New name for Atlanta’s airport

The Atlanta City Council voted to rename Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. It will henceforth be known as “Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport” adding the name of the city’s first black mayor to the name of the city’s longest-serving mayor.

The most over-the-top rhetoric advocating the change:

    “For years, Hartsfield-Jackson will symbolically hover over Atlanta like a protective shield and a glorious crown which says to us and the world, in the hometown of Martin Luther King Jr. and Margaret Mitchell, we are one,” said Johnson.

I have mixed feelings about this. One the one hand, it seems absurd that the airport name issue should take up so much time for the city council. On the other hand, I presume it’s better for them to spend time on things like the name of an airport than their next best alternative which might be genuinely harmful. As a passenger it makes little difference which named airport I land at. The real problem is that if I’m landing in Atlanta it’s most likely because I’m connecting on Delta.

About Gary Leff

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 »

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