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The 2010 Winter Olympics will soon wind down and the media, the sports fans, the athletes, and those cute mascots will be clearing out.   Everyone will certainly want some souvenirs to take home and what better place to get them than at the airport?

Several Olympics-only stores at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) have been selling Olympics souvenirs for about a year. Every non-Olympics store in the airport has been allowed to stock Olympics souvenirs as well.  So on this last weekend of the 2010 Winter Olympics, we’ll do our Souvenir Sunday shopping at YVR.

A great first choice in the under $10 category (our budget for Souvenir Sunday):  pins.

Buying and trading Olympic-themed pins seems to be an official sport now and the airport not only sells the pins but has a special pin-trading area set up in the terminal.

The now-famous $10 red mittens are also for sale the airport.  I bought several pairs of them when I visited YVR before the games and now wish I’d bought a few more.

This can of maple syrup is adorable, but it weighs in at over three ounces so don’t try taking it home in your carry-on.  Consider instead these cute Olympic-themed cold packs, which could come in handy as you begin training for the next Winter Olympics.

Have you found a great souvenir while stuck at the airport?  We’d love to see it!  If it’s under $10 or less, “of” the city or region and, ideally a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along. It may end up featured on Souvenir Sunday.

Categories: Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs
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Souvenir Sunday is coming up tomorrow, so if you’re at an airport today and find a great souvenir that’s under $10, “of” the city or region, and sort of offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along.

In the meantime, today is Snack Saturday, in honor of something unique I came across while researching a story about service at very small airports.

While telling me about the outdoor observation deck (officially “The Promenade”) and the other charms of the New Bedford Regional Airport (EWB) in Massachusetts, airport manager Ed DeWitt let slip that the airport is also home to what he believed to be a “rare” vending machine dispensing Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream.

Rare?  Well, sure enough, it is.  Joseph Beaudette, the owner of Scoopless Ventures, told me that he’s placed some of these vending machines in colleges and other places in New England, but that the New Bedford Regional airport is indeed the only airport in the country that has a Ben & Jerry’s vending machine.

And here’s a twist: while at many airports ice-cream, coffee, and just about everything else costs more than it does in your neighborhood, Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream purchased from the vending machine at New Bedford Regional Airport is about 20% less expensive than at most convenience stores or carts.  And, says Beaudette, “These machines hold twelve different flavors.”

Do you have a favorite snack you indulge in when you’re stuck at the airport?  Tell us about it!  Before you scarf it down, take a picture and send it along to us here at StuckatTheAirport.com.

We’re thinking about making Snack Saturday a regular dish.

Categories: Airport shops, Food, Snack Saturday, Souvenir Sunday
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My Well Mannered Traveler column - Mishandled baggage: Mission Accomplished? - on MSNBC.com this week is all about the odds of having your checked baggage arrive at your destination airport when you do – and the airlines’ efforts to improve those odds.

The good news is that those odds have been improving.  According to statistics released recently by the Department of Transportation (DOT), in 2009 the major U.S. carriers reduced the rate of mishandled, mangled and lost bags to the lowest level recorded since 2004.

Hooray, right? Well, just maybe.  In 2009 major airlines mishandled “just” 3.91 bags per 1,000 passengers.  That’s an improvement over 2008’s rate of 5.26 but, still, more than 2.19 million pieces of luggage went astray in 2009.

What’s behind the numbers?

The numbers are better, so we might conclude that airlines aren’t just pocketing our checked bags fees but using that money to improve  baggage handling systems.

Some actually did. But last year’s improved statistics have more to do with depressed travel patterns than with airline attentiveness.  In 2009, there were fewer passengers, fewer flights and, therefore, fewer checked bags to be mishandled.

Will it last?

The improved baggage handling numbers will only last, says Catherine Mayer, a vice President at SITA, a company specializing in information technology (IT) for the air transport industry, if airports, airlines, and ground handlers “use this slow travel period to invest in fixing the baggage management system.”

One tool being used by airlines, airports and ground handlers is the baggage improvement program, or BIP. Created by IATA, the International Air Transport Association, the program’s goal is to halve the global rate of baggage mishandling by 2012.  Not just to make passengers happy, say IATA spokesman Steve Lott, but to help airlines fix their bottom lines: “Globally, mishandled baggage cost airlines $3.3 billion in 2008. So the airline industry has a financial incentive to make sure they close the gap.”

The fixes include some costly, sophisticated technology but also some cheap common sense ones, such as painting spacing lines on the belt behind the check-in counter so bags don’t begin their journey all bunched up.

There are also some things you can do to help increase the odds of your bags arriving safely. In addition to putting your contact information and travel itinerary inside your baggage, inspect the outside of your bags before each trip. If there are old tag stubs and bar code labels stuck on your luggage from a previous journey, remove them.  That way you won’t run the risk of confusing the automatic barcode readers in the baggage handling system and having your bags end up in a city you visited back  1999.

Categories: Air Travel, Baggage
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Today, Thursday, February 25th, 2010, Ivar’s Seafood outlets in Washington and California are celebrating National Clam Chowder Day by offering a 2-for-1 deal on cups of chowder.   Happily, the deal extends to the Ivar’s Seafood Bar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).  “The airport Ivar’s is open way longer than the Ivar’s in town,” an enthusiastic employee at the airport Ivar’s told me on the telephone on Wednesday, “So you can get that deal starting at 4:30 in the morning.”

You’d think they’d also be celebrating National Clam Chowder Day over in Boston, where the Legal Sea Foods chain is well represented at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).  But no.  Via Twitter, the folks at Logan Airport told me,that there was “nothing planned. But we can tell you clam chowder is an airport favorite…and available in every terminal at BOS!”

Categories: Food, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Restaurants
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When I toured one of Boeing’s test 787 Dreamliner planes recently, I was pleased to see that the lavatories feature touchless faucets and flushers, as well as a nifty feature that automatically puts down the toilet seat lid.

(Photo by Jerome Tso)

And back in November, 2009, I was intrigued by the news from ANA (All Nippon Airways) that it was the first airline to install warm water “washlets” – bidet toilets – in the First and Business Class lavatories onboard its Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft.

Now comes news that on March 1^st (the beginning of Women’s History Month), the airline will designate one ladies-only lavatory on each airplane serving international routes (except those served by A320/B737 aircraft).

(You’ll know it’s the ladies-only lav by the pink sign!)

Why a woman’s only lav?  Women who have flown on long flights don’t even need to ask. But an ANA spokesman explains it this way: “Many customers requested it, so, in order to enhance their in-flight experience, comfort and convenience, we’re implementing it.”

Enough toilet talk?  Before you go,  take a moment to watch the “Art of Arrival” animation on the ANA website.  It uses the Japanese animation style known as anime  and, like the ladies-only lavs, is quite unusual.

Categories: Air Travel, Airline policies, Bathrooms
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