and searching bags. During an eight-month period, officers made 402 stops, found only tiny amounts of drugs, charged two people — and seized more than $1 million in cash and money orders.
After helping himself to coffee and food at Košice airport, a confused man climbed the perimeter fence, wandered the apron and slept in row one of an Austrian Airlines Embraer. Multiple security layers failed before the captain found him.
The U.S. keeps pouring billions into FAA-run air traffic control while staffing, technology, and accountability lag. Canada’s nonprofit NAV CANADA model shows a better path: separate regulator from operator, fund the system through users, and modernize without waiting on Congress.
A CBP agriculture beagle at LAX sniffed out 99 pounds of prohibited items in luggage from Thailand, including meat, produce, and 16 pounds of endangered Bengal monitor lizard parts.
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 »
