The Stuck at the Airport collection of airport and airplane-themed socks just keeps growing. The latest addition comes from Bradley International Airport (BDL), near Hartford, Connecticut. BDL was also kind enough to send along a notepad with the airport’s slogan: Love the Journey.
The BDL socks join the socks in our collection that sport the retired pattern of the carpet at Portland International Airport (PDX) which spawned the passenger trend of taking “footies” on airport carpets nationwide. We’re looking forward to the wearing our PDX socks when PDX airport opens its new main terminal area in May.
The contactless mobile platform lets travelers browse menus, order, and pay for their meals before picking up the order.
The program is put together by MIA, concessionaire Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Airports (URW) and Grab, and is available on MIA’s mobile-friendly website or mobile app. Food venues are searchable by food type and airport terminal. And orders are scheduled for pick-up at pre-set times, so customers don’t have to wait in line.
At Denver International Airport (DEN), the new Eats Delivered program works with At Your Gate. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, passengers can order meals from seven participating restaurants (so far) and have the meals delivered to them anywhere in the terminal, including baggage claim.
Eats Delivered food delivery service now at DEN! 🍔Download the AtYourGate app (coming soon to Google Play) 🥗Order from 1 of 7 participating restaurants 🥞 Pay over the app 🍕Food will be delivered in approx 30 mins or less 🍜Enjoy your mealhttps://t.co/1XRXFQ6nSV. #DENeatspic.twitter.com/Ta0FpL1tQe
And this week American Airlines, British Airways, and oneworld announced the launch of an optional coronavirus (COVID-19) testing trial on select flights from U.S. cities to London Heathrow (LHR).
The tests will be free. They’ll be available to customers on American Airlines Flight AA50 from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to LHR; on British Airways Flight BA114 departing New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to LHR; on BA Flight BA268 from Los Angeles (LAX) to LHR.
This part of the program starts on November 25.
The testing includes:
An initial at-home test to be taken 72 hours before departure from the US
A second test upon arrival at LHR
A third test to be taken three days after arrival in the UK
The testing program will then be expanded to American Airlines Flight AA106 from JFK to LHR, on a date yet to be announced.
TSA Talks Turkey. And pie.
And in case you are flying somewhere this Thanksgiving holiday, keep in mind that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has a list of foods you may and may not bring as carry-on.
The “yes you may” list includes baked goods, meats (frozen, cooked, or uncooked), stuffing, casseroles, Mac ‘n Cheese, fresh vegetables and fruit, candy, and spices.
The “pack in carry-on” or “have someone else bring it” list includes dishes such as cranberry sauce, gravy, wine, canned fruit or vegetables (the cans have liquid), jams and jellies, and maple syrup.
Our “5 Things We Love About…” series celebrates features and amenities at airports around the country and the world.
Today we land at Bradley International Airport (BDL), in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, about 15 miles from Hartford. BDL is New England’s second largest airport and has a great tagline: Love the Journey
5 Things We Love About Bradley International Airport (BDL)
1. Rocking chairs at Bradley Int’l Airport
Rocking chairs scattered throughout the terminal are decorated by area high school students to showcase a school, town or region.
2. Art & exhibits highlighting area attractions
Two art pieces from the Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, MA (20 miles away) are displayed at Bradley International Airport. Travelers will also find two scale Lego models showcasing Connecticut’s iconic Mark Twain House and Museum as well as the Goodspeed Opera House.
3. Souvenir shopping at Bradley International Airport
You will find plenty of fun souvenirs in the BLD shops, including lobster lollipops and other items reflecting of the region to university themed apparel, such as clothing and memorabilia from Yale University and UConn, the University of Connecticut.
4. Therapy dogs at BDL
To help passengers “Love the Journey,” BDL airport partners with Bright Spot Therapy Dogs, Inc. for its therapy dog program.
5. The New England Air Museum at BDL
The 90,000-square-foot New England Air Museum is the largest aviation museum in the region and it is located right next to Bradley International Airport.
The collection includes more than 100 aircraft ranging from early flying machines to supersonic jets. More than half of the aircraft are on display in three large exhibit hangars and in an outdoor display area.
The museum has a large assortment of engines, artifacts and historical exhibits, including this wicker balloon basket from the 1870s built and flown by Plymouth, Connecticut native and aeronaut Silas Brooks that is believed to be the oldest surviving American-built aircraft.
Bonus: Sheraton Hotel at BDL Airport
The Sheraton Hartford Hotel is located in the terminal at Bradley International Airport. AvGeek alert: in addition to an indoor pool, the hotel has many rooms offering great views of the runway.
