Posts in the category "Baggage":

If you happened to be strolling by the famed Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. last Friday night around 11 p.m. you may have noticed two people searching through the bushes with a flashlight.

That would have been me and a staff member of the hotel. We were out there looking for my luggage.

I’d arrived at the hotel that morning in time to meet John Gibeau, a bee keeper who’d just harvested 600 pounds of honey from a bank of beehives he’d installed on the hotel lawn a few months earlier.

Gibeau offered to give me a tour of the hives and I (bravely? foolishly?) followed him into the beehive corral where 60,000 bees were, well, already busy as bees making more honey.

Gibeau took apart one of the hives to show me and the small crowd that had gathered where the queen bee could be found. He let us taste honey straight from a hive, put what I think he said was an edible-but-not-tasty drone bee in his mouth (but didn’t eat it), explained why the bees kept bumping into me (I was in their flight path), patiently answered some more questions and then headed off with that pickup full of honey.

I checked into my room and rushed off to visit some attractions. And it wasn’t until 10:30 that night, as I began getting ready for bed, that I realized that I only had my computer bag with me. My other bag, stuffed with a week’s worth of clothing, was missing.

My only explanation was that I’d set all my stuff down by the bees and in all the excitement forgotten to pick it all up. And when the front desk said no, there were no unclaimed bags in lost and found, someone offered to go out there with a flashlight and look around.

We didn’t find anything. I went to bed thoroughly embarrassed, a bit perplexed and resigned to having to buy fresh and no doubt expensive outfits in the tourist district before continuing on my adventure.

It was a mystery and an inconvenience. But not a trip-ruining disaster. Because, somehow, my bag showed up the next morning.

No one can explain where my clothes spent the night, but I’m betting those bees are having a good laugh.

My hotel stay was hosted by the Fairmont Empress. My bag – a much used satchel I bought a dozen years ago at the Calgary Airport – still isn’t talking.

Categories: Baggage
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It’s already been pulled from YouTube, but a video-gone-viral posted by some soldiers returning from Afghanistan has forced Delta Air Lines to change its checked bag policy and allow active duty soldiers traveling under orders to check four bags for free when flying coach.

Delta changed its policy after being widely criticized for charging the soldiers $2,800 in extra bag fees.

Here’s more of the story that I worked on for msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin blog:

The soldiers’ military orders authorize them to travel with up to four bags. But at the check-in counter at the Baltimore airport on Tuesday, they discovered that while Delta allows active duty military personnel traveling on orders to check up to four bags for free if they are traveling in first/business class, the limit is only three bags for soldiers traveling in coach.

Several of the 34 soldiers who had an extra bag were forced to pay $200 of their own money in fees in order to make their connecting flight to Atlanta. They then posted a video of their experience on YouTube, which was viewed more than 200,000 times before it was removed from the site. One soldier said his fourth bag was a weapons case containing “the tools that I used to protect myself and Afghan citizens while I was deployed.”

The Defense Department usually reimburses such costs, which the soldiers may not have known, the Associated Press reports.

Former Congressman and Iraq War veteran Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., called Delta’s fee “outrageous.” ”Here you have these heroes who have fought for our country overseas … to come home to the $200 charge per soldier? It’s outrageous.”

It’s not unusual for returning soldiers to check weapons on a commercial flight if the weapons have been certified as unloaded, Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Washington office, told the Associated Press.

“A $200 bill for extra baggage by a government-contracted airline is the worst welcome home any soldier could receive,” Davis said. “We know this is a business issue and that the troops will be reimbursed if they are authorized additional baggage in their orders, but the shock of even being charged is enough to make most servicemen and women simply shake their heads and wonder who or what it is they are protecting.”

In response, Delta Air Lines also apologized to the soldiers.

“First and foremost, we want you to know we’re continuing to work with the soldiers individually to make this situation right for each of them,” a company spokeswoman posted on the airline’s blog. “We regret that this experience caused these soldiers to feel anything but welcome on their return home. We honor their service and are grateful for the sacrifices of our military service members and their families.”

Several other airlines have followed Delta’s lead and also changed their checked bag policies for active duty military.

Categories: Air Travel, Baggage, Fees
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The Kentucky Derby takes place in Louisville, Kentucky on May 7 and the Louisville International Airport is ready.

