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I’m a big fan of skipping the mall and doing all my shopping at the airport. So I’m pleased to see that Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) now has two automated Best Buy stores (a.k.a. vending machines) selling electronic products and accessories all at prices that match the Best Buy stores on the street. (Find them in Terminal B, Gate 29 and Terminal E, Gate 32).

(Photo taken 7/29/08 by Brian Murnahan – DFW International Airport)

Even more intriguing, a Toronto-based company called GuestLogix has announced the launch of an on-board Broadway ticketing service on flights to the New York area. The system may go live on-board a major North American airline by late summer 2008.

According to the company press release, “Airline flight attendants equipped with GuestLogix’ proprietary wireless devices will complete ticket sales and print vouchers to be redeemed for seat assignments at Broadway theater box offices.”

Categories: Shopping
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Actor and comedian Jerry Lewis was on his way to Detroit last Friday when he got nabbed at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas for having a gun in his carry-on baggage.

Maybe he was really on his way to Flint.

According to the Flint Journal, at Flint’s Bishop International Airport recently a “wayward shot” flew by some workers when “a public safety officer at the airport was shooting at a deer that had gotten onto the airport grounds.”

No one was hurt, but the Journal reports that the airport is “developing new rules on how and when wildlife will be cleared from the airport property — including possibly keeping shooters farther away from buildings and limiting shoots during local business hours.”

Good idea.

Categories: Celebrities, Guns
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The Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to test their airfield disaster preparedness and response at least once every three years.

That’s probably a good thing.

But airport runways are busy places, so it’s sort of hard to go all out and have a “true to life” test of what it would be like if there was a real disaster.

Luckily, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has a runway that’s not yet operational. So they’re putting it to good use: today, between 9 am and noon, Sea-Tac’s soon-to-be-activated third runway will be used to conduct a full-scale emergency exercise simulating an aircraft crash.

They’ll be 100 volunteer ‘victims’ strewn about next to a mock-up aircraft fuselage smack in the middle of the runway and lots of wrecked cars. Dozens of police and fire agencies will “respond” with fire engines and aid cars.

Sounds gruesome; but if Sea-Tac Airport does have an airfield disaster, it’s good to know they’ve at least had a run-through on the runway.

Can’t you just hear the pilot’s announcements today? “Ladies and gentlemen: don’t be alarmed by all those dead people on the runway.”

This is only a test….

Categories: Safety
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At Oregon’s Portland International Airport, (PDX) travelers can enter a contest to win a pair of round-trip tickets from Portland to any Southwest Airlines destination. The contest is part of the airport’s Summer Splash celebration and runs until Labor Day.

You can enter the contest in person at the airport or on-line here.

If you did visit the airport in person, however, you’d have a chance to see an exhibit of 10 bicycles designed and built by Oregon craftsmen and craftswomen, on display in the E Concourse through September. Included are a broad range of machines, including a steel pursuit bike, folding bike, recumbent cargo trike, steel freakbike – also known as tall bike – and a bike with a frame made from Douglas fir.

Even better: PDX is one of the few airports in the country with a multiuse bike and pedestrian path connecting regional trails to the terminal. So you can ride your bike to the airport!

Photo courtesy Portland International Airport

Categories: Art, Contests, Recreation
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The folks at San Diego International Airport are keeping busy this summer.

There are all sorts of new art and history exhibits going up,  (including one about surfing; stay tuned) and a full schedule of “Terminals to Tarmac” tours.

In addition to showing off the airport’s great collection of public art, the rest areas for animals, the control tower, and the fire station, the tours offer a peek at the airfield nesting areas of endangered Least Tern seabirds.

Airport officials say there are 136 Least Tern nests in the Nesting Ovals on the east side of the airfield; the second-highest number of nests in any one year at San Diego International Airport (SDIA).

The free tours are available eight times a month and last two hours. To sign up for a tour, click here.

Categories: Exhibits, Recreation
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