Did we miss one of your favorites amenities at Bradley International Airport (BDL)? Is there an airport you’d like to see featured in the “5 Things We Love About...” series on Stuck at The Airport? If so, please leave a note in the comments section below.
City or celebrity? Branding goals fuel airport name changes
Louisville, Kentucky is well known for bourbon,
the Kentucky Derby and Louisville Slugger baseball bats.
It’s also the city the late, legendary boxer
Muhammad Ali called home.
In his honor, Louisville International
Airport (SDF) was recently renamed Louisville Muhammad Ali International
Airport and a new logo honoring The Champ and his famous praise, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a
bee,” was
adopted.
In addition to honoring a native son, the
airport name change is expected bring economic benefits to Louisville and both
built on and boost Ali-related tourism to the city.
“Even three years after our city’s most famous son’s
passing, Louisville continues to see people coming from across the globe to
discover and trace Ali’s legacy,” Karen Williams, President and CEO of
Louisville Tourism said in
a statement, “The airport rebranding supports current marketing efforts to
engage in Ali’s ‘Footsteps of
Greatness’ as a reason to inspire visitation to Louisville.”
Location, Location, Location
While Louisville added the name of a local
icon to its airport’s name, other airports are moving away from celebrity names
in favor of stronger geographic branding.
In 2016, the Allegheny County Airport
Authority declined to change the name of Pittsburgh International
Airport to the Fred Rogers International Airport.
An online
petition seeking to honor the late star of the locally produced “Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood” PBS TV program was signed by more than 15,000 supporters. But
airport representatives said vacation planners were more likely to search
online for “Pittsburgh Airport” than for “Fred Rogers.”
In southern California, regional Bob Hope Airport (BUR) is now Hollywood Burbank Airport.
The switch came in 2017 after airport
officials realized that while the general public knew that the late Bob Hope was
a comedian, few outside the region knew the airport was so located so close to
Hollywood and many top Los Angeles-area attractions.
“Some thought the airport was in Palm Springs,” said
airport spokeswoman Lucy Burghdorf, “Others thought it was in Vietnam,” because
Hope had hosted annual USO Christmas tours to entertain troops during much of the
Vietnam War.
To help solve BUR’s identity problem, “We studied
what other airports had done and why,” said Michael Fiore, cofounder and
chief brand officer of the Anyone
Collective, “And
for the most part we found the same answers: those with a geographic
identifiers attached to them were performing better than others.”
The name-change, coupled with branding and
marketing efforts that include everything from new signage at the airport and
on highways to online advertising, has garnered the airport national awards
and, more importantly, more passengers, said Fiore.
Some other airports have gently tweaked their
names in the interest of better branding.
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) was renamed St. Louis Lambert International Airport in February 2017. The move was made “to
improve marketing positions locally and globally while also expanding
connections with the St. Louis region,” according to the airport’s strategic
plan.
“This decision was made to better identify our
geographical location to travelers who are not from this region,” said MKE spokesman
Harold Mester, “Our new brand adds the name of our anchor city while still
honoring our namesake, Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell, who is considered to be the
father of the U.S. Air Force.”
“As we continue to market the airport in
international and west coast markets, we have found that these populations are
challenged to locate us,” said Kevin A. Dillon, Executive Director of the
Connecticut Airport Authority, “Accordingly, we are undergoing a review to be
completed by the end of the year to determine if it is feasible to change the
airport name, and, if so, how we can continue to preserve the memory of Eugene
Bradley at the airport.”
Bucking the Trend
While the benefits of geographic branding are
convincing some airports to change or tweak names, at least one airport is bucking
the trend.
In 2017, the Hawaii Department of
Transportation (HDOT) changed the name of Honolulu International
Airport (HNL) to the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
The much-beloved Inouye served as Hawaii’s
first representative in Congress in 1959 and went on to represent the Aloha
State in both the House and Senate for a combined 53 years.
This is the
fourth name change in the airport’s history, notes HDOT.
When it
opened in 1927, HNL was named the John Rodgers Airport. After surviving the
attack on Pearl Harbor, in 1947 the airport was renamed Honolulu Airport. “International”
was added to the name in 1951.
It is too soon to tell if the name change will boost the local economy or increase tourism to Honolulu. But HDOT pegs the cost of new signage, parts, materials, labor and other tasks associated with this latest name change at one million dollars.
What do you think? Should an airport be named for a city or a celebrity?
My “At the Airport” column for USA TODAY this month is all about what small airports are doing to get ready for the international air service.
Here’s a slightly altered version of that column.
Once, the biggest and busiest U.S. airports had the market for international air service all to themselves.
