Category Archives for Airports.
CBS ran a story on people using wheelchairs to get priority access at airports — even when they don’t need assistance. If you need assistance contact your airline in advance and they’ll arrange for a wheelchair.
There are three potential benefits I see to this strategy, all involve boarding the aircraft early.
A couple of years ago Atlanta fired the General Manager of its airport. They didn’t provide much of a reason, and it seemed strange considering the success that the airport had.
The General Manager had plenty to say, though. He claimed he was fired for refusing to go along with corruption. Contracts were expected to be awarded to politically connected companies, not to the best companies or to those offering the best prices.
At the beginning of the week we learned about a TSA program, “Quiet Skies” that follows passengers and notes their habits even though these passengers are on no threat list.
TSA acknowledges that this program hasn’t found a single actual threat. Not a single person being followed was determined to be worth any followup.
CNN is reporting on TSA documents for a proposal eliminating “passenger screening at more than 150 small and medium-sized airports across the US.”
The two things to know are (1) there are actually pretty good arguments for this, and (2) it isn’t being seriously discussed — as in considered for implementation — this is never going to happen.
Avoid pickups at arrivals altogether especially in the evening and get picked up at departures instead. There are few evening departures from Austin, so the upstairs departures level is mostly empty.
And this is permitted, too. Electronic signs beneath the names of airline names in front of the terminal read “DROP OFF PICKUP ONLY.” The airport officially encourages upstairs pickups! I’ve also never had an Uber driver refuse an upstairs pickup. You have to specify a pickup location at arrivals, but I then immediately send a pickup message asking for upstairs pickup. The driver almost always thanks me (and this is probably why my Uber rating has climbed to nearly 4.9).
Earlier this year I wrote about how it often looks like gate agents process upgrades incorrectly, but there are perfectly innocent explanations that customers usually don’t see.
At the same time, things sometimes do appear to be done wrong.
Like Syria, Yemen is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The UAE is generally aligned with the Saudis.
On Thursday Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to attack the Abu Dhabi airport with drones. They didn’t do major damage, instead they content they demonstrated their ability to fly drones to attack critical UAE infrastructure.
In what may be the most hipster effort in an airport ever, Austin is going to get a Briggo robotic coffee haus near gate 8 opening July 17. This is the “first app-based, robotic, specialty coffee system installed in an airport.”
You can order your coffee and pay in advance with your phone, and then walk up to the machine and enter a PIN code for it to release your cup to you (to make sure you get the right drink and no one else takes it) or you can order directly at the machine.
A little over an hour ago there were explosions followed by fire near the Cairo airport. The Egyptian government says there’s no evidence of foul play and attributes the cause to ‘high temperature’ on a day that doesn’t appear to have reached 100.
TSA screening can feel to some people like sexual assault but the government says that it isn’t. But what if a TSA screener actually assaults you at the checkpoint? The TSA has argued you shouldn’t be allowed to sue if they hit you in the groin.
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 »
