Category Archives for Airports.
Last month London Heathrow airport placed severe restrictions on the number of passengers who could fly out of the airport, in the face of staff shortages that had left to interminable waits, missed flights, and lost luggage.
Passenger limits were set to end September 11 but have been extended through October 29. Yet American Airlines is actually lifting is ban on nonrev passengers that had been implemented due to the caps saying conditions are improving.
CLEAR is currently trialing a curb-to-gate VIP escort called “CLEAR Premium” in Orlando at a $79 price point.
Clear provides an “Ambassador” that assists passengers through check-in and baggage check, then security and then through the terminal to the gate. It’s the kind of thing, at this price point, I’d consider for my in-laws at crowded airports.
European airports have been a disaster this summer. The Dublin airport doesn’t want to be embarrassed by long security wait times. They argue they’re better than peers with creative measurement. The claim: that 99% of passengers make it through security in less than 30 minutes, and no one takes more than 45 minutes. That’s a lot of waiting, but much better than some other airports. How do they deliver this result?
Philadelphia is a generally poor airport. Some airline employees even call it Filthadelphia. And the airport can’t seem to even provide basic services to passengers without an upcharge – like outlets?
Cancun airport is reporting a record-breaking summer. And at the same time, work is proceeding to grow infrastructure around the airport. Colosio boulevard, which enters Cancun International Airport, is seeing two hour delays at peak times (6 a.m. – 10 a.m. into the airport and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. departing it).
Tourists can be seen abandoning taxis and walking into the facility.
Part of how the Austin airport has handled growth is opening a separate, privately-funded terminal for low cost carriers. They gave a 40 year lease to a company to build it, that company has invested tens of millions of dollars, and Allegiant and Frontier currently operate out of the terminal.
The South Terminal has only been open 5 years and the Austin airport has changed its mind. They want the land back .
As airlines work through the backlog of lost bags, not everyone on staff is well-incentivized to reunite people with their luggage. Instead they may just be expected to clear the backlog. And what is the quickest, easiest way for an employee to do that – an employee who doesn’t see the customer?
Elon Musk plans to build his own airport in the Austin area.
The Boring Company’s headquarters is a mere three miles from Austin Executive Airport – although last year top executives at the Boring Company acquired 73 acres for a warehouse and manufacturing facility in… Northwest Bastrop where the new airport is believed to be planned.
Out of the top busiest airports in the world last year, eight of the top 10 were in the United States. In fact, 10 of the top 12 were in the U.S. as well.
These top 20 airports handled 19% of world passenger traffic in 2021 (863 million total passengers).
According to the CEO of London Heathrow, “The summer getaway has started well at Heathrow, thanks to early planning and keeping demand in line with airline ground-handler capacity.”
Any issues, he says, are the fault of airlines failing to “recruit and train more ground handlers” and fault with the airport lies only in not having enough money for capital investment, but that’s the fault of the global pandemic not the airport itself
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 »
