Category Archives for Airports.
He spent October 19, 2020 – January 16, 2021 in the airport because he was afraid of Covid-19. He had flown to O’Hare but didn’t continue onto India as he’d planned. He relied on the kindess of strangers who picked up meals for him, and he talked to passengers about Buddhism and Hinduism.
The man was charged with felony criminal trespass for his time in a restricted area of an airport. And he’s now been acquitted, without having to submit a defense.
A major water main break has deprived the Charlotte airport of water. Restaurants have to close. People can’t use the restrooms, let alone wash their hands (I seem to remember something about needing to do this frequently and for 20 seconds).
American Airlines is telling passengers that they should use lavatories on board their aircraft prior to deplaning.
There’s been a rash of thefts from airport parking lots in Orlando. And the thieves are all going for muscle cars. Airports have some of the toughest security operations in the country, and I don’t mean TSA. There are law enforcement officers of nearly every flavor at major destinations, and cameras everywhere.
But those aren’t deployed to stop crime, they’re often focused on drug interdiction of lifting cash from passengers who aren’t committing any crimes. They’re certainly not protecting cars in the parking lot.
While most of the focus has been on airline workforce issues, and whether a federal deadline of December 8 to comply will wreak havoc on holiday travel (American Airlines says they’ll begin termination proceedings on the Wednesday before thanksgiving!), a big mess could come out of TSA screeners ineligible to work because they’re unvaccinated.
I’ve never once said what I really want for dinner is what they’re serving at the airport. That’s because the constraints of selling food in the airport – bringing everything through security, usually cooking with electricity, lacking storage space, high rents and a need to serve the median consumer taste quickly – means that airport restaurants are bad. And you pay through the nose for the privilege.
Still, at Philadelphia airport they think you might want curbside pickup of your dinner from the airport, and they’re now set up to do just that.
A friend had given me a tip that if you wait to request an Uber until you’re actually in the garage where you meet your ride, you’ll often pay $20 less for the same trip. That seemed odd, but I decided to give it a try.
Any study which purports to show Miami and New York JFK are the best U.S. airports is self-refuting.
Airports are worth billions of dollars, but they generally don’t contribute to paying for local services even though they’re almost invariably owned by local governments. That’s because federal regulations don’t allow local governments to receive airport net revenue (profit). This is also unique in the world – governments elsewhere generate substantial revenue from their airports.
Airport concessions can be high-priced. But the bigger challenge is that so many of them remain closed as concessionaires struggle to find employees (and the airport works hard to keep wages down). That means fewer places to buy snacks and long lines for the places that are open.
One man has stepped into the breach, sensing an entrepreneurial opportunity.
Richard Reid, the “Shoe Bomber”, is a British career criminal who converted to Islam in prison and came a member of Al Qaeda. He attempted to blow up American Airlines flight 63 from Paris to Miami on December 22, 2001. The plot was foiled by several factors, from high humidity to Reid’s own perspiration dampening the fuse along with another passenger smelling smoke.
He was arrested, charged, convicted and eventually given 3 life sentences plus 110 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
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 »
