Category Archives for Airports.
In 1989 David Hasselhof stood atop the Berlin Wall belting out “Looking for Freedom.” Less than a year later East Germans were finally free.
Thirty one years after David Hasselhof stood between East and West Berlin the East’s old airport finally became Berlin Brandenburg airport. It’s a costly reminder of East German-style planning, with workers still being harmed by the 23 year long project that more than tripled in cost.
CNN is shuttering the CNN Airport Network effective March 31. That means an end to those televisions blaring news across approximately 50 U.S. airports. The cable network explains that this is because of a decline in air travel, and more people “consuming content on their personal devices” rather than watching their broadcasts.
In this video shared to social media, women can be seem arrested at baggage claim in the Miami airport. They’re dragged out as they futilely resist the officers and the younger woman screams that “it hurts.” One woman announces that she has four children. A concerned onlooker worries about the kids, but the officer responds confidently that he has experience performing arrests where children are involved.
According to reports in social media a mother and daughter assaulted a flight attendant on their trip to Miami.
Washington Dulles is a very bad airport. And the reasons why are simple. It’s far from the city but once you make it to the airport you’re still nowhere near the airport. There will eventually be a train to the airport but it – too – will stop before the actual airport.
The reasons Dulles is so bad are legion, but it’s not limited to corruption. Sure contracts go to friends, the Office of Audit doesn’t do formal audits and jobs go to unqualified friends and relatives. But the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority oversees both Washington Dulles and National airports, and National is so much better. The real reasons are much worse.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, serially defenestrated by Donald Trump for the past four years, is viewed as insufficiently supportive of the President by Trump’s supporters – at least by those who came to DC this week and stormed the Capitol.
The President’s supporters found Lindsey Graham flying American Airlines at Washington’s National airport’s C pier and confronted him as a “liar” and a “traitor” for breaking with Trump’s disputing of the election outcome this week. And one raises the QAnon conspiracy calling him a pedophile.
When the screener asked the man to “step aside” he promptly ran away, left the terminal, and hopped into a taxi. He didn’t even stop to collect his shoes, which he’d sent through the x-ray machine as well. He left his bag behind, and also his wallet along with three forms of ID, “his boarding pass, a New York learner’s permit and his passport.”
President Trump is asking about what airport will be named for him once he leaves office. However he’s concerned that whatever airport is chosen, it needs to be nice enough. He didn’t accomplish the infrastructure investment he campaigned on, but worries that a dilapidated airport will bear his name.
Grover Norquist raised a ton of money for the ‘Reagan Legacy Project’ to have something named for Ronald Reagan in every state. Trump has reportedly hoped for an organized effort like that around renamings for him.
The TSA took to social media to congratulate themselves for stopping a bad actor. Box cutters raise huge alarms because they were used to take control of aircraft on 9/11. Someone bringing those through a security checkpoint – concealed – raises huge flags. And TSA stopped the plot!
The TSA was forced to clarify that these weren’t box cutters after all, it was marijuana, and nobody tried to take it through a checkpoint since it was, in fact, found in a checked bag.
CLEAR takes your finger prints and retina scan and lets you access airport security checkpoints without ID, and some other venues as well. There’s usually no line to use CLEAR, so you skip the security wait. At busy airports and peak times it can be much better than using PreCheck.
The service is offered by a private company, and you pay for it. However through December 31 you can sign up with six months free.
I really like the Pittsburgh airport. There’s a Hyatt hotel on the grounds, and they pioneered allow people to go through security even when not traveling same day, something we lost in this country after 9/11. The program meant people could meet arriving passengers, shop and dine, and planespot.
Now they have something new to like: on-demand Covid-19 testing inside the terminal.
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 »
