Category Archives for Airports.
Two police cars followed a Honda that stormed onto the runway at the Van Nuys airport on Friday. The driver moved erratically while waving one hand out the sunroof, another out the side window. Maybe he was steering with his knees, or not steering at all.
When the driver was finally caught around 9 a.m. he “cooperated with officers, but also rambled about being followed by the government and the Mexican cartel.”
A fight broke out at the Las Vegas airport on Wednesday. They’re near slot machines, and not a gate, so it doesn’t appear to be passengers losing it over their flight. And there’s no reason to suspect it’s election-related.
What’s amazing is that there are actually two fights and they’re happening simultaneously beside each other. First you see a passenger in green going ‘fists of fury’ on a passenger dressed in brown, but notice to the right that there’s another group – a passenger in a black and red shirt doing his best Rowdy Roddy Piper on another passenger in all-black.
The Helsinki airport ‘Covid-sniffing dogs’ pilot project has gotten a lot of press, but now we have more robust results.
Ultimately if Covid-sniffing dogs would work, that could allow people to be sniffed on the way into the airport and could also open the possibility of having large events again. It amounts to universal and instantaneous testing, provided that training for both the dogs and their handlers could scale.
Why are price sensitive leisure travelers spending more inside the airport than before – when so many retail establishments are even closed?
Last week’s Airlines Confidential podcast was recorded at the Boyd International Aviation Forecast Summit, and Mike Boyd was on briefly and dropped – almost as an aside – “one little thing drops out of a lab in Wuhan..” and aviation is upended.
I’d walk through the ‘conspiracy theory’ of the virus, not just because of what SARS-CoV-2 has done to aviation (since it’s done even more to human lives) but also because the conspiracy actually involves the Wuhan airport.
Possibly inspired by Goodfellas, two former New York JFK truck drivers and a Delta Air Lines employee pled not guilty to a $6 million heist of luxury goods from the airport this week. Prosecutors allege they showed up with paperwork for the goods, bearing the flight details and serial numbers for the items, and they drove off with their haul. Destination: a “defunct beauty shop in Queens.”
Travel to places where human rights aren’t fully respected entails risks. Those risks are on the rise in China for instance. I’ve enjoyed visiting Doha. The Museum of Islamic Art is absolutely worth the stop. But this incident certainly gives pause.
It was only Thursday that United Airlines announced they would offer rapid coronavirus testing at the airport in San Francisco for passengers taking its Hawaii flights. Testing would be available by appointment, with results available in 15 minutes, and the airline hoped the $250 price point would come down in the near future.
Since then Hawaiian Airlines also announced same day airport testing coming for its passengers for $150. The State of Hawaii plans to allow people to enter the state without 14 day quarantine starting October 15, provided they present a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of arrival. United says the state will accept their Abbott rapid tests.
Now Oakland airport is announcing that its Hawaii passengers can get rapid tests for free starting October 15.
Covid-sniffing dogs were already tested in the UAE with 90% accuracy, now they’re being trialed in Helsinki. Two European airports will use a self-serve ‘Israeli gargle test’ which provides results in 15 minutes. Both are efforts to ensure travelers are all virus free, and give both passengers and governments confidence to travel the way we (mostly) used to.
An even better solution extends far beyond airports. Cheap, at home strip tests (think of something similar to a pregnancy test) that identify whether or not you’re Covid-positive. The primary obstacle to cheap daily at home testing isn’t technology, it’s the FDA. Set this up to read results through an app, and the app could become your passport not just to travel but also bring back indoor activities.
While flights don’t seem to be significant causes of virus spread the same may not be true of other parts of the travel experience. 1812 TSA employees have tested positive for Covid-19. 92% of those are airport screeners. Miami has had 122 screeners test positive. New York JFK has had 112. And these numbers don’t include the most recent testing.
According to a former TSA federal security director it’s insane that the TSA continues with pat downs which he says are unnecessary.
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 »
