On Monday, at Big 12 media days in Kansas City, Mo, Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach told reporters that he thought DFW airport was “a confusing mess.” Connecting to Lubbock through the smaller Love Field, he said, was a better option for those hoping to interview his team’s two Heisman Trophy candidates.

As you might imagine, that comment didn’t sit too well with the folks at DFW. So airport officials sent out an open letter inviting Leach to stop by for a visit. The letter said “Your comments hit home because we’re very proud of DFW — and most of us are big time college football fans!” and went on to offer the coach and his family a complimentary flight to DFW on American Airlines, a tour of the facilities, and a steak dinner.

Coach Leach called the invitation a “thoughtful gesture” and said he might have time to stop by next December.

The Dallas News has all the details.

Categories: Sports
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Hooray!

The summer 2008 edition of the MOOM – the Museum of Online Museums - has been posted.

Pretty much everything on the list, from the Virtual Typewriter Museum to the Museum of Corporate Neckties (yes, there are airline ties in there) is pretty special.

But since this is a blog about (mostly…) airports and air travel, let me point out two online museums of special interest: The Stewardess Uniform Collection (746 different uniforms from 330 airlines) and the Online Paper Airplane Museum (800 free designs, plus some books and contests)

(Doll wearing Air France uniform. From the Air France e-shopping site)

Have fun!

Categories: Art, Free Stuff, History, Museums
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I’m not sure how Terry Maxon and the folks at the Airline Biz blog do it. But long before the Tonight Show airs out west, they’ve got the (very funny) text of Jay Leno’s take on the American Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing because a guy took off all his clothes and went running up and down the aisle.

On behalf of those of us who have to get up early in the morning, thanks!

Categories: Celebrities
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After a lovely week touring Spokane, Washington, I spent a few hours hanging around Spokane International Airport.

While disappointed at having to pay to use wireless Internet at the airport (I was spoiled: all downtown Spokane is a free Wi-Fi zone) I was delighted to find the Simply Northwest shop filled with a surprising selection of local and regionally-made items.

I learned that Spokane is the home of those still-somewhat-hard-to-find Bumble Bars (organic, gluten-free, vegan), and had fun choosing a few Papa Ray’s muffin and scone mixes that come packed in cute carrot and apple-shaped fabric containers.

And when I couldn’t quite decide which bottle of local wine to buy (the shop is post-security) the sales clerk suggested I go next door and taste a few of them at Vintage Washington.

Categories: Shopping, Wi-Fi
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Last week I wrote in Portfolio.com about the unusual ways some airports have found to earn income – such as growing and selling hay planted on airport acreage to signing contracts to allow outside companies to drill for oil and gas underneath airport ground.

That article also noted that, for some time now, Reno-Tahoe International Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas have been raking in the bucks from slot machines scattered about inside the airport terminals.

According to a report in the Arizona Republic, the mayor in Phoenix, Arizona thinks putting slot machines at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a great idea. But Phoenix isn’t Nevada, where gambling is legal pretty much everywhere. So to make this idea work, the city would have to create a profit-sharing agreement with a Native American tribe.

It’s do-able, but not yet a done-deal. The paper reports that the slot-machine scheme is just one of the ideas a revenue-enhancement team is exploring to help solve budget shortfalls for the entire city of Phoenix.

Got some other ideas? Casey Newton at the Arizona Republic (casey.newton@arizonarepublic.com) has offered to gather them up and forward them on to the mayor who, he says, “will give you – at his own expense – a weekend at the downtown Sheraton, complete with tickets to a sporting event or other cultural experience” if the city uses your idea.

Categories: Gambling
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