But now smaller airports, such as Bradley International, near Hartford, CT, T.F. Green Airport, near Providence, RI, and Stewart International Airport, in New York’s Hudson Valley, have managed to snag some direct flights to Europe and, with those flights, a potentially profitable slice of the trans-Atlantic air service pie.
Bradley bulks up
When Aer Lingus began year-round service between Dublin and Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Windsor Locks, CT in September, 2016, it had been eight years since the nation’s 54th busiest airport could boast a direct international flight.
(Northwest canceled nonstop flights between BDL and Amsterdam in 2008, when fuel prices spiked and the economy stumbled).
Bradley, which is about 110 miles from Boston’s Logan Airport and about 130 miles to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, gets its second international route staring June 17, when the fast-growing Norwegian Air, a European discount carrier, begins direct service between BDL and Edinburgh, Scotland.
To help convince Aer Lingus and, then, Norwegian to take a chance on adding service at Bradley, airport and local officials offered financial incentives, an increasingly common tool among ‘second-tier’ airports competing for service, and promised to beef up facilities inside the terminal.
The airport’s gates and ticket counters were already sized-right, with common-use equipment at the ticket counters, said Kevin Dillon, Bradley Airport’s executive director, but to accommodate the new international customers, the airport added a branch of the pay-per-use Escape Lounge and a new restaurant – Phillips Seafood – which made sure to have Irish beers on the menu. The Two Roads Brewing Company is about to open a tap room featuring Connecticut-made craft beers as well.
Bradley also added a duty free shop for international travelers and reports that in addition to whiskey and perfume, international passengers are buying lots of college-branded clothing, chocolate and roll-your-own tobacco.
Prepping in Providence
During June and July, Norwegian Air will kick off the first-ever year-round European routes from T.F. Green (PVD) in Warwick, R.I., the country’s 64th-busiest airport in 2015.
(PVD’s current international service includes TACV, which flies year round to Cabo Verde; and Azores Airline, which flies seasonally from PVD to Ponta Delgada, Azores.)
Service from PVD to Edinburgh, Scotland begins June 16; to Cork, Ireland on July 1; to Belfast and Dublin, Ireland on July 2; and to Shannon, Ireland on July 3. Summer-only flights to Bergen, Norway begin July 1.
To secure the five new routes, PVD matched “a voluminous amount of route analysis” said airport spokeswoman Patti Goldstein, “together with robust and outstanding community support,” which included “the same marketing funds that we offer to other airlines.”
A statement announcing the Norwegian service noted that the Federal Aviation Administration had invested about $110 million in upgrading T.F. Green and expanding the airport’s runways to better accommodate international flights. G
Goldstein said the airport is currently expanding its international arrival facility, with the goal of having enhancements in place for the kickoff of the Norwegian flights.
Sprucing up Stewart International Airport
Stewart International Airport, located about 70 miles north of New York City in New Windsor, near Newburgh, gets it first scheduled international service with Norwegian Air’s daily flights to Edinburgh, Scotland starting June 15, 2017
Flights from Stewart (SWF) to Dublin and Belfast begin July 1; and flights to both Shannon, Ireland and Bergen, Norway kick off on July 2. Frequency for each service will vary by season.
To get ready, Stewart International, ranked as the 206th-busiest U.S. airport in 2015, just raze a World War II-era hanger to make room for more overnight parking for aircraft.
Inside the terminal, concessions and amenities are being upgraded, said Edmond Harrison, general manager of SWF, which is operated by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
“We’re getting currency exchange, duty free shopping and a liquor license, which we don’t have now but will have when the first flight starts on June 15,” he said.
Harrison also said the duty free shelves will be stocked with products from area breweries, wineries and distilleries and the gift shops will be filled with everything from West Point sweatshirts (the U.S. military academy is 15 miles from the airport) to typical New York City souvenirs featuring the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center.
Two airports hotels (a Homewood Suites and a Courtyard by Marriott) are refurbishing facilities in advance of the new international travelers, said Harrison, and Hudson Valley tourism groups are gearing up to let visitors know about opportunities to visit nearby attractions such as West Point, the Culinary Institute of America, and the Woodbury Commons outlet shopping center, which draws over 12 million visitors a year.
And for those international visitors landing at Stewart International who want to head straight for the Big Apple, starting June 15 there will be scheduled Coach USA service, with Wi-Fi and in-seat power, to Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
All these upgrades won’t be just for the benefit of international flyers.
The Norwegian flights will bring the critical mass of passengers Stewart airport concessionaires need to make service investments worthwhile.
“So now, whether you’re flying Norwegian, JetBlue, American, Allegiant or Delta Connection,” said Harrison, “You’ll be able to have a cocktail before your flight.”
