Category Archives for Airports.
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
Outside of a limited set of legitimate interests, government functions in publicly-owned airports are generally open to filming. Passengers can’t pass through TSA checkpoints without a ticket or other authorization, but prior to the checkpoint it’s generally not a problem as long as the activities don’t interfere with the function of the airport or screening activities.
To be sure I wouldn’t want to be filmed in my workplace either. At the same time without documentary evidence of bad actors, a passenger likely has little recourse against TSA or airline employees who treat them poorly.
Amsterdam Schipol airport was already in meltdown. Now its baggage systems have broken down.
There are simple reasons why airport restaurants are bad, stemming from high rents, challenges hiring staff, airport security to the varying tastes of consumers who are only choosing the dining spot because it exists near their gate. But there are some new innovations at least making food choice more varied and access faster.
London Heathrow airport is capping passenger volumes at 100,000 per day through September 11, against an average of 104,000 passengers at the airport. Peak travel days exceed this number. In fact during summer 2019 volumes regularly exceeded 200,000 passengers per day, and the airport set a record above 260,000 in August 2019. The airport has asked airlines to suspend ticket sales to accommodate these limits.
Denver’s airport is planning a new ‘hotel row’ as part of their 26 acre ‘West Approach’ project. This is going to be about 3 miles from the terminal, near a future Denver rail system stop.
There are already 26 hotels along Tower Road. And of course there’s a Westin connected to the terminal. This new project is expect to launch first with a ground lease for a branded select service property with 200+ rooms, that the airport envisions will offer a rooftop bar and dining with plane spotting opportunities.
The TSA can rifle through your luggage at will and will pull sex toys out of your bags in front of other passengers. You walk through machines that take naked images and screeners get to fondle you if they find you attractive.
TSA even had a program to follow ordinary passengers and mark down when they used the bathroom. But perhaps there’s nothing more intimate than having your pancake mix obsession revealed as the price of domestic travel.
TSA is promoting their prowess at seizing liquids at security checkpoints. Great catch! They’ve rounded up liquids and gels over 3 ounces and placed them in one spot together to be photographed.
But where is the hazmat team? If these items were dangerous you wouldn’t think they’d be kept near he security checkpoint and passengers, let alone held together. There would be dangerous materials protocols. Except even the TSA doesn’t believe these liquids are dangerous. They’re seizing liquids because the rules say to do so, not because it keeps anyone safe.
After a number of gate leases Southwest Airlines had 18 of the airport’s 20 gates. Alaska Airlines had 2. And Delta found themselves without a gate in the game of musical airport chairs.
However the Department of Transportation said that the City of Dallas had to continue to accommodate Delta at Love Field even though it had no gates to do so, couldn’t legally build more, and Southwest had a valid lease for the gate Delta was using. Everyone wound up in court.
The FAA threated to issue a determination that the City of Dallas was in noncompliance with its Federal grant obligations in the operation of Dallas Love Field, making them ineligible for FAA grant funds.
Everyone wound up in Court.
While American Airlines has grown tremendously in Austin – quadrupling destinations and doubling flights – Southwest remains the largest carrier in the market by a wide margin. In fact it carries an even larger share of Austin traffic than it did three years ago, before the pandemic.
United and Delta have shrunk a bit. So has JetBlue. Allegiant has gown, while Spirit and Frontier have shrunk. Few would have guessed that of Delta, which still calls Austin a focus city.
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 »
