free flowers

Airports are ready for Valentine’s Day. Are you?

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and this year, airports are gearing up to share the love.

The StuckatTheAirport Romance Reporter pulled together a round-up of airport Valentine’s Day events for The Points Guy site. But we wanted to share just a few of our favorites here.

Pop Up Marriage License Bureau at the Las Vegas Airport

We’re delighted that in Las Vegas, the self-proclaimed “Marriage Capital of the World,” the Clark County clerk’s office is bringing back the pop-up marriage license bureau to the airport recently renamed Harry Reid International Airport (LAS).

Couples that want to get wedding paperwork in order as soon as they land at the airport can head to the pop-up. It is open from Thursday, February 10 through Tuesday, February 22 in the Terminal 1 bag claim area by carousel 5.

Hours: 8 am until 4 pm daily. The fee is $105.29 (credit/debit only).

The temporary airport Clerk’s office will be issuing marriage licenses only. To make it legal, an officiant will have to perform a wedding ceremony, sign the paperwork, and file it with the County.

More love for travelers

Here are some of the other Valentine’s Day treats airports have in store:

At Dallas Love Field (DAL), there will be music, free chocolates, and a visit from the airport mascot, Lovey.

Jacksonville International Airport (JAX), Tampa International Airport (TPA), and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) will be distributing flowers to travelers. And PHL will also be giving away 200 hand-cut red felt hearts with special messages handwritten on pink paper.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Aiport (PHX), O’Hare and Midway Airports in Chicago, and many other airports aslo have Valentine’s Day activities lined up. And at Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) keep an eye out for the Valentine-decorated treat table. Volunteers will be handing out paper airplanes, chocolate hearts, hand sanitizers that say “Spread LOVE not Germs,” and treats for pups.

Airports marking Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 12, and some airports around the country are doing their part to make moms happy.

JAX FLOWERS FOR MOM

“We are looking forward to the smiles – and a few tears – we experience each
year when our JAX Volunteer Ambassadors give out over 1,000 flowers at our
Mother’s Day Carnation Presentation,” said Bryan Long, Customer Service Manager for Florida’s Jacksonville International Airport.

At Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway International Airports moms will receive a complimentary flower seed pack at participating concessionaires. Look for the signs Friday, May 10 through Sunday, May 12.

SEED PACKET ORD

And at Miami International Airport, they will celebrating Mother’s Day from Friday, May 10 through Sunday, May 12 with a wide variety of fun free events, including a craft table for making Mother’s Day cards, foil-wrapped chocolate roses for moms, a ‘pick a pearl’ event with real pears in oysters, photo ops and more. Details, times, locations here.

Buying mom a gift?

At Philadelphia Int’l Airport, the shops in the Philadelphia Marketplace are offering a free gift with purchase through May 12. Spend $100 (pre-tax) at any retail store or combination of retail stores (food purchases excluded) and you’ll receive a free LOVE tote bag (while supplies last). All receipts must be from the same day. (Exchange receipts for a tote bag at either Heritage Books B/C Connector or Stellar Books D/E Connector. Limit one bag per customer.)

Louis C. Tiffany Dragonfly Embroidered Zip-Around Case

In New York, the Food & Shops at LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B will be offering a gift with purchase through May 12th as well. Travelers spending $100 or more at any retail store, or combination of retail stores, will receive a free dragonfly embroidered bag from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store. (Redeem receipts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store, located near Gates D, before security.)

More fun freebies at airports

Free is good. And these days many small and mid-size airports are trying to build loyalty by offering travelers free amenities.

In my At the Airport column this month on USAToday.com, I write (again) about the free cookies they hand out at Indiana’s Fort Wayne International Airport as well as some of the fun freebies offered at other airports.

Florida’s  Jacksonville International Airport distributes free flowers to passengers each year on Valentine’s Day and on Mother’s Day.

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport offers free local phone calls year-round.

In Milwaukee, home of Harley-Davidson Motor Company and the Harley-Davidson Museum, the General Mitchell International Airport offers free parking for any traveler who arrives on a motorcycle.

At Ohio’s Port Columbus International Airport, children are given free crayons and blank post-paid postcards and asked to please mail back a picture from their travels for display in an airport gallery. The airport has also purchased its own popcorn machine and hands out free bags of popcorn during quarterly customer appreciation days. “It’s a great way for us to say thanks,” says CMH communications manager Angie Tabor, “Plus, who doesn’t love the smell of popcorn?”

And in Wisconsin, the Outagamie County Regional Airport gives out free toothbrushes.

Airport marketing manager Kim Sippola says: “We noticed that many business travelers would get off the plane, go into the bathroom, and search through their bags for a toothbrush because they were going right from the airport to a meeting. So we thought we’d reduce some stress for our customers by providing them with toothbrushes.”

The airport partnered with a local dentist and now stocks post-security bathrooms with travel-sized oral hygiene kits that contain mouthwash, dental floss and a toothbrush with a single-serving of toothpaste.

Have you found a great airport freebie? Please let us know so we can tell other travelers about it.