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.”

Tags: Airline amenities, Airport amenities
No Comments »

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.

Tags: McCarran International Airport
No Comments »

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….

Tags: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
No Comments »

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

Tags: Airport art, Portland International Airport
No Comments »

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.

Tags: Airport amenities, San Diego International Airport, Uncategorized
No Comments »

Not sure if this is really an “airshow,” but if you can’t afford to fly to anywhere this summer you might enjoy attending – or even competing in – the Red Bull Flugtag.

Taking its name from the German for “flying day,” and touching down riverside in various cities around the world since 1991, the goal of this “outrageous, human-powered flying competition,” is to launch wacky homemade aircraft from a 25-foot high flight deck and fly as a far as possible before landing in the water. Judges award points for distance, craft creativity and showmanship.

This year, Red Bull Flugtag events were scheduled for three US cities. More than 100,000 people showed up to watch 35 teams compete in Tampa Bay a few weeks back, and there are two more FREE events this summer: in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, Aug 2^nd and in Chicago on Saturday, Sept 6^th.

(Photo credit: Wright State University)

Tags: Uncategorized
No Comments »

From now through the end of August, paintings by Cuban-born artist Viredo (just “Viredo”) are on display at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in the Thomas F. Riley Terminal.

Viredo’s paintings are inspired by the complex Afro-Cuban culture of his childhood in Regla, Cuba. Here’s a sample:

(Carmen 1998 - Courtesy Viredo and John Wayne Airport)

In the 1950’s, Viredo was one of the influential Cuban artists that became known as “The Group of Eleven” (Grupo de Los Once). He left Cuba for the United States in 1969 and is now an Orange County-based artist.

A colorful selection of Viredo’s paintings are on display on the departure (upper) level near the security screening areas and on the arrival (lower) level near baggage carousels 1 and 4.

Tags: Airport art, John Wayne Airport, Uncategorized
No Comments »

Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most famous aviators, was born on this day in Atchison, Kansas in 1898.

You can learn all about “the Golden Girl of Aviation,” or “Lady Lindy,” and see statues of her in various spots around the country, including the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in Atchison and at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, where Earhart honed her skills before heading out to set and smash records:

In 1928, Earhart – flying as a passenger – was the first woman on a transatlantic flight

In 1932 she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic;

In 1935 Earhart was the first pilot to fly from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland and;

In 1937, sadly and mysteriously, she and navigator Bill Noonan disappeared somewhere in the Pacific during an attempt to fly around the world.

Bonus: Here’s a link to a search that turned up a great photo of Ms. Earhart standing in front of her plane Lockheed Electra at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, back when it was called Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport.

Tags: Bob Hope Airport, Uncategorized
No Comments »

Well, gang, we’ve made it to the mid-point of the summer travel season. For folks who’ve had to scale back or cancel summer plans due to rising gas prices, airline fare hikes, or the deeply dipping dollar, it’s already a miserable summer.

I’ve been there and it stinks. Rising gas prices, and comments such as “Let’s check your temperature, Missy,” have put my planned road trip to the nation’s airports on hold.

But for you glass-half-full folks eyeing the August calendar and still holding out hope for some sort of summer vacation, there’s still time to have fun. You may just need to be more flexible and a bit more creative than usual.

So get out that “souvenir” pen you took home from that last hotel stay. In my Well-Mannered Traveler column today on MSNBC.com – part of the “My Miserable Summer” series – there are some tips for salvaging a summer vacation.

(Column illustration by the very talented Duane Hoffman. Thanks!)

Tags: Airport amenities, Airports, Uncategorized
No Comments »

If you’re passing through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) anytime before October 1, take a few moments to check out the new exhibit installed in the pylon display cases between gates 7 and 12. They’re filled with treasures relating to writers, photographers and musicians, all on loan from The Wittliff Collections, which focuses on the cultural legacy of the Southwest’s literary and photographic arts.

Some cool items here, including:

Lonesome Dove set designs and memorabilia;

Manuscript pages from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, No Country for Old Men and from his 2006 novel, The Road, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

A rare 1555 edition of Cabeza de Vaca’s La relación y comentarios, the first written account of travels in the region that is now Texas and northern Mexico.

A vintage camera used by Great Depression documentarian Russell Lee;

And pages from a songbook made by Willie Nelson when he was eleven years old.

(Photo: Pages from Willie Nelson’s first handwritten song book circa 1944, he was eleven years old. Also one of his first vinyl LPs with the hit, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. )

(Photos courtesy Wittliffs Collection and ABIA)

Tags: Airport art, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Uncategorized
No Comments »