Travelers heading to or through San Francisco International Airport now have a chance to tune in and turn on before they take off, thanks to the latest offering from the SFO Museum.

Television: TV in the Antenna Age is filled with television sets and related items from the first four decades of television

Models range from the earliest commercial sets with 7-inch screens in Art Deco wooden cabinets to colorful plastic versions from the 1970s designed to look like space helmets and flying saucers.

Here’s a preview:

Philco Predicta 4654 Pedestal - 1959

Hoffman M143U Easy Vision 1954

TVs from the early 1970s

Memorabilia from Howdy Doody, Romper Room and other TV shows

Television: TV in the Antenna Age is on view in Terminal 3, post-security in Boarding Area F through February 6, 2012.

(All photos courtesy of SFO Museum)

Categories: Advertising, Exhibits, Layover, Museum Monday, Museums, Uncategorized
No Comments »

Self-serve soda-fountain at ATL

First introduced in 2009, Coca Cola Freestyle machines are touch-screen, self-serve soda fountains-in-a-box that let consumers choose from among more than 100 mixed-to-order sodas, juices, teas and other beverages.

The machines have been test-marketed around the country, but on Friday Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)became the first airport get to get one.

This first machine is at Famous Famiglia, by gate T6. Four more machines are scheduled to be installed at the airport by the end of the year: three by Gate A11 and one by gate D30.

Kids (of all ages..) will no doubt love this machine. And with 100 choices, there’s no reason you have to ask the machine to make you a sugary soda.

Drink up!

For more on what to do when you’ve got a few hours to spend at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – or 49 other airports – see the airport guides I created for USA TODAY.

Categories: Advertising, Airport guides, Airport shops, Food, Fun Stuff, Kids, Kids travel, Snack Saturday
No Comments »

Art or advertising?

London’s Gatwick Airport is using giant barcodes to both cover up construction walls and share information about what’s going on behind those walls.

Passengers who scan the codes (using a stickybits iPhone / Android app) will see a short video about the airport improvement program.

The first giant barcodes went up earlier this week in the airport’s North Terminal Shuttle stop, with more to follow.

Here’s what you’ll see

Categories: Advertising, Air Travel, Airport guides, Airports, Renovations
1 Comment »

Within five minutes of landing at LAX and beginning my four hour layover, I was in the shops at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) looking for items to feature for Stuck at the Airport’s Souvenir Sunday feature.

You’ll have to come back Sunday to see all the fun, inexpensive, local items I found, but here’s a quick preview:

On a shelf filled with branded LAX Airport Police items – mugs, shot glasses (!), t-shirts and more, I found these pandemic flu kits, each containing a face mask, small bottle of hand sanitizer and a handful of cough drops.

The price: $15.99.

Categories: Advertising, Airport shops, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, Stuck at the Airport
1 Comment »

Yesterday, I posted a version of my current USAToday.com column about some new airport amenities you might be seeing at an airport near you.  Things like short-stay sleep/work rooms, cigar lounges and machines that dispense sports apparel.

Here’s one more amenity to add to the list: a Nanny Caddy.

These are vending machines filled with diapers, formula, pacifiers, bottles and other doodads parents might need when they’re on the road with a baby.  Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) has two of these machines  – Terminal B (Gate B5) and Terminal C (Gate C19) – and I bet we’ll see more of these popping up at other airports soon.

File under: you can’t win if you don’t play.

Fancy a trip to Australia? Then be sure to enter the Qantas 90^th Anniversary Sweepstakes before October 20^th.

First prize: 2 business class tickets from the US to Sydney, Australia. (Leaving by November 5, 2010), four nights in a swanky hotel and, get this, a flight around Sydney on John Travolta’s very own B707 airplane – with John Travolta as your pilot!

And, in keeping with my recent post about Air New Zealand’s zany, saucy commercials starring Rico, a sexy, silly, furry brown thing, here’s s sample from JetBlue’s latest campaign.

Categories: Advertising, Air Travel, Environment, Fun Stuff, Kids, Kids travel, Layover
1 Comment »