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Museum Monday: see the history of TV at SFO Airport

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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)

Snack Saturday: Coca-Cola Freestyle machines at Atlanta Airport

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Atlanta Airport Coca-Cola freestyle machine

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.

Alanta Airport Coca-Cola Freestyle machine screen

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.

Atlanta Airport coca cola freestyle machine

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.

Gatwick Airport’s giant barcodes

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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.

Gatwick airport barcode

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.

Gatwick airport stickybits

Here’s what you’ll see

LAX layover: No pandemic flu for you.

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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:

LAX branded pandemic flu kit

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.

LAX Airport Police branded items

Tidbits for travelers: contests, diaper cream and commercials

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unique retreat room

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.

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 90th Anniversary Sweepstakes before October 20th.

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!

John Travolta - 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.

Name that airport; win free travel

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Convention centers, sports fields, museum wings and all sorts of public spaces bear the name of rich people and/or companies. So in 2008, when Detroit Metropolitan Airport opened up the new North Terminal, selling naming rights for the shiny new structure seemed like a good – and lucrative – idea.

But, the economy being what it was – and is – there have been no takers. So according to this article in Crain’s Detroit Business, the airport authority has decided to nix the naming rights project for now.

Times are tough for everyone. But doesn’t mean you can’t travel. Win one of these travel contests and someone else will foot most or all of the bill.

Airplane wing - Courtesy Daniel Incandela

As I learned from a cross-Canada bike/train trip heading east-to- west a long time ago and a more recent plane/train trip in the other direction, there are plenty of unusual and incredibly lovely places to visit up north. Want to see for yourself? The Canadian Tourism Commission is sponsoring a Canada Now sweepstakes for US residents that has a prize a CN $5,000  travel voucher.  Deadline to enter: July 31,2010. So hurry!

Know any good jokes?

The national airline of Isreal, El Al Airlines, is jumping into the social media world with a two contests, one on Facebook, the other on Twitter. From now through August 13,2010, El Al Airlines is asking its Facebook Fans to post jokes on its wall. The person who posts the funniest, non-offensive joke will win two round trip tickets from Los Angeles or New York to Israel. Deadline: August 13, 2010. Winner announced on or around August 16, 2010.

The airline will also be giving away one round ticket to Israel from Los Angeles or New York to one Twitter follower. Follow and contact @ELALUSA for details. Deadline: August 4.

And Shell Vacations Hospitality is having a Share a Pic, Win a Trip contest. Top prize includes photo supplies and accessories and a 3-night stay at any of their resorts. Deadline: August 11, 2010.

Good luck! And if you win, no need take me with you. Just bring home a souvenir.

Souvenir Sunday: collectible NWA airplane toys

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On Sundays here at StuckatTheAirport.com we look at some of the souvenirs you can buy at airports. Our favorites are the items that are inexpensive (around $10) and a bit offbeat.

Last week, Seattle-based traveler Jon Douglas spotted this tiny Northwest airplane for sale at Raleigh Durham International Airport (RDU).

Northwest Airlines planes are no longer flying, so this is definitely already a collectible. And Douglas was a bit sorry that he didn’t buy this toy when he had the chance.

No worries, Jon! Look what we found for sale in the gift shop at the Future of Flight Aviation Center in Everett, WA:

This cute stuffed NWA toy –

And this tiny NWA keychain that not only flashes red lights but emits take-off sounds when you push a button.

(Keychain courtesy Sandy Ward)

Have you found a great souvenir while you were stuck at the airport ? If it’s under $10, “of” the city or region, or just cool and bit offbeat, please take a photo and send it along. Your souvenir may end up featured on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.

Changi Airport flash mob & world’s tallest airport slide

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OK, it’s an advertisement for an in-airport shopping promotion. And OK, flash mobs are getting kind of old. But take a look at this recent, really lively dance eruption by 400 ‘travelers’ at Singapore’s Changi Airport.  It’s just looks like a lot of fun!

And check out the world’s tallest slide installed in an airport. (It may also be the only slide installed in an airport).

The Slide is four stories tall and as is located in the public area of Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 Arrivals Hall. Anyone who spends $30 at the airport (in a single receipt) gets two tokens to exchange for rides on the slide.  There’s also a smaller, one-and-a-half story slide in the Basement 2 area that’s free for anyone to ride.

Who says airports have to be boring?

Can you build a better airplane? The Future of Flight wants your design

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Here’s a great lemons to lemonade story.

8 year old Harry Winsor really loves to draw airplanes. So his dad, a savvy advertising executive – with a blog – sent one of Harry’s pictures to the folks at Boeing.  But rather than send Harry a thank-you note, the giant company sent Harry a form letter letting him know that – like every other idea or suggestion that comes in over the transom – they were legally required to shred the  drawing; not even look at it – lest young Harry someday accuse the company of stealing his ideas.

That didn’t sit right with his dad, who wrote about the incident on his blog and, – as this Advertising Age article explains, here’s where the lemonade started getting made.  Someone at Boeing with a new Twitter account got wind of the snafu  and:

“In no time, the brand reached out and took responsibility for its mistake. It called young Harry and invited him to visit Boeing’s facilities. On its corporate Twitter site, it wrote things such as, “This is on-the-job social-media training for us” and “We’re expert at airplanes but novices in social media. We’re learning as we go.”

Other companies and organizations jumped in as well.  Alaska Airlines sent Harry a model airplane. And now the Future of Flight Aviation Center – which is co-located with the Boeing Tour in Mukilteo, Wa. – has created a design your own aircraft show in Harry’s honor.

Kids – of all ages – are invited to submit their airplane designs to The Harry Winsor Design Your Own Aircraft Show by June 7th, 2010.  Designs will then be on display at the Future of Flight from June 15, 2010  through July 30, 2010.

Everyone who enters will not only have their artwork put on display; they’ll receive a special badge for their efforts.

Here’s what I’m sending in.

It’s a drawing of the 787 Dreamliner I smuggled out of the factory during a tour organized by Alaska Airlines a few months back.

Got something better?  Then read the guidelines and send your drawing in to the Future of Flight’s Harry Winsor Design Your Own Aircraft Show.