According to the airport’s Trish Burke, from Wednesday May 4th through Friday May 6th (9 a.m. to midnight) arriving passengers will be greeted with live music and by volunteers wearing springtime dresses and Derby hats and offering the traditional Kentucky treat: bourbon balls.

The airport terminal will be decorated with roses and jockey silks and many food and beverage outlets will be offering special Derby dishes and drinks.

When Derby fans head home on Sunday, May 8, the Louisville International Airport will send folks off with music, complimentary bottles of water and special exhibits of Kentucky-made crafts.

And, here’s a nice touch.

During Derby Week, many people will be buying souvenir bottles of Kentucky bourbon and some of those people will forget that you can’t take those bottles through the security checkpoint.

To help make sure that a lot of those bottles don’t have to be left behind, the Louisville International Airport will have a “Liquor is Liquid” campaign in place, with volunteer Airport Ambassadors at the ready to wrap glass liquor bottles in packing material so that the bottles can be put into checked baggage.

Categories: Airports, Baggage, Entertainment, Events, TSA
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Spas, saunas, swimming pools, giant slides and sunflowers. That could be a list of swanky amenities to look for at upscale resorts or hotels. But it’s actually a sampling of some of the Posh Airport Amenities I featured in a slide show for Bing Travel.

Here’s a sample.

Travelers at Vancouver International Airport can take care of dry cleaning, shoe-repair and medical/dental services during a layover in the terminal. But those heading home from a fishing trip with a 100 pound halibut in tow can seek out the services of the Fish Valet and the special “visiting fish” freezer at the on-site Fairmont Vancouver Hotel.

There’s a putting green in the terminal at Florida’s Palm Beach International Airport, but the USGA-approved, nine-hole Sky City Nine Eagles Golf Course adjacent to Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 2 out-poshes that. Nine Eagles has a Thai restaurant, club house, putting greens, and plenty of night golfing opportunities. Soon Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport will have a golf course next door too.

When it comes to posh airport bars, GateGuru data analyst Zachary Einzig gives high marks to the Encounter Restaurant, perched on top of the recently-restored Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Inside, the Encounter’s space-age décor is something the Jetsons would appreciate. Outside, the views of the airfield are out of this world.

There are more… check back to find out which airports offer libraries, saunas, exotic gardens, bike rentals, museums, breweries, make-your-own sundae machines, and weekly tributes to Frank Sinatra.

Have a favorite posh airport amenity? Please add your comment below.

Categories: Air Travel, Airports, Baggage, Environment, Food, Golf
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Every Sunday here at  StuckatTheAirport.com is Souvenir Sunday: a day to unpack our carry-on and take a look at some of the fun, inexpensive goodies you can find for sale at airports.

This week’s souvenirs come from San Francisco International Airport, which is getting to ready to open the new and very much improved Terminal 2 to the flying public.  They will be a grand opening celebration for T2 on April 9th (anyone can go, but you’ll need to sign up for a free ticket). Virgin America and American Airlines begin using the terminal for regular flights on April 14th.

I’ve already posted a sneak preview of the terminal. See SFO T2 sneak peek -Part 1 and SFO T2 sneak peek part 2 - and check back later for more.

When I visited the new T2, the shops were not yet open, so I wandered over to the SFO International Terminal to see what I could find.  Sadly, the Sephora store is gone, but Freshen Up! is still there.

Located right next door to the Airport Travel Agency (on the Departures/Ticketing Level of the International Terminal, near the entrance to Gates G91-G102) and open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., this no-frills spot offers shower rooms, massage chairs, a place to iron your clothes and a wide variety of travel-sized items at surprisingly reasonable prices. 

In addition to things like toothpaste, diapers, shaving cream and other sundries they also stock underwear, socks, shirts, pantyhose and other items travelers might find useful when they’re stuck at the airport on a long layover or while waiting for that delayed flight.

A 20 minute shower at Freshen Up! will cost you $11. A 30-minute “deluxe” shower is $15 and includes shampoo, lotion, shower shoes a towel and nice soap. Store your bags at the travel agency next door and they’ll give you a coupon good for an upgrade from the standard to the deluxe shower.

Now that you’re clean – go shopping!

And if you see a great airport souvenir that’s inexpensive, ‘of’ the city or region and, ideally, a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along. If your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, I’ll send you a special travel souvenir.

Categories: Airport shops, Airports, Art, Baggage, Exhibits, Health, Layover, Massages, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, Stuck at the Airport
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