Category Archives for Airports.
Southwest’s switch to assigned seating may have cured many of its wheelchair “miracles,” but the airport line-skipping incentive has not gone away. A single U.S.-bound flight from Taipei reportedly had more than 60 wheelchairs waiting — proving that when everyone gets airport priority, nobody does.
Washington Dulles may finally get the rebuild travelers have wanted for decades: real rail-connected concourses, the end of its “temporary” C/D complex, and a move away from mobile lounges. The catch is the price tag has climbed to $22 billion — enough to push airport costs above $90 per passenger unless taxpayers or some privatization scheme pick up much of the bill.
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan owes a Dubai airport-security firm more than $15 million, and the company tried to collect by going after airline overflight fees held by IATA in a frozen Swiss account. A D.C. court agreed the arbitration award could be enforced — but said it had no jurisdiction over the money, sending the fight over Afghanistan’s aviation cash cow to another venue.
Palm Beach County and the Trump Organization have reached an agreement on the use of Donald Trump’s name to rename Palm Beach International airport for the President. They will vote on it on Tuesday.
A woman standing in line at a TSA checkpoint can’t going through airport security with her booze – so she chugs the full size clear liquor bottle. Reports are this was Don Julio. She chose to drink the tequila rather than give it up – or return to the ticket counter to check it in.
Seattle-Tacoma airport has been offering free menstrual products in all restrooms, including men’s rooms, while a vending machine beside them charges $1 for diapers. The policy is meant to support travelers of all gender identities, but the sharper public reaction comes from the contrast itself: the airport made one category of personal need free and convenient, while putting a price on another.
American Airlines is poised to win back three gates at Chicago O’Hare, undercutting United’s effort to use aggressive growth and gate reallocations to widen its advantage at the airport. If the preliminary determination holds and the FAA’s flight caps stay in place, Scott Kirby’s strategy to squeeze American further out of Chicago will have failed.
A top United executive took a personal shot at American Airlines CEO Robert Isom during FAA meetings over Chicago O’Hare, saying “he’s no Bob Crandall” while arguing American’s weak position there was the result of its own decisions.
More than a quarter of the baggage scales tested at Newark airport were found to be inaccurate, and some were so bad they were taken out of service or treated every bag as overweight. That does not mean every traveler was wrongly charged, but at a major United hub where checked bag and overweight fees add up fast, the odds are high that passengers paid millions they never should have owed.
Air traffic control in Nashville turned a Southwest jet that was going around after an aborted landing directly into the departure path of another Southwest flight, triggering collision warnings in both cockpits. The two aircraft came within about 500 feet vertically before the crews and onboard systems avoided a far more serious outcome.
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 »
