Category Archives for Airports.
After contracting disputes, the government walked away from private contracts to build the airport in 2003, and instead handed out 30-40 contracts to smaller companies and decided to oversee the project itself – which they lacked the expertise to do – instead of hiring an experienced design-build firm responsible for delivering on a budget. The airport didn’t just take 23 years, it came in at triple the cost too.
Knowing what kind of response to expect from the Chinese government, people react with chaos when news of fresh cases nearby breaks out. On Sunday night Shanghai Pudong airport “descended into chaos” after two cargo handlers there tested positive for Covid-19. Hundreds of flights were cancelled.
Authorities set up a testing site at the airport and ordered all airport cargo employees to be tested. Although passengers reportedly understood and feared that everyone was going to be tested and quarantined. That may have been the initial plan, scaled back as riots were feared.
The worst airport gate in American, Washington National’s gate 35X, is officially put to rest and will no longer cause misery to travelers.
With fewer flights, American Airlines 50 seat regional jet departures have been moved to the main terminal, instead of having to take an escalator down to a dark and dingy holding pen before being driven to bus gates.
Several Chase cards now come with Platinum status from off-airport parking provider The Parking Spot, along with enough points for a free day and 20% off of your first booking.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming is going to close its airport from April 2022 through June 2022 for runway reconstruction. No commercial or private air traffic will be permitted.
While Jackson Hole isn’t heavily populated, it’s home to a number of resorts for people looking to enjoy the incredibly scenery – places like Amangani, Teton Mountain Lodge and the Four Seasons. June is the start of peak season, though May is actually a lovely time to visit most years. The airport closure will affect this, as the next-closest commercial air option is nearly two hours away.
In Ireland bars in the Dublin airport remain open despite the country’s lockdown because airports are considered an essential service. So you’ve got people looking for some semblance of normalcy heading to the airport to drink – buying the cheapest ticket available to get through security.
Pre-departure testing is a requirement to travel to Hawaii, New York, and even much of the world where borders are at least partially open. Airlines have been working to get clinics open inside of airports, and to coordinate rapid turnaround testing for their passengers.
Airlines previously advocated for the government to do temperature checks of all passengers. The airlines themselves require passengers to fill out a health checklist as part of check-in, and require masks in areas of airport terminals they control and on board their planes. Airlines and airports have new cleaning regimes to address potential surface transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
But did you know that some airports have been trying to spend CARES Act money to set up screening regimes, and the federal government hasn’t allowed them to do it?
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.
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 »
